The Horse Trough

[Steelhooves]

Hello anyone who wanders in here! This is my first venture into putting anything I write into the public eye.

I intend this to be like a posting zone for any ideas I have as i often find myself lacking place to put them and hope that the pressure will force me to work on them more is someone else can see them.

currently my main squeeze is a Gundam SEED/Build fighters mash up that has been hogging my brains limited resources so that will be the current bulk of my posts but other things will appear from time to time.

Fair warning, nothing here has been proof read barring google spelling so take that as what it is and I own nothing here, none of the properties are mine and I make nothing off of them so please don't poke me.

Any opinions or thoughts are more then welcome as are any flaws that could do with any correction.

here we go...


Gundam build fighters Triple shift





There were times when even something as simple as the sound of footsteps could elicit joy, a child hearing a parent coming home from a long journey away, a package that had long been anticipated. It was also possible for such a simple thing to inspire dread, an officer of the law perhaps, coming to deliver just judgement for crimes now uncovered only in this instance it was much, much worse for Team Aura, widely considered one of the most Bipolar teams ever to compete in the Gunpla Battle world Championships.

The silence was the worst part of it, it always made her feel like judgement was hovering over her head and waiting for the slightest reason to crush her flat,the tension was so thick that she could swear she could feel nervous waves emanating from her team mates on either side in pulses times with every thunderous footfall, it had only been minutes since the door had swung shut but it felt like mountains would have risen and fallen in-between each thud until the doom finally descended.

Silence the awful moments dragged out by the ticking of the ornate grandfather clock standing proudly against the wall to your left, not that you would dare glance that for though, you were in deep enough now no need to be seen as disrespectful on top of everything else.

It was almost hypnotic the way the footfalls had melded with the ticking until one was conspicuous by its absence, the hard tak had been timed perfectly to draw the eye upwards and the design of the Mahogany coloured suit drew the eyes upward, each glinting button sparkling enough to draw more attention and flatter while what was visible under the suit was a dark blue, again buttoned up with well-polished gold buttons to continue the visual attraction until the face of Aideen ó Ceallaigh, one of the most prestigious coaches currently operating at the national level.

To this day no one was quite sure why she had decided to helm a team that had only recently arisen from the Okinawa institute of Science and Technology, A club that had been formed seemingly as a whim but had demonstrated skills that seemed vastly at odds with the seemingly random nature of its members.

It was whispered between those who were interested that she might have had a bad run in with another team and was looking to try her luck with better prospects, or maybe she was just a professional who saw a group badly in need of proper guidance, a firm hand to help them conquer the single glaring issue preventing them from returning to championship glory.

It was no secret to anyone who watched even a single match that Team Aura was almost incapable of actually operating as a cohesive unit.

While individually each member of Team Aura had in the past demonstrated piloting skill enough to challenge the likes of Ricardo Fellini and fight him evenly however the moment they engaged in anything even approaching a team fight everything seemed to fall apart, shots they would swear up and down were an accident would clip each other at the worst possible moments, units would catch on each other in flight and blades would jar each other even as they ripped an opponent into pieces, in the past it had been a foible, something amusing for the fans to watch as the matches went on and the fighters were forced to improvise and adapt but as time went by and later brackets were reached it had started to become a problem right until what was considered the teams highpoint by the spectators, if only for the speed of what happened.

it was the first time that Team Aura had managed to qualify past the Nationals without major humiliation and loss of all limbs, even managing to squeeze past the first round and secure a good two days to repair the damages inflicted by what could only be described as a saw infested hurricane caused by a very unfortunate Satellite Cannon misfire combined with the destruction of the island the battle had been fought on, a problem made worse by a late shutdown of the battle system leaving all 3 units looking worse for wear but standing, if on splintered limbs.

This was only the start of the problem as there was not enough time to effect proper repairs to all damages, this combined with what was agreed to be one of the best new entrants, a team by the name of Carmine led to parts of three Gunpla scattered hither and yon in short order, this match signalled the brief hiatus for Team Aura, leading to our current predicament.

It had one of the first things that the team had learned about Aideen, that she liked to punctuate dramatic moments with a dramatic heel click, her way of beginning a sentence. "Alright people, I have some things to tell you but first we are going to have a small breakdown of why you think you lost that last match" her eyes narrowed as they swept over each of us in turn, her narrow cheekbones giving the look a regal sweep to it. "This is not some kind of interrogation, I want see what you might have learned from such a loss and how you might not repeat it, starting with you Hellenike, in your own words tell us what you think".

Wait, what? I need more time before you put me on the spot like this! Okay do what you normally do in this situation. Run your mouth!

"The problems started from the moment we launched, I came under precise sniper fire the moment I launched and that continued right until the end, I think the first shot might have knocked me off balance leading to the first crash. After that we decided to try and force the issue but we were thrown off by the asteroid exploding..." I can feel my eyes glaze over with the memory even as I continue to break down our latest and greatest debacle, stripping the incident to its bare bones made everything easy.

The explosion had forced us apart and after that everything had descended rapidly into madness, while I can say that on our best, we should have been able to win, Team Carmine had something we did not. Teamwork. I was battered left and right by attacks that I did not even see coming and in short order the one crimson blur that had decided to put her out of her misery did so with one swing of a double bladed scythe that had trailed streamers of green and red, all in all it was quite the experience to be said.

"...And after the Drive detonated there was really nothing I could do to stop my arms flying away" you could feel your mouth slowly wind down at the end of your rambling and feel the blush creep up your cheeks, grateful that your complexion hides most of it. You glance towards Aideen and see one of here thin eyebrows has crept up into a questioning curve.

"That was more detail then I was expecting from such a short engagement but perhaps you could sum up that wall of words with a touch less padding?" I can feel my shame crawling up my back.

"that I need to stop trying to engage everyone at once?" Just gotta hope my hopeful tone averts any more attention.

"Yes, that be helpful but since we are on the topic of what you need to do is also change up your Gunpla, people have seen everything you can do and devising counters for you, that scythe the Crescent Rose was carrying? It's the first time that has been seen and was perfectly designed to break though GN Fields like yours, now is the time to re-evaluate your design and come up with something new. All i am saying is you cannot stay the same forever and expect it to work, no matter how good you are, now to you Cecile, Erika I noticed you two seemed to run into some problems of your own, care to shed some light them?"

Stepping Forward, Erika Müller made a point of sweeping her flaxen hair out of her eyes to meet Aideen square in the eye "I have since reviewed the battle and come to the conclusion that while I could not have seen The Gambol Shroud activate its cloak, I could have taken more offensive measures after the first shots were fired and that I need more options over just enduring damage and waiting for an opportunity to counter-attack. I shall make changes to my unit and tactics."

'Huh, that was nice and concise, hope this is gonna continue as I want out. Gonna be working all night coming up with new ideas. A slightly unkind thought, but hey I am allowed to be human right?

"Alright Cecile, let's see how concise you can be, show Hellenike how it's done" I didn't even need to look to see the smirk on her face. Not my fault I let my mouth wander.

Cecile daintily stepped forward, every action flowing neatly from the one before in a pattern that made me feel like a lumbering mass. Ugh even when she speaks she manages an air of grace, the sparks of jealousy are kindled again. "Simply put Coach I was too willing to rely on Ze power of my Celestial Light to win battles for me, I was too willing to hang back and only move when it benefited me, doing so left me vulnerable when Hellenike was pulled forward and Erika was engaged, I will need to improve my close quarter options as I lack effective close range battle capacity if I wish to remain strong enough to continue being a part of this team"

"A wise idea, it is never a bad idea to improve your basics although you do not have to worry about your place on the team, I will support you all to the best of my ability and that is why I think we need to take a little break, some time to think about what you want to change and time to make them, so I have a little announcement to make."

I think at this everyone started slightly at this, Aideen was not one for idle chatter, and when irritated she would transform in to a maelstrom of sarcasm that would cut you to the metaphorical bone, but only did so to illuminate areas where you could improve.

But as a rule she was not one for small talk or digressions and given that we had managed to crash and burn beautifully in the most important match we had ever managed to reach the odds were not good for us.

She seemed to notice the way the three of us had reacted and sighed "Look I am not going to bite your heads off, I have come to expect these things and decided that you need to get used to working through them. From what I saw you were doing fine and it was the build-up of damage that did you in. By coincidence there has been a standing offer from the Yajima Labs to teams competing in the World Championships, it just so happens that since you were out so early I was able to get you in and signed up, there is a small list of things you have to bring with you but mostly this should be just a nice time away to rethink your approaches and how you want to proceed, I can send the list of necessaries later, for now get on out of here and relax, you will be leaving in two days, until then."

Feeling no small amount of joy at this gift from the heavens I merrily bounced out of the room followed at a sedate pace by my friends. The door slamming shut behind us was my trigger to turn and address my fellow reprobates.

But first I need an idea of what to say, something bold! Something Dramatic! Something.......eurgh, this is harder than it looks, just go with what comes into your head Hellenike, it's never failed you before...yeah. "Okay team gather round! We are gonna have a team meeting and as team leader I decide that it shall take place in the most expensive restaurant imaginable! This day we have won a great victory and we shall dine like the kings of old! And when we have torn the secrets from...".

At times like this is why I love my friends; they know when to stop me from rambling on and in Erika's case by jabbing my side and making me jump a good foot to the side and into Cecile.

Its only when I see her smirk do I understand what is going on here, a one woman mutiny. "Yes yes we understand perfectly "tear secrets from their corpses" this, and "shatter every hope they have" that, honestly Captain you could do with more of a filter ya know" at this Cecile cut across her.

"Oh really? I happen to disagree Erika my dear, we both know that you say nothing and I say the wrong things and so that leaves little Hellenike here to say what she can, and worst comes to worst she does look adorable stuttering to a halt like she does."

Gee good to see that you think I am a child in need of pets and cookies, time to assert myself, coughing lightly to draw attention back to myself and starting "Yes thank you Erika for that diversion, now since we have been given this opportunity we are gonna have to plan for this, a full breakdown of changes we will make and what we will need to make them, parts and tools first and foremost so we should take a day tomorrow to work out what we will do then we can meet up to swap ideas and build on what we come up with, on the second we can finalise and draw up some new art to give us something to aim for. But fist I want to catch a break and eat something not from a packet, what you two think?"

Erika was the first to respond as usual "It sounds like you want an excuse to eat and be lazy for a day correct? As much as it pains me to say it but that actually sounds nice".

Well, that's one vote for a couch day, let's just hope that Cecile is feeling...yup, she did not even bother to stop walking. She just heard me out, kept rolling on and gave a solid thumbs up, we are a go!

If nothing else it was really easy to organise a lazy day, especially since none of us fancied staying around here to have our defeat rubbed in our faces, we collectively signed out and after brief discussion realised that since Erika possessed both the largest couch and biggest fridge that it would be most prudent to use her house to crash in.

That and the shops were close, snacks were important after all.

After taking a small break to go and change we met up again a the gate of Erika's apartment, one of the benefits of being wealthy was the luxury of a home I guess. Now to see if that privilege extends to a full fridge and a nice fat sofa.

I have known me team for months, we have fought together against the toughest odds and overcome challenges that most teams in this sport have never had to consider, I trust them with my professional life and my plastic soul, but I will be damned before I let Erika choose what we watch, experience has shown that she may be a relatively active in most areas, she had a terrible habit of just taking the first offering the TV gave her and letting it be, regardless of quality or even the desires of those around her.

A habit that had drawn more than one comparison to a sofa bound slug, one habit that I had to head off quickly lest it devour our free time. Step one, wait for a distracted moment then pull Cecile aside. "okay, we have less than five minutes before the moth lands, we will need quick wits and a lot of snacks for this mission, do you understand your mission?" A briefing is hard to deliver while one is peeking around to ensure that your friend has not managed to nest herself.

Cecile snapped to attention, her hand at her brow "Yes! To dash unerringly to zhe kitchen and retrieve the food and plant it on yhe table", her eyes glinting with energy.

Nodding to myself, seeing Erika stumble into the bathroom meant we had some time to prepare for the worst TV could throw at us, this was my part of the plan, prepare the living room for our occupation and ready the virtual battlements to ward off boredom and the mewling of the slow and clumsy.

With a groan more fitting to a slowly collapsing tree, Erika Muller managed to pull herself free from the comforting warmth of the shower long enough to bundle herself in the fluffiest bathrobe that a champion Gunpla battler could find, the warmth acquired was enough to buy her enough time to properly compose herself for a night of snacks and rolling blanket burritos with her best friends and team mates, a compose that lasted right up until she opened the door of the bathroom and was assailed by the forces of cold that had amassed and now pored over her in an unending tide, truly this was her greatest battle yet.

Only minutes later did she realise how wrong she had been, arriving in the lounge to see a small mountain of snacks and drinks piled high nest to the longest and comfiest sofa available, seemingly designed for the task of serving as a three person sprawl zone and now augmented with enough pillows and blankets to block sight of the one thing she needed.

The Remote, her leash on the insanity of her team.

For all of the beautiful things they had brought her life she could not stand some of the utter garbage that would be blasted out of the confounded noise box, better to have something quiet and soothing to give the mind time to wander, especially given that they had an important task in front of them and a dire need of brainstorming to get ready for, but right now you need to find some prime real estate to stake your claim on, like that nice spot right in the middle wedged between two large pillows.

It took mere moments to get well and truly comfortable, a process hindered only by the discovery of a small notepad and pen that had been buried in the folds. Must have been Cecile, she always was more prone to think of the small details then either her or Hellenike, a fact that had saved them all time and effort as she would catch small problems before they could develop, between that and the sheer warmth that she could spread had led her to become the heart of the team and the de-facto face when it was required. She was someone you would trust both yourself and your little plastic soul on, if she would only watch less garbage. Speaking of where was that remote?

It was a remarkable sight that graced Cecile Abbe as she rounded the corner blocking her sight of the frankly cavernous living room, the sight in the middle was more than enough to outweigh the lack of bespoke furnishings and lavish decorations that would normally mark wealth, in a country sorely lacking in space, having it was enough, but today was going to be special.

Today was one of the days when she was allowed to see her team relax without worrying about appearances and the crowd. But this was something special, Erika was a cool customer when she was in public, she seemed to embody the image of the perfect German student: cold, focused and ruthless.

On the other hand was her polar opposite, Hellenike Dreemur who on the surface replaced cold detachment with a radiating sense of irritation and hostility enough to deflect a beam rifle, but underneath it when they were away from all the attention she was softer with an amazing ability to let any little idea run its course, so much difference leaving little moments like this priceless.

The first sign Erika had that a problem had arrived was a small cough and the snap-click of a camera. Oh dear. "If that was a camera Cecile, I will make sure that the next shampoo you use will contain some choice surprises, we both know how much you hate spiders after that last time". Just need to wiggle to freedom...

All her efforts only caused a very ladylike snicker to escape "It seems I am being threatened by the worlds angriest blanket monster, whatever will I do? Take a step backwards maybe?" All it would take is one step, and by the time mount Blanket had revealed its eyes, both a piercing shade of blue, Cecile had drifted around to the back of the couch; close enough to tease, far enough to be safe.

"We both know that the closer you get the more dangerous I get, all I need to do is muster the will and you will know my wrath" at this the blanket mound seemed to shudder slightly and from its folds emerged one of the pens that had been attached to one of the notebooks that had been scattered about.

It was hard not to put on your best noble impression. "And what will that accomplish dear? More cold air for you and a step for me? We both know how much you adore being warm, and I now have evidence of that. We can now negotiate, you have something I want and I can offer something you value" it was hard not to sound a little smug as you dangle your phone in front of the blanket mound " I can prevent everyone we know from seeing you being adorable, in exchange I want enough room to stretch out and eat my snacks in peace..." time to hook her in.

The mound shuffled "That is no problem, you just need to move a little down" it was asking too little, what was her game?

You can feel your smile stretch your face a little too wide, a little too toothy. "And you will not attempt to put on the boring nonsense you subject us to, we are all young and need excitement! Something with heart and soul! A love story to set your heart racing! Ah I can feel it now, I can feel exactly what we will watch today!" you catch yourself mid twirl and cough in attempt to recover your composure "Do we have a deal?" you punctuate the question by making it obvious you are holding your thumb over the delete button.

You can't help but huff a little, the comfort the blankets bring cannot last forever, and the damage to your pride is almost too much, all you need to do is bide your time and wait, but first you need to draw her in so to speak, it's like trying to bait a fish in, you just need patience.

It was almost too adorable the way Mt. Erika shuffled down the couch in a way that suggested she was more rolling down then actually moving,

Doing so meant leaving a nice warm sport where she had been, now for your half of the bargain, a quick tap and the resulting beep is all the signal you need to bounce over the backrest and into a warm spot, then moving as fast as possible to preserve the warmth, you grab the nearest blanket corner begin the process of wrapping the warmth around yourself in such a way that food is still easy to come by, it was only minutes later when you realise your mistake, in an effort to get cosy you had limited your mobility greatly, you were what your friends would refer to as a sitting duck.

Right in front of the girl you had just blackmailed into moving,

A point that was proven when you turned to Erika, hoping that the tail of the gummy snake you were chewing on would make you look less like a target...only to stare down a pen stopped inches from your nose.

Okay now is not the time to panic, flicking your attention to the eyes seemingly glowing in the dark depths of her den "Mercy?"

The mound shuddered in a way that leaves no doubt what she intends "I just need to test out some paint schemes I intend to try, and all I need is something to try them on, since you seem so eager to make a nice model I figure I might as well start here..." the pen never wobbles even once.

It still felt bad at times to come over to a friend's house just for the comforts, but under a shower that big it was easy to forget pretty much everything, but since you had taken all the time you could reasonably take, it was time to choose the fluffiest jumper and settle down to a night of relaxing with your team, but its only when you round the corner and catch sight of the scene in front of you do you realise what you will be watching tonight, massively sped up geological time, as two mountains of Alpaca bedspreads that were shuffling back and forth brandishing pens like swords, heh; at times like this you like to sit by and watch the two of them have their fun, but tonight you need to do more than just watch them duel until exhaustion takes them, time to be a relative adult here. But better to be safe than sorry...

It was obvious as you got closer, that the two could not have been at this for very long, the ends of the couch were almost untouched and the base blanket had not been too disturbed, best to cut this off before they mark up the shockingly expensive sheets "if you two needed a referee I am more than willing to watch you go at it, buuut we have important things to do right now, like finding something to watch that won't trigger any of us, and we need to start looking pronto, now as Team Captain I demand that space be made for me, now scootch".

A little waving of my hands in indicate that the only space fit for me was the one right in the middle, the valley to the hills. Instead of wasting time walking around the expanse, I just saved time and flopped into the space between them, barely avoiding clipping the table we had pulled closer to serve as an impromptu snack bar, that was my mistake.

In my innocence I had never even suspected my loyal, trustworthy friends of ever wanting to do me harm, never in a million years did I suspect what would happen next...in my efforts to try and goad a bag of sweets to tip over and give me something for as little effort as possible, my attention had drifted too far and the first sign I was given was the sudden sensation of a blanket being spun over me and a sudden rolling sensation.

In those seconds I gained an appreciation for the life of a sock in a dryer, only to hear a pair of giggling traitors at either side, time for my only current method of defence "I don't know what either of you have planned but you should know, I will never surrender any information to you, and you will never find the secrets stashes I have hidden, and even if I do slip up you will ne..." cutting me off is a smart move Cecile, it won't save you.

"We knew you would try and sneak the best spot for yourself, so we compromised, we all get to huddle together to split the comfort equally and since you were busy we both decided to split zhe viewing difference, hope you are ready for a night of light comedy~".

"Alright fine, I can't really say no to anything there, so will you at least let me sit up? The smell of the goodies is making me hungry and I can't seem to reach far enough" for all my attempts to crane my neck out a half open box of Valentine Gourmet Chocolates was just out of reach, only for Erika to step in.

"And now is the time for us to negotiate, my dear leader" I can feel her petting my hair like an animal, not a terrible feeling "you seem to be in possession of the last key to a good evening, a surrender here will both feed and entertain you for an evening and since we share your goal there should be no problem. Now I mean this in the least creepy way I can, hand it over".

It doesn't seem fair that she can make such demands of someone with their hands trapped by rolled up comfort with a serene little smile on her face, but taking my time to look at Cecile just shows that on a face that looks like a modern day angel, a smile can still cause bolts of fear down your back.

A wise Battler knows when you must back down lest you take more damage than is necessary, trying as hard as possible to make my eyes wobble in sadness, manage to wiggle the remote from the depths of its imprisonment you manage to poke it out of the top of your sinfully fluffy prison, an offering to appease the twin gods of starvation.

After considerable wrangling, both Erika and Cecile managed to reposition their new wriggling pillow into a more comfortable position for all three of them, retrieve the remote from its new home and even managed to bring the notepads closer in case so that any ideas could easily be taken down for later consideration, and together Team Aura whiled away many pleasant hours together, brainstorming what would become a large shift in the team play, but such was the benefits of being able to while away the quiet hours as friends and confidants, only retiring to sleep when the sun peeked its unwelcome head over the horizon.

 

[Steelhooves]

Technical Specifications



MSN-EX/05II Nightingale Asterion

Prototype Newtype Use Psychoframe Heavy Assault Mobile Suit

Head Height 25.8 Meters

Overall Height 31.2 Meters

Base Weight 49.7t

Full Weight 107.2t

Power Sources Minovsky ultracompact fusion reactor

GN drive Tau

Generator Output 6760 kw

Armour material Gundarium Gamma

Altitude Control Verniers 42

Effective Sensor Radius 23 420m



Equipment Full body Psychoframe sytem

Sub Arms (2)



Standard Armament Arm mounted beam sabers (2)

Vulcan Cannon (2)

Scattering Mega Particle Cannon


Handheld Customised mega beam rifle

Shield

GN Buster Tomahawk

3 Micromissiles



Remote 10 Funnels





Distinguishing Features

While the suits primary paint scheme is a dark red reminiscent of dried blood, the whole body has a delicate gold pattern formed like buttercup flowers aside from three locations, the left shoulder, right knee and right hip joint where the pattern has been shattered. These are the sites of match losing battle damage that did not destroy the entire unit and so were memorialised in the style of Japanese Kintsugi art.



Physically the suit differs little from the standard aside from the fact it stands a little taller due to a correction in posture and the front and rear skirts being shortened to increase leg manoeuvrability. The largest worked change is the removal of the shoulder binders and their replacement with ones based in the Sazabi's. The binders have been repurposed as wing binders based on the Kshatria's and include I-field projectors and small integrated fuel tanks.



The shortened tail binder of the Nightingale holds its worst kept secret, A GN drive cannibalised from a Brave Commander type that was on sale and bought for parts, while not truly innovative in the manner of some of the others in the league Hellenike saw the need for a weapon strong enough to challenge any defence and so crafted a long hafted double bladed axe from GN condenser and fitted GN field projectors on the Nightingales front facing to maximise defence.

 

[Steelhooves]

The days between their collective pit stop and the upcoming opportunity were filled with frantic activity for everyone in Team Aura, in between acquiring all the needed kits and parts and keeping up with their studies, the institute was understanding to a point, but one of the conditions the Team operated on was that they maintain a degree of academic success and so could not be forgotten, but for those used to having to make snap decisions two days was more than enough to prioritise then execute. All that was left on the day was to pick up their bags, make sure that no parent went unhugged and hop aboard the complimentary ride sent from Nielsen Labs and enjoy the rolling scenery as they pondered what was going to happen that day.

When the curved outline of the Yajima labs came into view it took all of Hellenike's considerable willpower to not start bobbing about in her seat in glee, this was it!

This was the start of the big leagues for her and her friends!

All of the near misses and almost were now paying off, make a good impression here and doors would open for everyone involved. The researchers could bring a revolution into the world and her team would have a way to sharpen their skills against any challenger, this was perfect!

But now is not the time for mooning about the future, the road ahead is long and winding, literally and metaphorically and the rolling hills and lush vegetation could not draw the eye forever, enough time for a quick check over to ensure everything was in place.

The guides had advised to bring only a change or two of clothes, any medication if required and in depth notes on their Gunpla and any equipment that they would be testing out as any tools or parts for repairs would be provided free of charge along with room and board as the next few days would be jam packed with trying to find flaws with the new system and get the opinion of current users on how the new system handled actual battle conditions.

Aside from the needed personal items the biggest package was the neatly typed biography that they were required, this was the one thing that each of them had decided to work on separately as a way to stretch their creative muscles and to avoid becoming too similar...but no one was going to see what you have coming no siree!

Pulling in front of the multi-story glass front of the Nielsen comple really helped hammer in just how big this whole thing was, you and your friends were attempting to stand on the shoulders of giants and a single misstep would see you fall, but you were not alone, seeing that you already had company at the doors helped ground you and as you pulled closer, you can identify your friends and two others you don't quite recognise, a feeling tickles the back of your mind with the missing knowledge.

The car coming to a stop knocks the last of the leaden weight down and freeing you to sweep your pack off of the seat next to you and in the same motion sweep yourself out in a smooth movement that not only allows you to put on a decent pace, but also close the door and wave a hand at the driver in thanks and in a final display of coordination manage to slip on the unwieldy backpack without bowling yourself over, 10/10 and a gold medal to you!

The quick jog to catch up to everyone gave you precious time to try and put a name to some very nice faces, the man in front talking to Erika with a smile on his face in particular had a solidly handsome face that should of graced a works of art, indeed the only this that drew my eyes as I closed the distance was a glint of light on his hands as he gesticulated, the flash blew away the fog and I barely suppressed a gasp as recognition slammed into me; Nils Yajima!

The Adonis in front of me was the man who made everything here possible!

The Man who stepped down from competing because a mere championship was not enough for him!

You can almost feel the stars in your eyes as you slide to a stop beside Erika and clamp down hard of your inner fangirl as his warm brown eyes sweep over to you and crinkle as he tails off what he was saying as you close the distance and give both Erika and Cecile a good start, revenge for the burrito incident my friends, and pause long enough to start talking.

"Now that the gang is all here I would like to welcome you all personally to the Nielsen Labs, it seemed right to greet our newest volunteers before you started anything and wish you the best of luck" with that he pivoted around and gestured for us to follow him, quite an energetic one it seems. "Now that you are all here I am afraid that I will have to leave you in the capable hands of doctor Furukawa, he is the Project Manager on the team that is working on the new battle system and he will be coordinating your work for the duration of your stay..." with the he turn to the four of us and sketches a polite bow, a true gentleman it seems " once more I and everyone here are thankful that you have come to work with us and we hope you enjoy your time here, Doctor?"

The man in the lab coat behind us, who until now had seemingly been content to trail behind us as we took in the bustling scenery around us stepped forward, a small smile just visible under a well-trimmed beard.

Hellenike could almost feel her friends stare at the man in front of them, he could not look more like a stereotypical scientist if he tried, from his white bushy beard down his perfectly turned out lab coat to work shoes you could see your face in, with any luck he is going to be sooo long winded they were all going to fall asleep as they walked.

That was why Nils had abandoned them, even someone as perfect as he must have grown weary of such a stereotype that he used three teenagers as a shield!

Your name is Erika Muller and you must make a decision, after your first impression of Doctor Furukawa was swept aside by a greeting so clipped that she was sure that it had given all of them a haircut. On top of that he had immediately spun on his heel and was now gaining speed remarkably fast for someone so rotund.

Turning to your friends to see just what they were doing and how you should respond to this, only to see that your redoubtable lead standing stock still, her eyes glazed over and mouth parted as if she was still picturing the most horrible of fates in her mind, heh, now I just need to time this right...c

Deep in her mind Hellenike had realised that she had frozen up, something as silly as a man who looked like Santa yet acted like the Grinch had been too much for her in a moment of vulnerability. All it would take is a a small nudge to help her centre herself, just a small push and normalcy would return, right? It's not like you may have taken the time to pull a small prank of Erika in the last few days, something as small as a shovel would not come between friends, right? It's not like she could have seen what you had packed secretly with your beloved Nightingale...right?

To the score of people walking the plaza at the time it had started as nothing, just a new group meeting with a scientist then pausing for a few moments to catch their thoughts, only to have the quiet hum of conversation split by a shriek slicing through the hubbub like a knife, eyes by the score swivelling to the source could took in quite the sight. Three teens seemingly frozen mid jump scare with the shorter dark-skinned youth apparently having been caught off guard and pinched from both sides by a taller grey coated figure while the third cherry blossom pink figure seemed to be doing her best paparazzi impression with her phone.

With that mystery solved and the crisis seemingly averted the attention faded, leaving Hellenike a dilemma, turn tail immediately and leave Cecile with enough evidence to keep her secrets safe and sound on her online accounts, or try and strike back against Erika the living taser and make more of a fool of herself.

The answer was obvious really; calling on all your feline instincts like worlds dampest cat, you hiss like is was the last thing you were going to do, then spin around hard enough that you can swear you feel a tail slap your back then retreat as fast as you can. Luckily you catch sight of a lab coat disappear around a corner up ahead, now it was just a matter of hoping that the others could keep up, otherwise it would be im-paw-sible for the others to find you!

Heh. Cats are so silly.

With the hustle to catch up no one had time to try any subtle moves until you all arrived at the same door as Dr Arakawa, who by now was giving you all a single raised eyebrow and a certain curl to his beard that implied less then positive things out the lot of you, but all you can do is shrug and smile. Friends will do what friends gotta do at this point.

An uncomfortable few seconds pass as it feels like all three of you are being put through the visual ringer, a quiet snort was all you got before the good doctor turned to the door, pulled out a card from his pocket and swiped the thing on the side to allow you all in to what felt like the largest freezer you had ever seen, looked like one too. Sterile white tile and glass left a clinical impression only slightly marred by the cables strewn about the place.

The only splash of colour in the room as a single painted walkway leading to a row of three large booths that seemed to take more than a hint of cockpit blocks from what looked like every series seen so far, but ended up looking like an ugly mash up instead, gonna have to poke the marketing department there.

Instead of doing what Hellenike was expecting and breaking out the usual bombastic science talk about all the advances that he had made and the wonders that the new technology could bring, Dr Arakawa simply turned sharply and walked into a glass enclosed area off against the left hand wall without even looking back, a quick glance at your two minions showed that even they were a little put off by the sheer indifference being given off here, but with no other option then to slowly chill you might as well follow the distressingly sane scientist into what by all rights should be a box of madness.

Sadly, there was little to no madness here, only regular science. With the three of us standing in front of what the early 2000's would assume to be the height of computer science and giving it the best stink eye we could manage while trying to process what we had been told. "Sir, sorry to ask but what is it again?"

A quiet sigh told me all I needed to know about what he thought. "What you are looking at is the first computer to make large scale use of Plavsky Particles in its computing system, in short it allows quantum computing on a smaller scale then previous attempts and it also allows us more computing power for a given amount of power, we are using it here in an attempt to find limits on it processing capacity while it's in use, that said we came up with a new challenge for it. You."

I can feel a sense of rivalry spring into place at these words, the not so jolly Santa wanted us to have a crack at his computer baby? We were gonna break it in half, your team are a collection of internationally capable Gunpla Battlers and they were going to being going against the world's most expensive paperweight? You were gonna destroy it so fast...

A tap on your shoulders broke you out of your reverie, and with your face faintly glowing you focus again and get back on track "I assume you want us to take this thing on in a battle right?"

A small huff followed. "Hardly, we will be running this system at full capacity, in order to do that we need to introduce unusual variables to existing scenario's to see how the system reacts, that is why we had you draft characters, we will run them as part of the system to see how you far you can push the simulation and still stay in character, the goal of the first experiment would be to test the simulations ability to take existing characters and adapt them on the fly to suit circumstances they would never have had to deal with. You do have the required materials, right?"

At this all three of us bobbed our heads as one, this had been a big thing for us, a guilty chance to meddle in a beloved franchise in whatever way we wanted, this was more than we had honestly expected, better than just rounds and rounds of battling, as nice as that would have been, but this seemed like a whole new ball game so to speak, so let's seize the moment.

"Yes sir, we suspected they might be needed so we figured it would be a good idea to bring them, here".

Acting as one was a skill that had taken weeks to pin down, exacting practice that paid off handsomely as we simultaneously moved our masses of paper forward and stopped simultaneously, truly we were a team to be feared.

An eyebrow quirked "Paper? I didn't take you three for the old-fashioned sorts" he takes them none the less and turns to his machine, not even giving them a cursory once over, yay for trust I guess?

A feeling that was shaken when he was done and turned back to us and taking in our expectant faces with a hint of surprise. "What? If you were expecting to be able to start right now I apologise, the system is not optimised for quick start and likes to take its time working over the small details".

In turning away, I felt the we were being dismissed, but before I could motion the others Arakawa's voice sounded out again, softer this time almost as if her were musing to himself. "unless there was a pressing desire to test the future of course, then I am sure that the system could easily be made ready in time for a small lunch and a quick change, if only I could find a group of willing volunteers to test it..."

It was easy to read now, hidden by his sharp movements and standoffish actions so far, now he was standing still.

It was plain to see the slouch in his shoulders and the hanging of his head that the weight of his work must have been baring down on him like a weight, I suppose cutting the man some slack would be the most mature option giving all he was offering us.

Lunch was a speedy affair, as nice as the scenery was and as enjoyable as the meals were, there was too much to do and more than enough time for a proper meal later after all when the dessert section takes an entire page one must take appropriate measures.

It eventually took a little over an hour for lunch to be consumed amid brief snatches of conversation for us to find ourselves in front of an increasingly familiar door.

With no time for any of the friendly jostling we would normally have I stepped forward and rapped sharply against the blank exterior.

The man who greeted you at the door was almost unrecognisable, gone was the hunched posture and sharp expression and in their place was was a broad shouldered and smiling man who seemed to have found joy again, it seemed that we had had a positive effect after all.

Quickly motioning the group in the professor took a deep breath and began to talk "Thank you all for returning so quickly, while you were away I realised that have not be fair to you. I allowed the stresses of my work to overcome my gratitude for the aid you will be providing us in the coming days and for that I must apologise" I think no one was expecting the man to bow to us, wow. After returning to his previous stance I could almost see the relief in his eyes as he began to talk again. "While the past cannot be changed I will endeavour to make the best of the now, to that end does anyone have any questions? Anything you are unsure of? I want to to be prepared for your leap into the future"

Such a shift was more than a little off putting, so it was no surprise when Cecile stepped forward and spoke up, she was always better at going with the flow then you. "I have just one question, why have us create a character then simply have us act the way he wants? It seems a little much work for something you are normally able to simply walk into".

Now that you think about it, she is right. Strange now that you think about it.

Watching the Doctors face light up at the technical question was sweet, like he had just seen a beautiful sunrise. "Ah, that is more a limitation of the system so far. At this point we are having a problem reading and responding to human reactions. With the differences between people the system is as of yet unable to do so without problems. That is part of what we need your help". It was here his hands left the comfort of his pockets and began to gesticulate around the work area, as if to emphasize the size of the task ahead of us.

"To summarise, since we built the new system to learn how to react to different circumstances as a person would, the problem is that we have hit the limit on how far we can simply program in responses, now we have to let this baby grow up in its own way and we hope that your tutelage helps it grow" It was quite amusing seeing him articulate like a conductor in front of an audience of hundreds that ended with a grand sweep of his hands towards the cubicles we would soon be sitting in with a maestro's flourish.

Seems that a sit down had done him the world of good.

"Now before we jump right in, I took the time to look over the information you gave us, and while I may not be quite the literature buff, I was surprised by the differences in the characters you three created, although..."

Oh dear, I can feel his eyes on me. Judging me for my self-insert sins. Please Minister don't judge this poor sinner for her imagination. Better act fast to head this off. "Well as interesting as our stories are, they are nothing without a setting to put them in so let's get this show on the road!" Hoping that the good doctor takes this as a spot of showmanship to go along with his and that the spin and bow towards the door will help hide my embarrassment.

Hope is a cruel treat to wave in people's faces, only seconds after leaving the work area I could feel the vultures circling, ready to joke. It's only a matter of who. A question that resolves soon enough Cecile almost skips into your path to freedom with a smirk on her face. Don't you dare...

"How special is a snowflake?" A smile that would not look out of place on a shark graced her face.

Make like the Disney movie Hellenike, conceal don't feel, and for god's sake don't let them know! "Uhhhh very?" Abort! Abort!

"Aww, the first steps in to the world of SI OC's and I missed it! Just think of all the evil we could do together, cobbling twisted monstrosities of purple prose and then releasing them on an unsuspecting audience! Just think of the potential damage we could inflict! "

Note to self when someone can keep a calm pace while over dramatically punctuating every point with her hands has officially gone too far to be saved.

Just before I set foot in the cupboard of doom, I take the seconds to flag Erika's attention and just quickly lob the small box I had covertly tucked away to her. Her quirked eyebrow told me all I needed to know, after all of this I can be ready to dodge a thrown shovel and hope she sees the joke in it.

Inside the box was almost a disappointment, aside from using what appeared to be Time lord magic to fit a space big enough for some gymnastics in, all that was going on was what appeared to be a generic mobile suit chair and just enough lighting to see what you were doing. Well, no time like the present so might as well take a seat.

After taking the throne for myself I discovered one of the first innovations of this new system, after settling down a holo screen popped up over my left hand and was displaying a series of names, familiar names;

• Gundam
  
  
• Gundam Mk II
  
  
• Zeta Gundam
  
  
• Double Zeta Gundam
  

And the list went on and on, seemingly encompassing every suit that the designers could think of, even some odd ducks "what the hell is a G-Savior?" A click made my decision for me, an obvious choice really since my suit was designed after the Nightingale, might as well go with it.

"Since two of you seem to have all found the model selector and with it the ability to customise your cockpit arrangement, and if Lady Cecile has finished making her selection I will begin activation, I would advise you to close your eyes, the boot up display can be a bit disorientating".

Hah we will see about that; no bright light was gonna keep me from seeing the secrets...

What Hellenike was expecting was not what she got. Instead of amazing technical secrets all she saw was multicoloured needles being driven into her eyes long enough for her to reflexively slam her hands over her eyes and yowl like a kicked cat.

While the pain may only have lasted a matter of seconds, the laughter could be heard loud and clear even outside the sealed compartments, and all you could do was silently swear vengeance on the traitors, banishing those thoughts in time to peel your hands away from your eyes and see the minor miracle that had been performed around you.

Gone was the featureless wall around you, taking its place were panels and switches and blinky lights galore!

Even the chair you were sitting on had seemingly changed to suit your choice, even the seat had altered, becoming a smooth green colour and gaining a centre console with a broad screen on its face, now this made you feel like you were piloting a machine!

But the thing that stole your breath away was the view, stretching around you was a field of diamonds set in the darkest obsidian, a view that only space could provide.

While the view was breath taking the next wonder to hit was the sheer silence, absolutely nothing could be heard such was the wonder of modern sound damping technology cutting every little noise from outside leaving you with nothing but the sound of your breathing and a single chirruping beep accompanied with a flashing button on your console, pressing it with a solid click brought Dr Arakawa's voice into your silent world.

"Hello? Good, I can see that you have all connected I will keep this brief to give you all more time to try out the new system, you three are currently sitting in an undecided location in year 70 of the Cosmic Era. From here each one of you are capable of deciding where and when you want to go and what you want to experience and how it will challenge the AI, you can chat amongst yourselves on how you want to proceed, you can take your time as we have nothing planned for the rest of the day, good luck ladies and enjoy this to the fullest."

With the line cut off by a click my attention turned to some of the other newly lit up buttons, the one selected bearing an icon that looked like three arrows pointing away from a speaker. A little obtuse maybe but the meaning was not impossible to figure out.

"Beep?" simple is best.

"Hnn?" Erika at her simplest I see. One more attempt. Click.

"'Allo~" It's all I can do to repress a snort, Cecile refuses to change.

With a third press lighting up all three arrows it's time to figure out the order of business. "Soooo... anyone actually know what they want to start with? Just wanted to check before I set off, I always wanted to see what happened to put Lacus in her pod"

"Hnnn, I want to see how the system handles large scale destruction, might go and knock out a colony, see what looks like and hope the physics engine is solid" well, that sounds loud. Target identified, time to needle.

"Don't you want to try out my gift? You seemed so eager to receive my gift".

"Bite me Dreemurr, if it were real, I would dig you a nice hole for you to hide your dignity in, it would not take long."

Before the inevitable scathing retort I was desperately working on could be finished, a queenly laugh cut across the comms.

"Ho ho ho...as much as it amuses me to see the peasant's squabble like this, I feel like my time would be better spent perfecting my aim with these new controls, a sniper is nothing without precision after all. I just need to find a large collection of moving targets and I will be fine".

Damn it woman, I can feel you posing in there! Get your hand away from your mouth and sit like a normal person!

Angry invectives aside a familiar voice sounded out once more, startling all three of us from our chat.

"Sorry to interrupt girls but I have received an urgent call and I need to attend to it as soon as possible, so if you have decided what you want to try, I can start you right there, it does not have to even be the same point in the timeline so you are free to pick anywhere you want. Miss Dreemurr, where would you like to go?"

It only took moments to decide. "Yeah, I wanna see how much damage gets done if Lacus never gets put in her kennel, might be funny to see if I can beat the Archangel there".

"Alright, I can put you within sight of the battle, aside from that there is little I can tell you as I cannot remember how that part goes, just remember to have fun and I will see you when you are done. Good luck".

And with that I decided to lose my eyes to prevent a return of the eye monster, when I not only feel a return of the stabbing pain but a feeling akin to having every cell in my body getting dragged sideways.

And pain. Bolts of fire and lightning tore down every nerve with every beat of my heart.

Unconsciousness was a blessed release.

 

[Steelhooves]

Technical Specifications





GX-9901-DX(EX-EM) Gundam Doppel EX



Classification Prototype Newtype-Use Assault Mobile Use



Head Height 17.3 Meters



Overall Height 20.7 Meters



Base Weight 78.5t



Full Weight 84.6t



Power Source Ultra Compact Fusion Reactor



Armour Material Gundarium Gamma



Altitude Verniers 28



Effective Sensor Radius 21228m







Equipment G-Controller

EX-Satellite System

Flash System



Standard Armament 2X Vulcan Gun

2X Breast Launcher

2X Hyper Beam Sword

Customised Satellite Cannon



Hand Held Beam Machine Gun

Defence Plate






Distinguishing Features



Standing in contrast to the Nightingale Asterion's over the top paint scheme, The Doppel EX has a deliberately simple design of primarily porcelain shade of white with bright red highlights and a hint of gold decoration.



While most would immediately notice a bright white suit Erika came of with a simple yet highly effective solution, cannibalising the local clothing store for usable materials Erika managed to create a full suit sized beam mantle that not only provided a degree of stealth but also was much more durable then the standard, when asked how she had made such a detailed mantle, Erika simply shrugged and stayed silent.

 

[Steelhooves]

Waking up in a pilot seat was never a pleasant experience. No amount of padding could get around the fact that even an augmented human body was simply not designed to lie in this position for hours on end. Reaching up to toggle the active sensors was a good way to begin to shake off the pins and needles, enduring them even for the seconds it took to get rid of them was maddening.

Even with its sensors set to automatically wake her on detecting anything unusual it was better to be safe than sorry, and with propellant at a premium it was wise to check regularly on exactly where you were.

In seconds you had found the cause of the uneasiness that had woken you, there was off course and there was this.

Waiting for the right time to leave had been nerve-racking right up until you had found where they had been storing your Assault Container, all the better for rapid assault you had later been told when you dropped that bombshell. But if you didn't want to fly and extra three hundred and fifty million miles then you had to live with it.

Just looking over the sensors gave nothing away, I had been on a direct flight from Axis straight to earth, but somehow, I had drifted considerably, I was now in what astronomers would consider inches of Lagrange 5. Well when in Sweetwater, act like a tourist. A good a chance as any to stretch my legs and top up the tanks. Maybe even take a tour around the site that had led to the creation of people like me.

With nothing better to do I figured that I might as well see if I could spot the hulk that was my target, Londonion, with the location of Londo Bell being well known even to their old enemies I could slip right under their nose and use my planned sob story as a convenient way into safety . Only for there to be another issue, the complete lack of Colonies.

Sides were all laid out in a specific pattern to minimise the chance of something accidentally moving one and causing a problem for the others, this made working out the position of every colony in the area easy, but since they were all missing I had nothing to work on.

The realisation slid a blade of ice down my back.

How could they all be missing?

Either the stars are all wrong or someone has wiped out an entire side.

Oh.

Damn.

Damn it all.

Fuck!

Calm down, let the meds calm you down.

Stop and think, if something has taken out an entire Side there would be evidence of it. Someone would have noticed, now all you can do is find out what's left and get out of here, even if you could help the longer you stay the less chance you have of making it back to Earth and beginning your job.

It was only the comforting luff brought about by some potent medication that allowed you to sail through what was possibly the largest graveyard in history.

The worst part was the lack of anything, no chunks of masonry, no signs of heavy Minovsky Particle diffusion commonly left behind by heavy weapon fire. If the worst had come to worst and the Colonies were gone what was earth like? A blasted hellscape most likely and if there was really nothing here to be found you would have to hope that your supplies could be stretched far enough. With nothing else yo do it made sense to explore as far as you could before giving up and turning around.

After almost half an hour of fruitless cruising and with hope almost gone, the beep of a detected heat source felt like a ray of sunlight through storm racked skies. The signal was at the very edge of my sensor range and flying parallel.

No point in giving up a free waypoint and whoever this is seems to know where they are going, and since you have nothing better to do it seems sensible to have a closer look at the mystery.

Even with a boost from your suits sensors you have a hard time picking out enough details to tell exactly what you are looking at, were you not on the ball right now you would feel a sense of kinship with any suit that had such a proud red paint scheme, the lack of obvious weapons bar a sword holster at the waist was unusual, but it was nothing you had not been trained for, now it was just a matter of following your new friend until they got home.

Only seconds after you were done trying to pick out more details of your friend the warning beep of the massive object alarm trilled, with a thought you brought up an enhanced picture of your new contact.

Huh. Things sure have changed if this was how they were building colonies now.

Hourglasses, old timekeeping pieces from long ago that were rendered useless in zero-G. And now they were here, writ large and tied together with glimmering strands stretching along in rows as far as you could see.

A beautiful sight marred by a scene of devastation, one of the hourglasses had been shattered and smeared across space, held together only by the thinnest of strands, now you have somewhere to go and with your escort aiming in that direction you take the time to have a detailed look at the structure.

What you see does not paint a pretty picture, amongst the clouds of shattered debris you see the highlighted shapes of two ships, one with the sleek lines of a civilian craft that looked like it had been worked over badly.

The other contact bore the brutal simplicity of a warship and even as I watched it took another pot-shot with one of its top mounted turrets, a worrying sign if they were not giving the fight their all, but now is not the time for thoughts like that, what you have found is a golden opportunity.

If this new earth sphere had any sense of civility any ship carrying escape pods would be allowed to dock and let the victims disembark, such was the desire to save lives.

It was especially lucky you had found someone in a Mobile Suit around as you didn't have to launch and reveal yourself too early, it would be enough to ping a message to the other and see if they was willing to do rescue work instead, you could always appeal to their better nature, or if nothing else a little early exposure would not be the end of you, just need to remember how to call someone with your brain.

It had only taken minutes to get into contact with the now named pilot, Lowe Guele hadn't told you why here was heading this way but you could make some informed guesses.

Between the two of you the plan was simple, he would try and extract as many people as possible then fade back to try and take the heat away from you, you in your apparently unarmed shuttle would make a beeline for the nearest safe port, it was convenient that he never thought to ask if I knew where that was.

It was clear as you got closer this plan had better start now. The white hulled passenger liner had sustained damage all over its hull with fires breaking out and then just as quickly snuffing out.

Now that you knew where to look you saw Lowe darting around what appeared to be sporadic interception fire, not enough to pose a threat but enough to make him pay attention. You were too far out to pick out anything like a life pod at this range anyway.

It was disquieting how little time it took for a warship to destroy a target even when it was not giving it everything it had, mere minutes after the scene had come in to view Lowe had returned with only a single pod clutched in his Suits hands.

The moment after you had opened the belly hatch enough to allow the pod in but not enough to allow a clean view inside the hanger, you saw an explosion blossom in the distance that signalled the deaths of hundreds that could not be saved, more deaths that could have been avoided, you sigh softly and set about exiting your cockpit, taking care to tuck some emergency supplies back under your seat, they attached enough to prevent any unfortunate accidents but there was no point in tripping up if you could help it.

Drifting down from your perch was always enough to remind you of the wonders of zero-G living, the sheer amount of space freed up without gravity to hold you down made any building on earth seem small with the skeletal gantries allowing you access to your precious Nightingale Asterion whenever you wanted to tinker, this was everything you had ever wanted really, and now you had something else.

Sitting in the furthest corner of the hold was a lumpy little thing, pale green and only big enough for one person, seeing such a small pod only reminded you how many had been lost not an hour ago, the thought makes you hiss as you touch deck.

Now was not the time for thoughts like that, you needed to avoid doing anything that might require chemical rectification, that was one thing you could not afford right now not when you were going to try out something new.

Stopping in front of the pod, noting it looked quite like the walk in freezers back in the labs, sure you had never been allowed back there, but with only so much space in a facility you had time to pry into all sorts of places, and the best way to avoid being seen was to know where everyone around you was, luckily a lot of work had been done to boost what little Newtype awareness you had awoken, giving you quite the ability to feel the emotions and intentions of those around you.

While you could only really get the most use while you were piloting, with a little effort you could do the same within a few feet. Perfect for checking on the occupants of a small pod, especially when you might just have to rip your way into it.

Running your hand over the front panel and focusing on the feeling of other feels like watching a stream, babbling quietly.

Perfect, no sign that this is someone in distress so now how to crack open your present, without a firm grasp of the computer systems required you may as well take a firm grasp of the problems.

Looking over the foremost panel you see the edge of the hatch and how snugly it mated to the bottom of the door, and if idly pawing at it was not going to open it then you were just going to have to break out the cutters, finally.

One of the fringe benefits of the increasing miniaturization of beam weaponry was the civilian tool market had gotten more energetic, like this cutting torch that was sliding through the inches thick plate like it was nothing, shame about this working though, I had wanted to try out the beam saw and beam pick and the beam drill...

Sometimes the tool cabinet is a little tempting, but with the panel neatly sliced off it is a simple matter of waiting a few seconds for it to cool then hoisting the panel open against the screeching of the motors trying to keep you from your prize.

Once you had forced the panel open the next door was more of a challenge, since this looked to be more of an airlock then the shield of of outer door this might actually take some work, or a bigger saw.

It was fortunate that you had not brought any tools into the pod, otherwise you would have been too busy sawing away to notice the manual release lever flush with the wall and with a disappointed sign neatly masked by the hiss of released air you dodge the rising panel and on instinct avoid the flying pink ball that zooms past your face. Sloppy, attacks like this are easiest to execute on opening a door, too bad you had seen it coming.

Instinct long honed brought your arms up to catch a follow though blow that never came gives you time to look over the pod's occupant.

It was strange how peaceful someone could look floating in a small metal box, her cerulean eyes watching me with a focus I normally see in a very interested doctors, but her expression, like someone who had just seen a fascinating political speech and was trying to work out how they could benefit from it.

That alone was enough to give me pause, this was someone with the time to dye their hair a bright pink who knows what would happen if I were to give her time to wander the shuttle, better set to distracting her quick.

Raising my hand in what I understood to be a fairly universal greeting and tried to start talking to the first person who had not experimented on me in forever.

 

[Steelhooves]

For Lacus Clyne, daughter of the PLANT Supreme council chairman being stared at was normal, a career as an Idol singer had gotten her accustomed to it.

But this was different.

She had never looked into eyes this dull before, even accounting for the utterly strange pilot suit the person before her gave the impression of a walking corpse, the spark of life gone even as they raised their arm in a robotic wave and started speaking with a strange rough accent that she could not place.

"Are you wounded or have any medical conditions in need of treatment?"

This one was direct, not wasting a moment on platitudes, the sheer simplicity brought a smile to your lips. " Thank you for your concern but I am unharmed, if I might know the name of my savior?" Pushing off the back wall to meet your helper bring you close enough to get a good look at her face and what you see only increases the resemblance to a particularly fresh corpse. Skin so pale it was a wonder that she had any blood left in her and cheekbones that stood out enough it looked like she had not eaten in days.

But it was her eyes that could put the shivers down your spine, at a distance they looked like flat disks of copper, but when you got close you could see the pupils, small glassy indentations that flickered with every movement.

The sight was so mesmerizing you almost forgot something very important. "I'm sorry for my little friend almost hitting you, when he heard some noise outside, he got a bit excited and almost hit you, I hope you can forgive him"

It unusual trying to hold a conversation when the other party was almost monosyllabic answers you have gotten so far but the small smile you saw was a positive sign.

"It's OK I was expecting something like that and a little robot was hardly the worst thing that been thrown at me, now let's get you out of here. The hanger is hardly a place for chat".

It was strange the way they acted, reaching out like a knight, so playing the part seemed like a good match, reaching out and taking her hand gave her a good view of the echoing space she found herself in.

It seemed for the most part much like every industrial space she had ever been allowed in, crates and boxes packed neatly against the walls and secured with bright yellow bands, dotted around the hanger seemed to be clusters of machines most likely for repairs and work required to keep the ship flying. But what drew the eye was the monster sitting in the middle of the hanger. You could recognise any suit currently in use even if you had no need of the information, but this beast simply did not fit anything you knew.

Blood red was a colour with many connotations, not all of them good and the golden patterns gave a sense of prestige and wealth where any other would have seen waste.

While the body may have had a clean elegance to it the sheer mass left it taking up most of you vision regardless, leaving the gantries cocooning it as little more than spider webs.

As you both kick off and head towards a large door in the far wall you can see more of the mysterious suit, now you can see most of the back a tail is revealed, curved and dotted with thrusters enough to almost hide the large cone tucked underneath, and what could pass as mobile armours were they anywhere else, studded with guns and on large swivel mounts. If it was anything like the new suits this thing would be able to dance.

It was only as you come to a halt to let the door open you see the weapon rack, while on paper you have little to no knowledge about the intricacies of arming mobile suits, you are familiar enough to know that no suit uses a rifle long as it is tall, or one that had an under slung cylinder, in some ways your lack of knowledge was a good thing, it gave you a hint about where it came from by how little you know and that scares you a little.

Someone out there is producing suits like this with no one the wiser, mitigated only slightly by the fact that the person you assume to be the pilot seems willing to interact with you, even minimally.

As the double doors shut you turn your eyes back to your host, the suit they are wearing is bizarre, the suit is far more bulky then any you have seen with large dark blue pads strapped to her arms and legs, the chest piece is seemingly strapped on with light blue bands, but it was the helmet that really stood out, it looks like a normal pilot helmet in the middle of being eaten by another helmet, the result looks faintly ridiculous but served to draw the eye back to the pilots face, which now that you focus seems a lot less haggard then even a few minutes earlier, almost like a normal human face right until your unnamed host doubles up and clutches the railing and violently stabs a button on the control panel.

In the seconds it took you to fling yourself over to her side your new friend had started shivering hard enough for you to feel through their oversized suit, there was little choice but to act.

"What's wrong? What can I do to help?" There was little else that could be said over a sudden shriek.

The rail between your friends hands was warped to the point it had torn and the jagged edges were now vibrating, you had heard of nerves kicking in after a fight but never like this, the only thing you can do is try to keep their head steady and try to keep them talking.

It's okay, everything will be fine we just need to get you somewhere to sit and a nice hot drink and you will be fine, just look at me and focus on me, can you do that?"

It seemed silly to talk like that to a grown woman, but anything is better than nothing at a time like this. "T...t-hanks for the concern, b...b-ut I can manage is a little bit. This never lasts long".

The cargo lift coming to a halt knocks the worries caused by that sentence out of your head for now, you just need to find a place to sit down and get a warm drink in her hands, and maybe a name to go with everything else.

Supporting your friend down the newly revealed corridor was easier then you expected, for all the bulk of the pilot suit they did not weigh as much as you feared and you made good speed despite having to stop at nearly every intersection to check for directions, a surprise given that nearly every captain you knew had the layout of their ship memorised, but you could put that down to state they were in and try not to think of the implications of that until you destination comes into sight, a small cafeteria.

There was little here except some automated serving machines and some chairs attached to tables.

While you may not have recognised any of the brands available you do manage to pick a coffee each and sit both of you down. The sheer rarity of being able to sit down with someone and have a coffee is enough to make you smile at the normalcy of it.

After having basked in the cheap plastic embrace long enough, you realise that the sound of chattering teeth has subsided and the sound of chair legs squeaking has quietened down.

taking a beat to look your new friend over before you talk you can see that enough blood has returned to leave them looking just pale rather than corpse like, a decided improvement. "Are you feeling any better? Is there anything else I can get you?"

She shakes her head. "There isn't anything you can do but thanks for the concern, normally I just wait it out in the cockpit before getting back into action".

Taking a second to recompose yourself while she takes a drink you file that information for later consideration and keep talking." I am just glad I could help; you saved my life after all and I don't even know the name of my saviour".

After setting her cup down your friend managed a shrug large enough to be seen though her suit. "Sorry I didn't think I would get this far, I never had time for pleasantries so all of this is quite new. I am more used to talking to people through panes of glass and sparring rings then across a coffee table so you might have to take the lead here".

It takes more effort than ever to hold in your shock at the bombshells that just got casually dropped.

What kind of life has she had that these things are normal?

What kind of people would do something like this enough that someone could consider this normal?

If you ever found out where this was going on you would ensure that it came to a halt, whatever it took. "still I would like to know the name of my knight in shining armour, after all we never go properly introduced, my name is Lacus Clyne".

It was telling how little reaction you got, not even a twitch meant two things, either she had been ignoring most musical channels to avoid her music entirely, or as you were getting a feeling was more likely she had little to no exposure to things outside whatever facility she had been kept in.

A small sigh gave away that your attention had been wavering. "Which one? When I was on the clock I was referred to as Axis 1. I've spent so much time being called that I sometimes forget that I have a real name at all, but whenever I got a chance to sit down with some of the doctors and just talk, they always had time for me. It felt nice".

You can see it in her eyes, the distance caused by memories cherished. What kind of happiness was she viewing you wonder, but you were getting off topic. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me, you've done more for me then you had to and I am grateful for that".

She almost looked startled when you talked. " Sorry about that. I wasn't meaning to ignore you; I just tend get lost when I get given the chance. My name is Maya, Maya Rem Aznable if you are being formal, but I think we have come far enough that we beyond that right?"

She looked so earnest saying her name like that, like she was trying to assert her own identity with her name. "Well, now we are acquainted perhaps we can talk more, I want to know more about the woman who saved my life, anything you want to tell me that is".

Conversation was a stuttering affair, Maya had little to say for herself and you were not sure just how much you could tell her without letting slip something you shouldn't but you both manage to make do, whiling away the hours with pleasant chit chat until the ships clock on the wall dinged the ships equivalent of midnight, the moment it did the spell was broken and you feel the exhaustion drop onto your shoulders and nearly drive you sleep immediately.

It was only the act of bumping your head against the back of your chair that prevents any accidents, the chuckle from across the small pile of cups seals the deal. "I was wondering when you would start to dose off, after everything you've been through, I was kind of expecting you to slip away any second, but I suppose even cheap coffee is still coffee after all. I can offer you somewhere to sleep is you have any preferences".

It was sweet really, saved from a horrible fate by a knight and swept off your feet to safety in their saviours' mighty castle, you could turn this into your next song and sing Maya's praises to your adoring audiences.

That was work for later though. "My thanks, of you have anywhere with a view of the stars would be the best, but anywhere is more than I would have had if you were not here".

Maya's lips twitch as if suppressing a smile. "I think I know somewhere you should be comfortable, it might take a little effort to set up though, if you want to nap here and I will get you when it is ready".

You were content to let your splitting yawn be your answer and close your eyes, only to be gently shaken awake what seemed like seconds later only to discover that it had been almost half an hour.

The walk was hazy, all of the coffee you had drank was only now starting to work its way out of your system and sleep was now calling sweetly and only them bump if stopping was enough to snare you and keep you grounded enough to take in the view of your temporary room.

Before its transformation this must have been some kind of viewing station, one of the walls had been replaced with a curved section fitted with bubble windows to maximise viewing potential with a fold out bed dragged into best viewing potential, this was more then you had expected and the last thing you feel is a warm buzz of happiness as you are practically carried towards the bed, the twinkling stars are especially beautiful tonight.

The next two days could have been mistaken for a small holiday were it not for the news being picked up from the earth sphere, an attack on Heliopolis had been interrupted by what had been referring to as a pillar of light that had streaked in and obliterated the precise section of the colony that had been housing new prototype mobile suits, the damage had been contained enough to only cut a building sized hole in both sides of the colony and leave the bulk of the structure intact, if now very empty.

The thing that had you both concerned was that no one had either seen the attack coming or who had launched it, the attack had come so suddenly that almost everyone in the vicinity had been caught and annihilated, leading to the singular ZAFT ship to escape limping away and a near pristine earth alliance ship to make their escape, it would be too much to ask if you could find a ZAFT ship after what had happened, you can imagine your father pushing this as evidence that something new was being pushed and that they needed more communication to try and prevent another assault on an innocent colony, but the hawks on the council would probably try and push for a quicker end to prevent the loss of more of their kind.

You sigh and shake your head to try and dislodge the oncoming gloom, Maya was down in the hold running maintenance on her extraordinary suit, you had no idea how she seemed to know enough to maintain everything by herself, most suits required teams of technicians to get by but she seemed to have memorised everything she needed and the most you could offer was friendly conversation and an extra pair of hands.

It was fascinating to watch Maya potter bout her suit, keeping up a constant stream of idle chatter for hours as she checked and rechecked every part, never once seeming to grow bored or distracted.

You could not imagine how she had become so adept with such an advanced suit at what you can only guess to be a younger age, even in the PLANTS where youth was seen as less of a barrier then ability she would have stood out.

While you are able to follow the general threads of what she like to talk about your focus on social studies and politics means you get lost when she starts hitting more technical details, but half the fun comes from seeing her smile as she works, the other half comes from seeing the confused faces she makes when she realises that you have been slyly leading her off topic until she says something embarrassing.

It was during one of the breaks you had organised when you realised that if it were not for you that Maya would continue to potter around from breakfast until she fell asleep where she floated something had not changed during the two days you had known her.

She had not once changed out of her bulky pilot suit.

Broaching the subject was slightly awkward so you just decided to go for broke. "Are you feeling alright? You haven't changed out of your suit since I got here".

She seems a little surprised over the third sandwich she has eaten in as many minutes, you could not help but feel a little feminine jealousy when you first saw how much she could eat with no problems. " Thanks for the worry but I feel fine, it's just a matter of readiness. I never know when I might have to use the ships systems of run a software check on my Nightingale and the suit helps with that."

She takes a chance to polish off the sandwich and take a large pull of what the bottle had charitably called Crimson Cider and as you formulate a response. " I am curious, I have never seen anything like your suit, where did both of you come from?"

You can see the expression on her face around her mouthful of sandwich stretch into a wide-eyed gawp of surprise. "It's like we have been having too much fun to talk about ourselves really, unless there are things you don't want to talk about?"

With a quick jab Maya finishes off both the sandwich and the drink in one fluid motion and sends both cartons soaring into a waste bin at the far side of the room, sighing as she straightens up. "Neither of us have been entirely honest with each other and that is what we both expect, you don't know enough about mew to trust me with anything of real import and I need you more as a bargaining chip than anything else, but I think we have gone beyond that so I am willing to extend a small olive branch. A question for a question, sound good?"

Staring into those copper disks was enough to remind you that while you had been quietly observing her all the while, those copper disks had been following you as well.

Might as well see what happens with a little honesty. "Let's, if I may go first?" You take the silence as an agreement. "Simply put, what are you here? Everything I have been allowed to see shows technology that is leagues different from anything I have seen before, so why come back to earth?"

You can see the question swirl around in her head for a second before she replies. "I've spent the bulk of my life being trained for this kind of thing, there was always something to do on the station that took me in and people to talk to as well, everyone was nice but after so long I wanted to get on with it you know? Get out of the lab and see what was going on. The lab was not a bad place, everyone was kind and friendly to me but there is only so much to do on a station and eventually I started to peek into places and open doors that I was not allowed to and..."

It's enough to make you giggle, the gentle blush and odd spinning gesture she makes with her hand implies plenty, the sound gives her the impetus to continue.

"After the shock was out of my system, I realised I might as well ask, the staff had apparently been expecting this, turns out I had been kind of driving everyone a little crazy. Turns out hiding in vents is a good way to scare people by the by and the effort of trying to hide my birthday gift from me had almost been too much but they had managed to keep both this ship and my suit from my sticky fingers long enough for this to be a surprise."

She stops and breaths deep, eyes closed then opened again when she does the copper disks sparkle with joy. "There was one present that I hadn't expected. A personal visit from Casval Rem Deikun himself! One of the most respected pilots in the entire principality came all the way out to our little satellite to visit me personally!"

Maya is almost rocking rolling around in her chair, her hands intertwined and lost in the memory, it's strange how animated she is now compared to how she is normally, it's nice.

The excitement only lasts a few seconds before she snaps back to reality and steadies herself on the table with a sigh. "He told me everything I wanted to know, he told me that I had been chosen to be the first person to be sent back to earth as a vanguard! He told me that I had been specially chosen when I was very little and that I had been given a change to represent the nation of Zeon to the Earth sphere! It was everything I had dreamed of!".

After hearing the excitement build the change in tone was slightly worrying, sadness creeping in like an unwelcome breeze.

"But when he told me that I had to do it quietly, I was to sneak in and explore the world to see how it had changed, we know that things on a planet don't change very quickly and that people will still fight for silly things like which patch of dirt they want or which god they want to worship. We don't want to come back without knowing enough to help the people of earth so I have to do this quietly or all we will get is what the government wants us to see. But you..."

It feels like Maya is deliberately tailing off to focus on you more and the way her flat copper eyes sparkle bring an almost magical feel to the inspection.

"You were the only person that was pushed into an escape pod off a non-military ship that we could find, you were worth sacrificing others for, that means you are important. Now I am not the kind of person to hold another against their will or something so let me make you an offer, we find a friendly ship that you can be allowed on to and I use the fact that I was around to save you to tag along and see what I need to see; deal?"

Keeping your composure at that moment was one of the hardest things you had ever done, the reveals here blew the casual chat of the last few days away.

The idea that there were colonies that had left the earth and travelled out into the solar system seemed impossible, but given that you were on a ship that seemed like a small, well-polished factory for the maintenance of a single suit.

While the suit was a mystery that you were sure that any of the factions would love to get their hands on, it was the pilot that grabbed your attention and held it tightly.

Maya Rem Aznable had clearly been raised as some sort of human weapon, for what reason you didn't yet know for causes that you didn't yet understand.

Everything you knew about these kinds of projects told you they should be nightmares that created monsters, but for all that she has heard Maya seems like anyone on the street, even when you talked, she was pleasant and even chatty at times. While she may never said anything of real importance there was always a funny story about something she had seen or done, even as far as some embarrassing little tales that had made you blush; trust was something that both parties needed so this was as good a chance as any. " That's fine with me, I was hoping to spend more time with you anyway, although I wish you could see us at our best, I fear the attack on both my ship and Heliopolis means that we might be moving towards open war between earth and the PLANTS..."

She shook her head. "That is the reason I want to see everything as it is, I need to see the character of mankind without any sophistry and I can only get that if I do this quietly, besides, sticking by you means at least I can guarantee at least some good conversation on the trip right?".

Reaching out and grasping her hand to seal your deal and noticing again that you were not in control of the shaking action, you couldn't even make her arm budge even if you tried again raising questions about what exactly that lab had done.

The vice like grip was released only seconds later when a strange pinging noise emanated from Maya's wrist, drawing her eyes to a slim device seemingly worked into one of the large pads attached to her forearm and connected to a faint network of red lines worked across the entire suit, a decoration that you had only seen on close inspection due to the way light seemed to flicker down the seams.

What happened next was strange. When the beeping had started a gentle pulse seemingly flashed down the connecting lines around to the back of Maya's head.

If the first light had been startling what happened next was shocking.

The moment the pulses connected her entire suit lit up, the red lines now giving off a blood red shine, pulsing with an almost organic pattern. In almost any other circumstance you could have watched for hours, the pattern was almost mesmerizing, right up until you saw her eyes.

The flat copper disks were sparkling with the same red glimmer as her suit, turning them from dull copper to sparkling gold, the kind you now assume must have been seen only in ancient treasure hoards, it was both freighting and alluring. But most of all it was intriguing.

It was hard to restrain you interest to seemly levels, but you can't help but lean in and look closer. "how are you doing that?".

Maya starts suddenly, seemingly snapping out of a daze. "You mean my eyes? It's part of the integrated Psychoframe system that allows me to connect to my suit and control it. It's one of the things that was done in the Lab."

You still can't quite grasp how she can say such things without an issue, nothing in your experience comes close to this kind of thing, A part of you fears that what you are seeing is the result of Stockholm syndrome and would need help.

But a deeper part of you, one you listened to only rarely, could feel a connection between Maya and whoever she had known back there.

That little voice had never led you astray, so you would trust it and see where you got from here. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

It had become a common offer over the last few days and a good way to connect with each other, but this time there was no immediate response, only the tapping of buttons and a sudden laugh. "Ha! Sneaky little things been following us for the last few hours, but I see you~".

While you couldn't get the usual cues from her eyes, but you get a sense that her attention is anywhere else but here, her eyes flickering about, never pausing until the red sparkles fade and her pilot suit stops glowing.

She shakes her head slightly and coughs shaking off the cobwebs and turning back to you, it's hard to get a read on someone with such unusual eyes but you think you have it down, it's just a matter of other cues and what you see is interest.

"Have you ever piloted before?"

Not quite what you had expected, with worrying connotations. "No, I mean I have been in simulators and the like. Never anything serious really."

The fact that saying so causes Maya's eye to narrow and a small smile to form. "You have seen nothing like my Nightingale, I was going to have a little chat with my new purple friend and I want to show you how we do things back home."

You can't help but feel a trickle of unease as Maya smiles as she guides you down to a small changing room near the hanger bay and get you slipped into a generic pilot suit with none of the additions of her own, when asked about it Maya had replied that only she would be able to pilot the Nightingale so one one suit was made and sized for her, and now you have to squeeze yourself into an unfamiliar pilot suit you gain a small appreciation for why she never seems to take hers off.

After a few minutes of squirming to both shed your loaned clothes and into the freshly unwrapped suit you find Maya waiting for you outside the changing room. "Was my knight waiting to burst in the moment she heard a commotion?".

Maya coughed slightly and averted her head, seemingly caught in the act of attempted heroing but swiftly rallies and begins guiding you down the corridor. "Before we start just the usual safety warnings, don't touch anything and hold on tight, it's not a two-person cockpit but there are handles for you to grip onto so there is that."

Stopping at the door to the hanger for a second as the door swung open you feel a sense of awe at the artistry that went into the Nightingale Asterion.

Delicate patterns created by bonding genuine gold into the suits exterior panels created the image of flower petals that only gained details the closer the pair of you floated until you could see the broken parts, when you asked why someone would ruin such a beautiful piece of work Maya only smiled and said that something broken has its own magnificence and just needed someone to look for it.

Watching the suits head split open to reveal the cockpit was novel, nothing in your experience put the cockpit somewhere so exposed, but that was a mystery for another time as the red ball sitting behind the main camera hissed open to allow you both in and once inside the marvels continued.

Instead of a fixed seat surrounded by flat monitors like you were expecting, the chair floated in the middle of a sphere of screens anchored to the top of the roof by a mechanical arm with a pair of switch covered consoles attached to the sides, both being topped off with a large multi buttoned joystick each the gentle push to the side after the cockpit had sealed its self was the only thing that broke your concentration.

"It's alright to stare, but you might want to hold onto the straps on the back, we will be taking off in a second".

The moment she had entered Maya was a changed person, what little inefficiency in her had been pared away, now she was the pilot she had been made to be, every action honed to perfection as she sits down and starts booting up her pride and joy.

Before you even had a chance to reach the back of the seat the walls around you had flashed into a view of the bay, quite ingenious really, but the moment the suit stood up was a sign to finish reaching the straps.

Two simple loops of fabric were attached to the large dome of the chair, just behind the articulated arm, when combined with a pair of slight footholds gave you plenty to hold on to and time to see the large red and gold arms of the Nightingale reach out and secure the shield and axe attached to the wall and clipping them in place, it was interesting watching the large dark green axe disappear, you assume somewhere in the suits back.

While this was going on you almost didn't notice that you had walked over to a suit sized lever in the wall and twisted it open, causing the large hatches to slide open and reveal the vastness of space outside, a familiar scene given new light from the cockpit of one of the strangest mobile suits you had ever seen.

If your new vantage point had changed your view of space, flying around blew it away, the speed and manoeuvrability blew anything you had ever experienced away.

Looping and twisting like a dancer, even at times seeming to fly backwards; a trick of momentum more than anything had you letting out little yelps of excitement at the breath-taking course pulled and pushed you around with only your straps and boots holding you in place, and only Maya's voice cut through the faint haze to drag you back to reality. "Sorry but the fun ends here, our purple friend is close enough to get a good look at us, time to be serious".

You pouted slightly. "We can take another flight if everything works out right?"

You can almost feel the warmth of the smile. "if that is what milady requests, but first business."

going from a corkscrewing spin to a dead stop should have left you dizzy and nauseous, not even a Coordinator was entirely immune to G-Forces, but you felt nothing, another piece in a rapidly growing puzzle.

A pulse of red light traced around the sphere from the chair and connected to the rapidly growing silhouette of the new mobile suit and formed a window next to It, presumably trying to contact it on some open channel.

"Nice of you to show yourself after so long, care for a chat?"

As the seconds ticked by with nothing happening you took the time to make use of the benefits of a 360 degree display and truly look around, the stars outshone the most brilliant of diamonds out here, this is what all of humanity could see if only they could work together, you sighed subtly; before you could beat your swords into ploughshares and declare peace forever you would need both allies and somewhere to organise from, now you even had an ally who seemed willing to help.

An ally that was quickly looking irritated. "C'mon, if you don't want to talk just say so". She stops focussing on the little window and leans forward again, having relinquished them to appear more relaxed in the event of contact.

Immediately on gripping the controls a network of bright red lights flashed to life, while you may have doubted privately the small stories you had been told of expanded human consciousness being able to control a mobile suit, now you were not so sure.

Without any input that you could see you watch a targeting reticule form over the purple and black suit and you almost cry out, death in war was tragic enough, but killing here was wrong.

The words were on the tip of your tongue, when instead of a beam flashing out you see nothing, no sign of an attack being launched and so you fall silent, only for Maya's voice to sound out again. "Look, I don't want to start shooting, but if you are gonna keep following me I can't be held to account."

You can't help but lean close and whisper into her ear. "You aren't going to kill them, right? They haven't done anything yet".

She shakes her head. "Not unless I have to".

She turns her attention back to the unmoving blob on the screen. "Look, I don't want to start shooting, but I will if we can't talk something out, I might have an accident over here".

It seemed like the threat broke the spell and within seconds you heard a quiet ping, alerting you to a transmission on an open frequency. " You have my attention".

The figure in the image had polarised their faceplate so there was no face to go with the voice, but you felt your skin crawl at that voice, it rasped in a way that made you think whoever this was only spoke whenever in benefited them.

"I normally stay out of things like this, but you were too new to pass up ".

After spending a few days with Maya, you could pick up on the tightness that snuck into her voice at that. "Thanks for clearing up why you were following me, but you are gonna have to stop, it's starting to creep me out and I want to holiday in peace thanks."

It was off putting how little the mystery pilot gave away, for a little while they didn't move a muscle. "I think I will, someone as interesting as you needs time. But first, you should look on your left".

Most suits you had seen would have had to physically move to look, but this cockpit design rendered that unnecessary, even so the shift in attention still bought the stranger enough time to about face and boost away.

The suit managed to move a remarkable distance in the seconds it took to draw the frankly oversized rifle mounted over the Nightingales tail and aim at the suits retreating back, you acted without thinking, placing your hand over her right. "Please don't. They didn't do anything other than be a bit curious, please don't kill someone who hasn't done anything wrong".

You watch Maya's head shake slightly and the pulsing red lines fade almost entirely, averting her eyes like a child caught one hand in the cookie jar. "Sorry, sometimes I get a little too into things, all the power gets to my head a little. I don't think I was going to kill him, just a little warning shot, that's all I swear!"

At any other time, you would have giggled at the sincerity in her tone, but what you had just seen left you shaken, the willingness to shoot an unarmed man in the back was one you had to keep an eye on.

You smiled, there was no better way to hide what you were thinking then a long-practised smile, it gave nothing away and yet spoke volumes, exactly what you needed right now. "That's fine, just please don't kill someone if there is any other choice, we have to be better than that, now that nice pilot told us something was coming right? Let's check that out."

Without a sound the view rotated 180 degrees and after a few seconds Maya spoke up. "There is something, it's so faint I can't tell if it's really small or very far away, practically on the edge of my sensor range. Don't know how that little thing back there spotted it if I am struggling, but hey; It's time for an adventure if the lady desires?"

Well, if that's how she wants to play this.

You gesture imperiously. "Forward my night! We shall chase the dawn." And with that you boost of towards the glimmering dot marked out.

Any sense of fun you might have had at your little bit of horse play dropped like a stone when you got close enough to see what had been detected.

What had started life as a space vessel of a make unfamiliar to you now looked like a melted model of one.

The stumps of stern fins could just be seen on the hull.

Its belly was torn open and leaking some kind of fluid into the void.

Both of its leg like protrusions at the front had both of the lower halves melted into useless stumps along with numerous pockmarks across the entire hull.

Even the bridge tower had taken a hit but seemed to still be attached, if only by strands.

You couldn't even begin to grasp the dangers this ship must have been through, let alone the suffering of her crew, but when you turned to face Maya to get her to move in and help, you stopped dead.

There was nothing there.

No concern for the dead nor a desire to help the living, she mechanically reached out for the control sticks and started flipping switches.

Before you could say or do anything, without even time for an idea on how to get through to her, your world erupted into light.

 

[Steelhooves]

Technical Specifications


ASW-G-08 (EX-CV) Gundam Imperial

Classification Hybrid Extreme Range Mobile Suit

Overall Height 19.8 Meters

Base Weight 32.1t

full Weight 68.7t

Power Source Paired Ahab Reactors

Armour Material Nanolaminate Armour (GN Composite Shell)

Altitude verniers 36 (19)

Effective Sensor Radius 8750m (13428m)

Equipment2X Sub Arms
2X Connector Plugs

Standard Armament 10X Rex Nails
2X 200mm Guns
2X Heel Bunkers

Hand Carried Rhongomyniad




Distinguishing Features

On the surface the Gundam imperial is simply a misshapen rebuild of Double O's Zabanya carrying the mother of all rifles and drained of all colour, only on closer inspection does the oversized forearms and misshapen feet reveal more intention behind the seemingly clunky rebuild.

On closer inspection does the angular lines of the later iterations of Gundam Barbatos become visible under the stark white panels of the Zabanya, the contrast between the two has led more then on battler to assume it be simply be what is known in the trade as an Ugly; a mishmash built for looks over performance and focussing on the monstrous rifle in its hands and believing that close combat to be its downfall, the few that have made it discover quickly this to be false.

While the Imperial may hardly be defenceless in close range combat, it is at a distance it truly shines.

It was only after what had become known as builders fugue did Cecile Abbe realise that she had managed to solve a potential problem without realising it, The release of Iron blooded orphans brought Nanolaminate Armour to table and the advantages it brought, until a suitable counter had also been discovered with the introduction of the railgun, a simple concept but when welded together with four others and multiple parts from a Gadessa's GN Launcher and a pilfered GN drive to create an ammo forge to create solid spears of GN particles, the end result being capable against virtually any form of defence and with the extra targeting computers filched from a sleeping Hellenike, the capacity to strike long before most could even see what killed them.