Guide By Gunpla

His drill ground against the asteroid's hard stone, clad in his protective normal suit, he worked within a plastic bubble surrounding the asteroid for safety, just enough to hold some O2 incase some ones suit got ripped open from debris. This had been his life for the last 3 years. Mining iron,nickel, iridium, palladium, platinum, gold, and magnesium ore from asteroids in the belt. Him along with a crew of 100 other former Zeon soldiers. Men he had served with through 2 wars, proud men, strong men…

“Anavel” he heard spoken behind him “snap out of it, keep drilling or their gonna put you in the box again” his friend spoke softly, using the touch communications between their suits. Anavel lifted his drill and again began boring through the stone.

“Thanks Johnny, you know how I get” Anavel spoke

“yea I know, you used to do the same thing when we were in Kiev, you'd just have your head stuck up out of the tank, staring into nothing” he smirked as he floated away, planting his drill near enough to anavel.

They had served together during the Kievan Russo war, same tank detachment, same platoon the United Nations 79th Armored Division "Rolling Thunder". Anavel served as Platoon commander, with Johnny serving as their Saberfish fighter pilot, a scout and basically an airborn tank as far as Anavel was concerned, they would pin the enemy, and often Johnny would orbit them, his saberfish fighters vulcans tearing them to shreds.

As the day neared its end, they were transported back to the Salamis-class cruiser retrofitted as a prisoner transport ship.

“Ridden, you brought in 5 tons of slag” their warden said handing Johnny 5 tokens, used for food, showers, and disposables: cigarettes, body wash, shampoo, snacks etc.

“Gato, again you’re coming up short, only got 3” he said handing Anavel 3 tokens. The two men floated in along side the rest of their fellow prisoners

everything in the ship was caked with dirt, slag, and filth. A poor excuse for a former military vessel, full of men who now mostly seemed to be poor excuses for former military men. Broken. Weak.

“so, just a few more days till we ship back to the earth sphere….you goin back to Munzo” Johnny asked quietly as they moved to the vending machines that held their food, sat beside two steam ovens. Anavel remained quiet for a while until him and Johnny sat down to eat

“tonight...meet me in the showers, I need to discuss something with you” Anavel said nearly silent, causing Johnny to laugh

______________________________

as the water clicked on Anavel stepped close and spoke into Johnnys ear

“I received orders, through a mole the Blood of Zeon has inside the federation, it comes from the top….from Regent Duchess Zabi” he began. there was a long pause, both men making sure no one around them heard them

“no shit?” Johnny responded. Anavels eyes narrowed

             Char and Lalah walked for a while, mostly in silence, both of their minds clear of thoughts, simply watching the waves crash against the shore they walked along.

             “have you ever walked along a beach before?” Lalah asked, after a long while

             “no, the colonies I grew up in on side 3 didn’t have any real bodies of water, and I have mostly been stationed inland or in space up til now…..it’s nice, if I were to ever live in a colony with a  body of water, or god forbid move to earth, I could see myself building a house alongside the ocean, this is so calming”              “why would you say god forbid when talking about moving to earth, I thought that was your fathers one true wish….to move back to earth”              “it was, he always…..wait, my father?”              “you can’t hide things from me, I can read your mind after all. It’s alright though I won’t tell anyone about it, I realize you have to keep this mask on in order to protect me, and save those girls in the lab. Sorry I should’ve told you I was probing your thoughts”              “…well, yes you should’ve, but now that its out there in the open, yes it was my fathers dream that humanity would get to come back to earth, but we can’t. most of the globe is just salt water and sand at this point, the colonies were built as a cage, but the world outside of the cage is so much worse now then when we were put into that cage. Every cylinder on a colony can grow enough food to feed 150% of its population, the earth….I doubt it could grow enough for even 30% of the people living out there now.”              there was another long pause as they stared out at the ocean, the body of a zaku floated into view, its paint peeling off, and the high carbon steel below showed through, rusted and destroyed, likely the only thing keeping it afloat was the helium stored in its tanks that had failed to explode or leak out              “so you know my real name then, don’t you Lalah”              “yea, Casval…..your father was named Zeon, at least that’s the name you know he was given when he helped found the Contolist Church. Something about hot water and wine”              “old catholic ideas mixed with space age realities.”              “he called you Cassie, and he called your sister Arty. I like those names” Lalah said as she turned and looked at Char, her green eyes looked other worldly on her, as if she was looking into his very soul, which she kind of was.

             “so you know everything about me then huh…and yet I know nothing about you, seems a tad bit unfair” Char said as he reached up and took his helmet off, and his visor along with it, the world looking far brighter, and far more real without the rose tinted glasses

             “well….what do you want to know? I don’t mind telling you about myself, but where should I start?”              the pair of them followed the beach into a small sea side town, or the remains of one. The town looked to have been abandoned in a hurry, with cars still sitting along the road, and doors to homes and shops hanging open.              “well, where did you grow up? When did you learn about your powers? How’d you find yourself out here? If you don’t mind me asking of course” Char asked, his voice cautious

             “well, I grew up in Hyderabad in India. My mother was an Arcologist working with the local colleges Colonial science division and my dad was a politician, nothing huge though, mostly just treasury work”              “ah the earth born elite, must’ve been nice”

             “ha… it was awful, so many responsibilities. I just wanted to live, but it was always you have to go to your violin lesson Geetika, you have to go to your cram classes Geetika, you have to be home by 4 Geetika, your GPA is getting too low again Geetika. I hated it…I just wanted to be free, to explore. My parents didn’t understand it.”

             “Geetika? Is that your real name?              “yes, I was born Geetika Acharya Prasanna.”

             “so where did Lalah come from, I’m assuming you know where the name Charles Aznable comes from, but where did Lalah Sune come from?”              “ do you mind if we go for a drive? My feet are getting awfully tired” Lalah said motioning towards a derelict car that was sitting alongside the road. It was a small orange convertible, sporty, something that would’ve cost a lot of money.              “fancy….but I should mention, I have no idea how to drive” char said running his hand through his hair with a laugh.

             “oh right, you always had a driver, so you never had to learn to drive anything other than a mobile suit. Don’t worry I can take care of that” Lalah said as she opened the door and reached below the dashboard, below the steering wheel and began to muck about with the wiring harness to the car, until eventually the engine sputtered to life, the smell of burning ethanol filling the air              “what is that smell?” Char asked aloud              “its alcohol, have you never been around a car before?” Lalah said, patting the passenger seat              “well of course I have, but in the colonies theyre all electric, makes more sense, since you live in something covered in solar panels “              “well on earth we run cars off of alcohol” Lalah said as she put the car into gear and took off down the road through this old seaside town

“makes sense I suppose, it is flammable, and the sound the engine makes is quite pleasant” Char said setting his helmet and Visor in the footwell next to his feet and trying to relax as Lalah drove

“lords above, you can really tell just how high born you are sometimes Casval” Lalah said

with a laugh “so yea, I changed my name to Lalah Sune when I ran away from home, I didn’t want my family to be able to find me, I really just wanted to be left alone. There was a movie out at the time, Farewell Summer, and the lead actress in it was named Lalah Sune, I thought it was a nice name, so I took it. What we’re your other questions again?” Lalah asked as she pulled onto the on ramp to one of the old highways that snaked across the American west.

             “well when did you learn about your powers?” Char asked as he sat back into the plush suede seats of the convertible              “I think I always knew, when I was a kid I told doctors that I heard voices, that it was hard to think sometimes because it was so loud in my head, they thought I was crazy. Put me on medication after medication to try to fix it, I’d say I was about ten when I realized I could sort of control it by focusing on one or two peoples thoughts and then I would only hear those few voices, and when it was with people I loved, people I wanted to spend time with, it got much easier. It wasn’t until I met my first real boyfriend that I realized I was genuinely hearing their thoughts. I realized I could hear what he thought of me, and see what he fantasized about….it was quite freeing, knowing how much someone loves you, understanding them completely like that”

             “ugh, I’m not sure I could handle knowing what the people I’ve been with through the years thought of me. I’d feel so exposed” Char said laying his head back into the seat, watching the sky fly past over head as the sun began to set across the sea

             “well I mean, you’ve only ever loved Garma and another boy from when you were much younger right?”

             “I always feel bad that I can’t remember his name, he was my first kiss and I cant recall his name for the life of me. It was on a scout outing, my first real taste of life outside of Zeon and its trappings, no one treated me like royalty, I was just another boy in the woods. He told me he liked my eyes, and then he kissed me when the camp counselors were away….”

             “that’s why you fell in love with Garma right? Because when you saw him at your fathers funeral, he looked like the boy right? Same jet black hair, with the little curls in it?”

             “god there really are no secrets with you are there?….well yea, Garma looked like him sure, and he treated me the same way too, like I was just another boy lost in the woods. It was hard not to fall in love with him”

             “it is a shame you had to kill him, I can tell that thought is weighing heavily on your soul. But you felt you had no choice….couldn’t let your fathers ghost watch you become a member of the family that killed him….I am sorry you went through all of that Char.”

They stopped the car, as the road ahead of them was smashed and destroyed, a body of a Gouf lay shattered across it, oil and reactor coolant pooling up on the road ahead of them

             “thank you Lalah, it means a lot.”              “you saved me from a laboratory where every person in it would think about slicing my head open to see what was inside, like I was a pinata. I owe you more thanks than I could ever give.”              “I did the only moral thing” Char said turning to look at her, her green eyes again looked as if they held the entire cosmos within them

             “so often in war we want to be the moral and upstanding person, but within your heart I see that you know you cant always be right, that sometimes you have to be evil so that the right thing can be won out.” Lalah said as she turned the car around and headed back towards the flanagin institute and the Gow Char had come in on

               “so where will you go now? Now that you are free?” Char asked her

             “I will follow you Char, I know if I leave your side, my powers will be discovered again, and next time they might not take so much time to study me.”              “of course.”

 _______________________________

When Char returned to the flanagin institute he found Dozle was quite upset with him having broken Lalah out, saying that she was going to be a vital part of their newtype weapons program. Char informed him that he was going to train Lalah to be a pilot, and this calmed him somewhat. When char broached the question of the clones in the basement, and if he knew whose children they were, Dozle simple said

             “in war, sacrifices have to be made, and some men are strong enough to make that sacrifice.”

Char knew then that Dozle knew they were Gihrens children, he knew. He just chose to accept it as it was, as a fact of the world. An evil that had to be committed so that the right thing would win out in the end. No different to Dozle than killing Garma had been to Char. What a twisted world this had become Char thought to himself.

             He took Lalah aboard the Gow, and to his quarters, as an officer he had a private cabin, nothing outlandish. But he did have a private bedroom. Living quarters with a kitchenette and a bathroom to himself. He insisted on a second bed be brought in for Lalah, so she didn’t have to be near the common soldiers they were transporting as well.

             “I hope this is alright with you Lalah” Char said as they wheeled the spare bed into his quarters

             “oh its much better than I expected, in the institute I was kept in a padded cell, so this is definitely a step up” Lalah said with a laugh

             “I know this goes without saying Lalah, but everything we discussed today, no one can..”

             “remember, Char I can read your thoughts, I can see everything your minds eye can create. It’s fine, all your secrets are safe with me.”

             “right, of course. If you’d like I could go check with some of the female crew onboard, see if I could get some spare clothes for you, I think the only thing you took with you was that yellow dress”

             “that won’t be necessary, I typically just sleep nude. Growing up in india, sleeping nude in front of a fan was typically the only way to feel cold enough to sleep” she said with a side eye to Char, as small smile on her lips

             “oh….of course, well I will make sure to knock before leaving my room to come out here into the living area then, so as not to disturb you” char said looking away sheepishly

             “are you bothered by this Char? I know you find me attractive, and surely you can tell, even without the ability to read minds that I clearly think highly of you” Lalah said as she walked towards Char and wrapped her arms around his neck. Char felt himself expanding, his mind growing larger than his head, the walls around him disappeared, all he could see was swirling dust and stars, it was like he was floating above the milky way itself, the sounds of the waves crashing, and the feeling of floating at sea.

             “there is nothing to fear Char, I can feel you in ways that I have never felt a man before, you are a Newtype like me, we just need to unlock your powers, I can help you do that”

             “Lalah I don’t know what I am feeling right now, this is quite overwhelming”

             “we are melting into one another, our minds are becoming one, isn’t it a wonderful feeling Cassie”

             “it feels like I’m going home, I feel welcomed, I feel whole”

             “Char if you want me to stop, please just tell me….but I can tell you want this too, something inside both of us craves this”

             “I do, but Lalah, I’ve never, I mean….I’ve only ever been with Garma, I’m not sure I’ll know how to”

             “you are inside of my mind now Char, you’ll know”

               The world was a blizzard, a fire, a tropical storm. Small masses swirled dust around them until a planet formed from them. Humanity was formed, and they explored every inch of this ball of dust, until they could only explore what was above them, they saw the stars they saw the heavens. They touched the very face of god.

             Waves crashed, and Char felt his consciousness expand more and more. He could feel what lalah felt, he could see time, he could see the past, he could see the future, he could feel what had happened, what would happen. Lalahs third eye guiding him. He saw Lalah and him, in a small farm house on side 6, he could feel there was a family inside that house, that love would blossom in that small farm house.              was this his future?

                           Was he falling in love with Lalah?

Was this his past?

                                                         Was this a home his mother and father had shared before Zeon?

             He felt waves crashing as he made love with Lalah, it was different than making love to a man. But not wildly so, he had never imagined falling in love with a woman, he had never imagined himself falling in love for that fact. With Garma he always felt a pang of guilt when they were intimate, as Char knew how this was going to end. With Lalah he still felt guilt, but it was because of Garma, that if his fathers religion was right, Garma was likely watching him right now, making love to a woman less than a week after he had killed him.

             Garma didn’t deserve that, and Char didn’t deserve this

                           He heard Lalahs voice in his mind

                                         This is Life, none of us deserve it. It is a gift. And a curse. But we are different we aren’t tied to life the same way as others, our minds are free of it

               Char then found himself making love to Garma, they were both older, and there was a large bay window in the room, overlooking the Californian beaches he had seen earlier.              there were photos on the wall, Char in a tuxedo, and Garma in a white Zeon dress uniform, just covered in medals. A Contolist priest behind them.              was this a world where they had won the war? A world where Garma and him had married?

What was happening?

               He found himself now, a teenager, riding horses through the woods, the boy from camp was there with him, along with Garma, and a teenage Lalah, all riding horses through the forests of Side 3. The horse he rode on was familiar, it was Honeydew. His horse from childhood, She was okay, she was alive. She was fully grown

               “Lalah what are you showing me?” He asked concerned, this was terrifying, and wonderful

“as newtypes, we aren’t tied to reality the same as other people, when we’re together we can experience any reality we want”

He felt his mortal body climax, somewhere in the wake of this all, in the very distant part of space where surely his human form still lay, making love with Lalah

Char felt his body shrinking, he lay now as a baby, laying in his mothers arms as she rocked him, and sang to him, trying to help him sleep.

             He felt the world shrinking too, as he came back into his own body, Lalah held him, as he regained some semblance of consciousness.

             “I am sorry if that was overwhelming, I have never been intimate with another person like myself before, I wasn’t aware it would be so powerful.” Lalah said as she craned Chars lips to hers, kissing him softly

             “were those just fantasies? Or was any of that real?” Char asked as he sat up, he realized they were laying in his bed, and judging by the clock on his night stand they had made love for about 3 and a half hours.

             “I don’t entirely know, I know anytime I’ve made love I’ve ended up there, and when I was at Flanagan there would be times when I spoke with those experiments, I would feel my mind begin to expand the same as it did during the beginning throughs of passion, but I have only ever met 3 people outside of Flanagan like myself, and you are the first of them that I have ever made love with. I would occasionally feel my mind expand around the others, and moments where our minds would meld and we would fall into that place, where it feels like you’re in outerspace, but never like that, where we saw other worlds together.”              “I need you to teach me how to use this power Lalah, I want to be able to control it, I want to explore all of those places again” Char said as he kissed Lalah again

             “this country must’ve been beautiful at some point, feel kind of bad for having set half of it on fire” Dozle said with a laugh as their Gow flew over the Rocky Mountains, the remains of Salt Lake City below them, now looking like nothing but shattered glass strewn across the mountain. Zakus occupying the territory now, painted in stark white. Dozle, Char, Icelina and about 2 dozen crew men waited in the tiny room above the Mobile Suit hanger of the Gow, and watched as America drifted below them. The country had been ravaged during the Late AD and early UC by a monstrous drought and famine. A blight caused the great mono cultures of Corn and Soybean to die off, resulting in billions of farm animals being culled, the resulting food shortages resulted in hundreds of thousands starving to death. Poor water management in the south west caused hundreds to migrate elsewhere, and formerly rich and prosperous parts of the south west became completely abandoned. The country fractured in two due to political strife, in part due to arguments about how best to tackle the ecological disaster, resulting in the creation of the two countries the United States of Northern America and The Southern United American Republic in UC 0007. The North was able to barely survive the famine by switching to crops the blight wouldn’t effect, primarily potatoes and rhubarb. They tried desperately to genetically modify the corn and soy bean crops to be more resistant to the blight in the future, with only middling results. Resulting in food enough to only feed a quarter of their population.  The south however was able to transfer largely to imported food, and fish, but they had a harder time dealing with the increasing desertification, the rampant dust storms, and the massive floods they were battered with year after year. Eventually, they became the first to honestly consider what so many other first world countries would in the coming years, they began the process of forcing their populations off world through the Federations colonial emigration plan, at first willingly….and then, as the years went by, and the droughts got worse, the famines got worse, and more and more people died. by force. the early days of the UC were like that though. The world was dying, and the only option left for so many was to leave.

With a smaller population the southern American Republic was able to stabilize their economy and began plans to help stop the desertification, as well as hopefully reverse it. However that would be dozens, if not hundreds of years down the line. The earth was sick. In the hundred years before the formation of the universal century charter, 2 world spanning wars, runaway pollution and the destruction of much of earths fresh water reserves, a series of small scale nuclear exchanges along with the ensuing sociological, and ecological pressures those put on the planet caused the amount of the earth that was desert to balloon resulting in vast areas of formerly agricultural land to be swallowed by the great deserts of the world. with crop failure, famine, water shortages, and societal collapse eating up much of the world. The Mojave stretching as far east as Missouri and as far north as Wyoming. The Sahara having swallowed up almost all the land as far south as Angola, and the Gobi going as far south as Qinghai. So much land lost to the great deserts of the world. What choice did they have?

 The colony migration plan must’ve made so much sense back then, they must’ve thought they were saving so many millions of lives. if only they had known, Char thought to himself, that because of this all, one day, one of these colonies would come home, and crash into the earth so hard that it would split a tectonic plate in half. In a matter of months it would kill 3 billion of the remaining 6 billion people left on Earth. Through famine, floods and fires. Through volcanos, through tornados, through earthquakes. Life after life would end. All because of a want for power, a lack of caring about ones fellow man, about the world. A Want for control.

If only the people who wrote that damned charter knew what it might cause

If only people had taken better care of things   ________________________________________________________________

The gow touched down near a large laboratory building. The smell of the sea strong in the air. Mendocino had largely been spared of the worst of the ecological collapse of the Country. It was lush and beautiful. A true paradise in hell Char thought to himself.              “I haven’t really gotten to ask Dozle, why are we moving our headquarters to the Flanagan institute? “ he asked as the officers began the process of disembarking from the Gow

             “orders from Supreme commander Gihren, we’re supposed to run some tests here and then likely we’re going to reassign you to a naval crew for a few weeks…..I tried to get you some time off the front line, think it’d do both of us some good to have some time to grieve”              “Dozle, you don’t have to do something like that….really”              “no, Char… I insist. My heart feels like its breaking everytime I think of Garma. I picture my Mineva, I picture Zenna. I cant imagine how you and Icelina feel. I can’t imagine how father is feeling, I pray his heart can take the stress. That’s why Gihren took charge of the military, he wanted to give father time to process this all. I think some fresh air, some time away from the front lines, it could do us all good.”              char looked out at the beautiful scenery around the Gow

             “you know I might take you up on that, make sure Icelina is taken care of here, she’s not just our Princess, she is still the daughter of the USNA’s president, who I believe is in power, even if its just in name.”

             Dozle knodded at him as Char walked down the ramp to the ground below

The lab they were near was called the Flannigan institute for Zeonic Military Research. It had a… reputation. Soldiers got sent here, came back different. What went on inside the walls of the institute were classified. Char knew they would frequently send POWs here, and that a lot of their research resulted in new mobile suits and new weapons.              “Mr. Aznable, please follow me” Char heard a voice call to him as he stepped off the ramp of the Gow               “My name is Dr.Tonus, I am a researcher here at the institute, we have been reading over your exploits and wanted to show you around the facility and possibly run a simple test, just to show you what it is we research”              “I’m really not the one you should be kissing up to, Commander Dozle is right there, if you are wanting additional funding I’d speak to him instead” Char spoke back in response

             “sir this isn’t a request for more money, this is a request to show you, one of Zeons most decorated officers what is in our militaries future.

               Char followed him into the building, there were people walking around the halls like in asylums of old, people who seemed confused, distraught, and lost just wandering the halls, dressed poorly and in various states of poor hygiene. It was revolting. The researcher led Char into a back room, where they could see into another room via 1 way glass.

             “now Captain Aznable, watch our subject behind this glass. She will guess the cards that are shown on the television screen in front of you, that is showing us footage of a researcher in another lab who is acting as our sender”

             Char looked into the room and a woman wearing a bright yellow dress, and of what he believed to be middle eastern decent was re arranging the cards on the table into the same pattern as the researcher on the television.              “quite well, so she can perform simple card tricks…..fantastic use of Zeons resources” Char said dismissively

             “eh, but watch this Captain Aznable…..I want you to imagine something, something concrete and real, something you know well, and hold that image in your mind”              “Lalah, if you could can you read the mind of the man in the room with me, and tell me what it is he is picturing?”              Char felt a wall of ice overtake him, his body tingling as if he was diving into a cold pool. The chill of it slid through his brain, feeling like a spear of ice rolled through his mind, peeling away at the layers of gray matter              “he is picturing a man with dark black hair, they are in a bathroom with concrete floors and steel cabinetry. There is a smell of tobacco in the air” she said, her voice turning into a laugh towards the end as she realized what it was Char was remembering

             “that’s enough. So what is this? Some psychic research program?” Char said turning and staring daggers in the researchers eyes

             “…well, yes. Minovski particles make long range communication by radio waves too difficult, so we are researching controlling long range weapons through…..well less conventional means. And Lalah here has been the most successful of our experiments. She was brought to us from West Bengal, she was being used by a card shark there to help him gamble. When she grew obstinate, he abandoned her, and she was taken in to one of Zeons shelters in the area where our men found her, and shipped her back here for study.”              “and the rest of the…..subjects, in this facility. Why are they so…..vile”              “well, before Lalah, we had been experimenting with getting these abilities by grafting brains of clones of people with similar abilities onto the brains of POW and lower ranked officers, a super soldier program so to speak”              “clones of people with similar abilities? Dr.Tonus, please elaborate….because what you are saying is making me want to pull my side arm out and personally shut this whole facility down right now….this sounds like human experimentation, and at that, forced human experimentation…..which as you know violates the antartic treaty as well as the teachings of Zeon Zum Deikun”              “Captain, the war will be won by whoever can harness these powers first, and by who can harness them the best. As you have already seen, the federation has 4 pilots who can out pilot even you….surely they have already started to harness Newtypes for combat use”                            “Newtypes…..the people who Deikun said would be worthy of inheriting the earth, you think that means this? That it means psychics?” Char snapped at the man and pulled his gun, pointing it at the man

               “yes sir, spend a few hours with Lalah, you will believe the same as we do, Newtypes…..they are worthy of salvation, we are simply trying to find a way to elevate the rest of us to their level” Char lowered his gun and looked back through the window, then at the small man, who said with no fear the evils he had committed……viewing them as aspects of Chars fathers teachings

               “show me these clones…..I need to document this, send it back in a report to the high command.”              “before we do that Captain, we do want to run some tests on you….we want to test a theory” ______________________________________________________________

Char found himself hooked up to a machine, a wreath around his head, and a blood pressure cuff on his arm              “am I just testing the same thing that the woman from before was testing?”              “yes Captain, I want you to clear your mind, and try to see what it is the woman in the room across from you is looking at”              char looked at the cards in front of him, and thought about how stupid this all was…he did wonder though

             He cleared his mind…and for a second he felt like he saw it, at the same time he felt it, there it was a line of ice through the middle of his brain, right into the top of his spine.              he arranged the cards and the researcher knodded at him

             “promising” he said as he took the cards away, and wheeled in a small box, with a T shaped item in it, the top bar balancing on a blade, like a knifes edge

             “all I need you to do is to move the top part of this metal bar, so that it makes contact on either side of the case, this will trigger an electrical contact, and turn on a light in this office.”              char emptied his mind and tried to slow his hands trembling and stared at the metal T

After about ten minutes just as the researcher started to walk towards the box to push it out of the room it tilted and made contact

               “now…..now that we have finished your stupid tests, show it to me” Char said as he ripped the wreath off his head.

  __________________________________________________________

Dr. Tonus walked Char into a basement, where all around him in vats were young women and men, all blond, all quite young.  Dozens and dozens of them, tubes and wires hanging around them, and skewering their bodies.

               “they are all clones of two children who were donated to the facility about a decade ago, we had been studying their abilities at that time, but our research wasn’t folded into the military until recently when Supreme commander Gihren decided that our research could be useful to the war effort.”              char walked over to the tanks and looked at the faces of the children

             “their features look familiar…who donated them?”              “well…..unfortunately that is classified Captain Aznable….their lineage is unfortunately a state secret at this time”              “ah, I see…..so they are his children, it’s unmistakable, the jaw line, the ears...they look just like Girhen when he was younger. Wonder who the mother was…that too is probably a state secret too isn’t it” Char said craning his neck to look back at the doctor

             “well….yes…..unfortunately it is”              “are the children, this mysterious man left here, are they still alive?”              “yes they are taken care of in the eastern wing, they are about 13 years old now”              “13, and how old are the children in these tubes? Surely they all haven’t been floating like this for 13 years.” Char said looking at the children, they looked to be in their late teens, early 20s,  surely these clones weren’t so young.              “well, we are injecting them Human Growth Hormone, a combination of Steroids and developmental enhancers and of course they are being dosed with sedatives so they are largely unresponsive, we really just need to get the brain to the right size so that we can excise the parts that we believe are responsible for the Newtype Phenomena. We then graft that part onto the brain of the test subject, though it has so far been unsuccessful…Lalah has been able to telepathically communicate with 2 of our test subjects who became nonverbal after the fact, and they seemed to have still been mentally capable, though we still need time to perfect the surgical process as well as the drug cocktail that will be required to prevent rejection of the parts of the brain that are grafted on”              “I don’t understand…how would sticking someones brain matter onto your brain give you their powers?” Char said turning to face the man

               “well, you see….this is difficult to explain, but when someone learns something often there is a physical region of the brain, a new organ that is grown. We noticed it in the late 20th century while examining Einstein’s brain. He had a knuckle shaped area behind his right ear, and we saw that same shape, that organ in people that had one thing in common with him, they were violinists. In a normal human brain, that region would be missing, just smooth gray matter but if they had studied the violin in childhood, there it was, the violinists knuckle right behind their right ear. A similar region we called the seat of the pianist would be closer to the center of the brains of those who had studied the piano. Our early tests were with excising those parts and implanting them in others, and surely enough often they could play the instrument in question after the surgery, though they lacked the muscle memory to properly coordinate their body with their mind. But the newtype phenomena is purely mental, we know if we keep experimenting we can uplift ourselves to their level. There is no muscle memory to overcome. “              char looked around, these were human beings

Their bodies were being harvested for war

They were being made into weapons, no not even weapons

Parts of a weapon

What happened to the child when their brain was harvested Casval wondered

Who thought up this monstrous idea

             “who ordered this research? Who pushed for the cloning, the brain surgery”              “well….Supreme Commander Gihren of course, and the use of them in military applications was further expanded by his sister, Rear Admiral Kycelia. She has begun production of Newtype use weapons to be used in the war effort, we just need to create a decent pool of soldiers for her to use first. “ “this is disgusting…” Char said as he turned away from the man. He began to walk out of the facility, Revolted. As he was about to reach the door though, he felt a line of ice sliding between the lobes of his brain once more. And a woman’s voice in his ears

               “you saw the children in the basement didn’t you?”              he didn’t know how to respond should he speak aloud, should he just think? Instead Char simply knodded

             “it is monstrous isn’t it. I am scared every day they will come for me….that they will carve me up the same way they did those children”              Char swallowed in fear as images of surgeons, doctors, and blood filled his mind, he felt like he was drowning in a horror movie

             “please you have to take me away from here” Char stormed back into the building, past the lost souls that wandered the halls, and into the room where Lalah was still being studied, grabbing her by he arm he spoke aloud

               “I am captain Charles Aznable, and I will be taking this women here with me, if you want to fight me on it, take it up with my commanding officer Dozle Zabi.” He then pulled the women with him out of the facility. Off into the sunny Californian afternoon they walked Lalah free from that horror

             “due to the ongoing land war, I unfortunately cannot send you back to the homeland for Garmas Funeral service, unfortunately not even the high command will be able to leave. Even I must stay behind and make preparations for our Temporary Capital here in New York to be moved to Mendocino California. I do apologize to both of you.” Dozle says across his desk to the two in the room with him, Garmas wife Icelina, and Garmas ex lover Char.              “I understand completely, we would be far too easy a target for the federation. We need to fortify our positions, and push forward with the invasion of Jaburo.” Char said, sitting up and walking towards the exit to Dozles office.              “but what of the man who killed my Garma…..what will we do about them? Chars report said they were loading an airship when he Gram and Garma got there, cant we send a fleet of Gow after them? Avenge my beloved” Icelina stood, shouting at Dozle

             “Icelina, you must understand the federations warship out guns any ship we have earth side, its main cannon was able to knock a gow out of the air with a single shot, and our guns do not even scratch its hull, and we are too far away to stage another run on Arnold Airforce base, and even then we have thrown dozens upon dozens of our best mobile suit pilots at them there, and everyone of them have been wiped out…..our hands are tied” Dozle said, sitting back in his chair, tears welling up in his eyes. He too wanted to avenge his little brother              “all we can do now is try to complete Garmas dream, and finish the conquest of the Americas, once we take Jaburo we will have South America under our command, then Zeon will control from the archipelago of northern Canada to the tip of Chile in the south. That is all we can do now to avenge Garma” Char said turning to face them again

             “and what of the Princes Killer, this sniper? Can we put a bounty on his head? Something to inspire the troops to stop him?” Icelina said tears rolling down her cheeks

             “that is a fine idea, honor and glory to Zeon” Dozle said, his voice cracking as tears continued to well in the giant mans eyes. ____________________________________________________

             Gihren stood in front of a massive portrait of Garma, and behind that a giant mound of Chinese bellflower, symbolizing Garmas eternal love for Zeon, and his new wife.              his speech was more to rile the troops and demand action in his brothers name, his uniform was different though, no longer the red uniform of an officer, but now a black uniform, with gold fringe, and the Zeon coat of arms stitched into it. The arrow the flower and the hawk, all in gold leaf.              Char sat watching it at the bar inside the great ball room of the former presidential palace, wearing the only civilian clothes he had, a white suit. The lights off save the screen of the television. He had pulled a bottle of UC0061 Wild Turkey whiskey from the shelf and made himself one whiskey and water after another. He was sipping through his second glass when Icelina sat next to him

             “white is a poor color to wear to a funeral Charles” she said grabbing the bottle from Char, and pouring herself a glass, no water or ice, straight up.              “I’m not attending a funeral, I am drinking alone at a bar” he said sipping at his drink “I felt that was obvious.”              “that tone is far too rude…… figured you would at least bother to show a small amount of respect”              “I paid my respects when I saw his suit fall in Kentucky and as I walked back to Civilization. I said and felt all I could on the way back.” He sipped again “right now, all I want is for this charade of Gihren stealing the reigns away from his father to be off this television, and to get back to work.”              “he talked about you a lot you know” Icelina said, sipping at her drink

             “I assumed, we were very important to one another” Char said turning to look at her, his eyes obscured by his red sunglasses, a tiny smile appearing as he thought of Garma

               “so….if you don’t mind me being so frank, were the rumors of you two being…..well, I mean he was my husband, I feel like I should know”              “he still is your husband, even in death your marriage bond is not broken, that is one of the core tenants of a Zeon Marriage.”              “oh…”              “and yes we were together for quite a long time. We met eachother while at the academy, and at first it was just teasing and exploration, but it evolved over time. I would say that before the war started I genuinely loved him…..but those days are over, and that ship has sailed. War changes a man, I am not the same man I was when I shipped out of Zum city and neither was Garma. When we met again at the party to celebrate your wedding, we were to eachother like strangers. Still, my soul aches to know he is gone forever now.”              “I’m so sorry for your loss Charles…” she said, setting a hand on his arm              “no, it is I who is sorry for your loss Icelina, Garma was a wonderful man, and we were both lucky to have loved him….I am sorry that your marriage, your futures together were cut so short, if only I had seen that sniper before it was too late.”              the two sat in silence as the chants of seig zeon called out over and over again, echoing so loud the TVs speakers crackled and popped.              “why do you wear sunglasses all the time? It makes you look like you have something to hide” Icelina said, a small girlish laugh in her voice as she finished. The strong alcohol obviously new to the young woman

             “they aren’t sunglasses, I’m colorblind, theyre corrective lenses polorized red blue and green lenses so my eyes can better distinguish the colors”              “oh so the propaganda about you having been nearly blinded by cosmic rays was true then? A soldier made of Zeons advanced Science”              “hardly, I was born like this. It’s a common malformation among those who were exiled from the earth. The rods and cones in our eyes don’t develop correctly due to a genetic abnormality, and without these glasses, green and red, blue and yellow, they all look the same to me. On the battlefield, being able to distinguish between colors of enemy ships and mobile suits can be key.”              “is that why your suit is bright red? Picked it by accident or something? Thought it was green like the rest of the boys” she said with a small snort in her laugh

             “what? No….I picked it because Red is the color of an officers uniform, also because I just like the color. Reminds me of those old legends of the Red Baron from World War 1, a single pilot that no one could stop. Just seeing a red plane would cause fear. I loved that idea”              “that’s romantic Charles”

             “….Garma said the same thing when I told him about it” the broadcast of Garmas funeral ended, and the news cut back to the talking heads of the earths media. Talking about how blasphemous it all was, false kings, false prophets.

             “Charles can I ask you something….I have studied the Contolistic religion, but I have never understood the seig Zeon thing, I know that Seig is victory in old german, but are we calling for victory to Zeon Zum Deikun? To the organization of Zeon? To the Zabis?

             “dad, I’m so sorry, Honeydew tripped while we were out riding, she can’t get up. Dad what do we do” the young child called up to his father, an older man, twice the age of his wife, and ten times the age of his young son.              “son, Honeydews leg is broken” his father said, cold and expressionless, looking at the horse laying in the mud mewing in pain. His son barely tall enough to ride it. Apparently too young for the responsibility.

             “but the animal doctor can help her right? The man who came to give her her shots? He can fix it right” his son said, tears in his eyes pulling at the robe his father wore. Regal and clean, white and gold

             “son he could set her leg yes, he could mend it and it could heal. But it will hurt her forever. She’ll never walk correctly again. She’ll never live a moment of her life not in pain again. The right thing to do is to put her down. “ he said crouching down and running his hands through his sons blonde hair.

               “Cassie, go grab the rifle from the car…..it’s the right thing to do” His father said, his tone low and calm

             “dad no! we can’t! I love Honeydew you can’t kill her!” he said tears pouring down his face

             “I won’t kill her son….you have to do that, she’s your responsibility. She needs to know that you made her pain end”

 His father went and grabbed the bolt action rifle from the back of the black limosene that sat at the front of the stable. The boy laid there holding the horses neck, trying to comfort them. His father came back, rifle in hand and put a hand on his shoulder

               “Casval, it’s time.”

 ________________________________________________________

Char lay slumped against the control panel, his zaku buried slightly in the remains of the woods that the forest fire had left behind. Kentucky was still burning, and he was still far too close to the federations mobile suits to be safe. He couldn’t breathe, its like his throat had closed up on him, he was crying, but there was no gasp for air, just tears, tears and tense muscles.

               “I killed him” he spoke, his voice a growl

             “I killed Garma……why in the world did I kill him”

               Images flew through his head, his father gasping for air on stage, as Degwin, Garmas father began to smile, standing at his side. The zabi soldiers pounding on his families mansion, his mother crying as he and his sister were taken away from her. Her face in the newspaper when he was on earth, Wife of famed cult leader Zeon Zum Deikun found murdered.

             Garma the first day he met him, a fresh faced 19 year old. Didn’t even know how to tie a tie.

Soft skin, soft hair

That little way he twirled his hair when he was nervous

His sister crying for days after they landed on earth

Being trained on his place as the head of the family by a family friend Jimba Ral

Sneaking away from that life, taking the place of another family friend Charles Aznable, and flying away to a Zeon military academy

Why did fate have to do this to him

Why did I have to do this

Why did I have to kill him

 He was shaking in his seat now, panic gripping him

They would find the camera data In his suit, or Garma or Grams suit, they would see his suit was pristine, and draw a conclusion, he had to do something

  Chars hand shook nonstop as he pressed the button to open his hatch

               “I need air”

He could hear his voice, but he didn’t feel like he was speaking

 He pressed the button on the side of his seat to pop up the emergency maintenance system, turning his center monitor into a small keyboard.

               “First things first, I need to wipe the video data……no but if I do that, they will be able to pull that from the black box” char slumped against his chair

What the fuck had he just done

Was this worth it?

                                          An idea crept into his mind

He typed away at the keyboard pulling up maintenance logs, a picture of a beam saber wound left on another zaku.

               “it just might work” Char said as he pressed away on his control stick, engaging the heat hawk and cranking its temp beyond its limiter, he raised the zakus arm twisted the heat hawk around and slid it into the body of the zaku slightly below his cockpit, melting the hard drives for camera, and audio recording. Now was the matter of the black box, it sat right below the pilot seat. Char grabbed the pilots helmet that sat locked in above him, slid off his captains helmet and then pulled the helmet down over him. He pressed the buttons to close the cockpit hatch. A few maneuvers of the control stick and infront of him his monitors began to melt, and crack as the heat hawk slipped through the wall that protected him from the outside world, he raised his feet up onto his seat, moved the hand and heat hawk away from the hatch, and opened the hatch again, he then took the leading edge of his heat hawk and slid it into the front of the cockpit, the heat was over whelming, but he watched his seat catch fire below him, and watched the side of the black box’s orange covering melt and bubble and then watched the boards inside of it become exposed, pop and bubble and catch fire as well

 He pushed the control stick back fast, and stomped out the fire on his seat. The smell of the burning plastic and metal made him woozy.

               “there, all the data is gone, now to sell this damage before the heat hawk burns up”

He began throwing the hawk into his suit wildly, and sheered off the left arm of his zaku. Char started laughing, as tears rolled down his face. He stumbled out of the Zaku and reached up and grabbed ahold of the climbing wire that hung inside the cockpit, and rode it down to the ground. It was cold out, despite the forest fire around them. Chars hands were still shaking, he reached around his dress uniform and found the pocket where he stored his cigarette case              “keep saying I’m going to quit you” he said with a small laugh as he slid one between his teeth and used the lighter he kept in the case to light it. The smoke slowed his shaking, and his mind.

             “he didn’t deserve that…” Char said, exhaling slowly “he was a good man, sure his dads a murderer, and he only got where he is because his dad murdered mine…..but” he stopped, taking a long drag “he didn’t deserve that……fuck…..Cassie what is wrong with you……ugh” he grunted as he threw the cigarette to the dirt, and rubbed it out with his foot. He heard a gun cock behind him

             “Char, you have 10 fucking seconds to explain to me what just happened.” He heard, the voice was familiar it was Garmas wingman, Gram.              “Gram now there is a perfectly reasonable answer……let’s be adults about this, no need to point a gun at me” Char said as he turned around and saw the man, he seemed to have broken his arm and his clothes looked to be badly burned

             “fuck that Char, you shot down Prince Garma, and then I find you here in the woods carving up your own Zaku? The fuck could explain this?”              “it’s easy, this will explain everything” Char said as he reached into his pocket and grabbed his officers tablet, and started to walk towards Gram, he saw gram lower the gun slightly, and then quickly with his other hand he pulled his side arm and shot gram!

             The shot was sloppy, clipping Gram in the lung, Gram fired a shot off too, that caught Char in the bicep of his left arm

             Gram lay on the forest floor gasping for air

             Char clutched his arm, and approached Gram

             “Gram you could’ve just walked away, you didn’t have to get involved….”

He saw Gram reaching for his side arm, Char kicked it away and stared down at the man gasping for air

             “figure I could just leave you here, you’ll die before someone comes to get you, or I could end this fast for you….before I decide that though.... I want to tell you something Gram, see how you react” Char said staring down at the man who was trying to yell at him, but couldn’t find the air

               “I killed Garma Zabi because when I was a very small child, his father, Degwin poisoned my father with Aconitum, I know that because while Kycelia Zabis Royal guard didn’t detect anything was amiss, Jimba ral found a large stash of it, and books on processing it in a fire place in my fathers former palace. I killed Garma so that Degwin would have to feel the pain I have lived my whole life feeling…..how does that make you feel Gram, am I justified in my actions or am I a monster?” Char said aiming the gun at Grams face

             “you…..dumb…..fucking……liar” Gram got out between gasps, blood coming out the side of his mouth

             “Seig Zeon” Char said as he fired 3 shots through Grams head

   Char reached into his boot grabbing the knife he kept there. 

              “the things I do for love” he spoke slowly as he poked the blade into the hole in his arm and popped the bullet out, luckily it was a low caliber and it didnt dig in too deep. he thought about laying his arm against the heat hawk, make it look like a burn instead of a gun shot wound, but he figured he’d be under enough suspicion as it was, selling a gun shot that strayed into his slashed open cockpit wouldnt be the hardest thing. at least now there wouldnt be a zeon round in the wound 

The door came up with a creek  when Char climbed back into the Zaku, and he had to pilot using the emergency screen stored in the attic above his seat, luckily the hole in the cockpit hatch made it easy enough to breath as the smoke was able to leak out of the room.

  Char piloted the suit north, knowing reinforcements would be heading for Kentucky soon enough.

             A great Green Gow broke over the horizon, and a garbled transmission called out over the emergency receiver

             “CHAR IS THAT YOU? WHERE IS MY BROTHER? WHERE IS GARMA” he heard through the static. It was Dozle. Char didn’t respond, he simply kneeled the zaku down, and climbed back out. The gow landed and dozle came out to meet him

               “Char where is the rest of the team that went to hunt the feddie suits?”

             “it’s just me, they were so fast…..they just overtook us so fast”              “Char…..Char don’t lie to me” Dozle said, tears welling up in the great mans eyes

             “I watched him get shot down Dozle, that sniper, his rifle, the beam left a hold like a rocket blast in Garmas suit, there was nothing I could do, and the white knight nearly took me out, it would’ve succeeded if Gram hadn’t shot them and given me room to get away

             “Char no……he was your……he was my…..” Dozel hugged char in a great hug and cried hysterically

             Char felt tears run down his face too

           It was decided that to celebrate the marriage of Garma and Icelina, there would be a gathering of all earthside generals and mobile suit forces at the presidential mansion in Albany New York one month after the marriage. The call went far and wide and it was decided that even Dozel would come earthside to celebrate. One name on the guest list was all Garma Could think about though.

                                     Captain Charles T Aznable

           Knowing he would again get to see his love, was enough to bring a tear to his eye. Surely this would make it all worth it, to have char hold him again, to be told he was loved, not because he was some weird quasi royalty, but because he was a good person and someone who deserved love.

           The day of the event approached quickly, the grounds around the mansion were reinforced to accommodate the weight of hundreds of Zaku and similar mobile weapons, and trees were cleared to allow Gow to land around the mansion. On the day of the event, Garmas zaku 2 was stationed out front, its giant bronze and green body glowed in the evening sun as the suits and the gow began to appear. A band formed in the ball room, a waltz appeared around them. There at the bar on the far end of the ball room, his love

           “Char! How’ve you been?” Garma said, boyish joy in his voice as he approached

           “ah yes, Garma my old friend how are you” Char sipped from a flute of champagne, and looked almost past Garma, his eyes seemed hollow, empty.

           “Char, I wanted to explain this whole marriage thing, it isn’t what it-“ Garma began but Char cut him off

           “I understand perfectly Garma, it was a political move and nothing more. No need to explain anything to me” Char said setting his drink on the bar

           Garma walked in close and put his hands around chars waist, Char put his hands on Garmas wrists and pulled his hands off of him

           “now, of course while I understand your position, you must understand mine. I am a Captain in the military Garma, if me and you were to continue our……our affair, it could cause the peoples opinion of you and me to diminish, the point of this marriage was likely to help cement zeon as a power on earth correct, it’s hard to cement that when the Prince is sleeping with someone other than his wife, it would be unsightly.”            “but Char, I love you…” Garma spat, tears in his eyes

           “I am no concubine Garma, I am not your property, and I am telling you I want to break off whatever it was we had together. It’s better for both of us if we do so.” Char said back, smiling now

           “Char I did all of this for you, I fought through armies of men to prove I wasn’t some prince who got where he did because of who he is, I wanted to prove myself to you”            “but Garma you are a prince, you are their celebrity, they worship you. We cannot break that faith, lest we shake their faith in Zeon…..right” Char said back, a small smile creeping across his mouth

              Char walked away then, out into the dance. He started to dance with an officer, a woman with short Red hair.            “fine, maybe it is time I moved on….” Garma said reaching over, grabbing the remaining flute of champagne that Char had left, and downing it all in one gulp. He walked out into the party until he saw a man who caught his eye. Dark skin, shaved head, fit, and an officer to boot.   ________________________________________________________________

 following the events of episode 4 “spies like us” ________________________________________________________________

They had tracked the federations Trojan horse back to the remains of Arnold Airforce Base, where his cleaning crew had been destroyed earlier in the month. A forest fire still raging all around them            “Char, Gram, we don’t need to worry about the ship too much, but the white knights, the big red, the tanks, and that sniper, we need to keep our eyes peeled.” Garma said, his voice filled with rage, everything was caving in, his whole world was caving in around him. He had lost Char, he had lost his will to keep going forward. He would have to spend the rest of his natural life with Icelina, a woman he didn’t love, and be forced to bear a child with her, all while trying to find the love he wanted elsewhere, knowing if he was caught it could destroy his families hold on North America…..maybe he would just finish what he had started and bulldoze the rest of north America, at least then he could leave Icelina without without worrying about what his father would say. Perhaps he could just hold out until his father died of natural causes…..or at least as natural as his crooked family would allow.

             “enemy approaching, be careful” Gram called out to Garma as a shot fired from the forest.  In quick succession Grams zaku 1 was destroyed, and suddenly Char was gone, he was alone…..this is how he would die. He lifted the great Glaive and readied himself for combat, he would surely die here, but he wouldn’t let the federation keep all of these mobile suits.

             A  rocket flew in and struck him

             “I wish I had your luster Garma” a voice said out over the intercom

             A second rocket flew in and struck his zaku, the nuclear shielding shattering off the front of his cockpit. Char hovered in the air above the mobile suits approaching him, his missle launcher aimed at him

           “Char? CHAR WHAT ARE YOU DOING!”

             “I wish I could hold you for the rest of your life, I wish I didn't have to say goodbye to you”            “CHAR WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?”            “blame this on the misfortune of our births Garma, Zeon and Zabi, we are nothing more than star crossed lovers”

 One more explosion, and there was nothing but darkness

 Nothing

 Nothing

 Nothing

   “Garma, it has been decided that you will marry Icelina Eschonbach, daughter of the United states President Joseph Eschonbach” Degwin said, his tone solumn, and slow

           “father, we’ve discussed this already, I am not interested in her, you know that my heart is tied to another” Garma called back to the monitor sitting on his desk. His office now the former Oval office, the former seat of the united states government

           “Garma, my son. I of course understand that you are not attracted to Icelina, but you must understand it is imperative that for this plan to work, we need to cement the Zabi among the Earths populace, and having an heir to the throne be a child of the daughter of a USNA President, that might just do the job. They might look at the Zabi Victories as their own.

           “father, I do not mean to be crass, but you understand I am not attracted to women correct?” Garma said dumb founded that his father was still going on with this stupid plan

           “yes Garma, I am fully aware that you have been seeing a captain in the Zeon Military since you were a Junior in the military academy, and I assume that you would rather I propose you marry him, however, the united states President has one child, a daughter, and no son. So we have to work with what we are given, not with what we want. You are a Prince Garma, that carries with it certain responsibilities, bearing me an heir is one of those responsibilities. While I would love if that responsibility could be carried out with someone you wanted to be with, that isn’t necessary at this time.” Degwin leaned back into his chair “besides, it is not necessary for someone of our place in society to honor the contract of marriage to the letter, if I had done that, I would never have fallen in love with your mother Garma. Now, there will be no more discussion of this”            the monitor went black, Garma sank back into his seat. He reached inside his pocket, and pulled out the locket that Char had gifted him that night before they left for their respective military postings. A silver locket, with his photo on one side, wearing his red Captains dress uniform, and wearing his red lensed glasses. On the opposing face of the locket a lock of chars blonde hair.

           “I am no prince, I am no celebrity

           I am just a man, isn’t that right Char…..”            Garma closed the locket and slid it back into his jacket

             The following weeks were a roller coaster, Garma met with President Eschonbach, It appears that the agreement for him to marry Icelina was made under duress, Degwin had agreed to halt the assault on the United States of Northern America if Eschonbach agreed to wed his daughter to Garma, and accept the Duchy of Zeon as its Protectorate, and abolish its military forces. In exchange, zeon forces would halt all attacks on purely American forces, though would still continue fighting federation forces in the area, and it would allow the House, Senate and President to return to Albany Newyork.

           Meeting Icelina was surprisingly a lot less hostile comparatively, it turned out that the young woman was a follower of the Zeon faith of Contolism, and believed in a lot of Zeon ideals. She seemed to be smitten with Garma as well, which made the matter of planning the wedding and the subsequent ceremony far easier to bare for the young prince. The ceremony was held in the assembly chambers, a grand hall of the old age. The air smelled of must and mold, a scent alien to the spacenoid Prince. The ceremony was overseen by the Contolistic priest who had baptized Garma as an infant, and giant video screens hung over head during the ceremony, one bearing the face of each his Father, brother Dozel, brother Gihren, and sister Kycelia.

           The wedding night was, unpleasant. Icelina was a good girl, and Garma hated to break her heart so he tried to perform his duties as her husband, but it felt foreign….and disgusting. After the act was over, Garma made his way to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet.            “is everything okay in there my Prince? Are you not feeling well?” he heard Icelinas voice call through the great wooden doors of the bathroom to their Suite.

           “I am no prince, I am no celebrity

“continue pursuit, this ship is willing to continue the fight well beyond its own means….I am intrigued” Char said, resting against the captains post aboard his Musai. On the screen in front of him, a great two hulled battleship roared towards Side 7’s Green Noa.

             “captain, heat scans show large hollow areas aboard the ship, think this one of the transport ships like Prince Garma took out on Earth?” one of the crewmen called back to his captain

             “it’s possible Slender, though what a cargo carrier would be doing this far out……no, that couldn’t be possible” Char said, shock showing in his eyes as he began to ponder what this could be

           “crew, we are likely going to need to launch mobile suits, its possible that, because this suit hasn’t launched any mobile suits yet, and the carrier earthside that Garma was able to knock out was a mobile suit carrier ship, we might’ve caught this thing before it was able to pick up its cargo compliment…we might be able to stay a great victory for Zeon today soldiers. Keep our distance from that ship, let it dock, once its docked, launch in mobile suits and prevent from what its trying to onboard from leaving that damned colony!” Char called out, his crew cheering him as he called out. _________________________________________________________________________________

Denim Launching

Slender Launching

Gene Launching

Char watched the 3 Zaku launch from the Musai and approach the sunward airlock of the colony.

           “keep me posted on what you see in there boys, send back video if at all possible”            “sir___ble to send__ideo____minovski densi____ery high” Slender called back

           “sir….minovsky density is incredibly high within the colony super structure, it cant just be all from the Trojan Horse” Darius called back to Char, just as a burst of pink light fired inside the colony

           “Darius what was that?” Char called back            “ugh…..judging from the minovski signature, a mega particle burst….inside the colony”            “that’s impossible, it didn’t pierce the structure in any way so it couldn’t have been from the Trojan Horse…..theres no way, Slender, Denim, Gene, report”            there was a long silence

             “theres a ______ite Mobile Suit, four of ______ an’t sto_____” followed by static            “Ramirez, get the Musai over the main window, I need to see whats going on” Char yelled at the man at the helm of the ship.”            the Musai moved up, and over the great window of the colony. Light from the sun blasting through the Musai as the giant mirror arms hovered over them. Below them they could see four figures overtop of 2 Zaku, and an exploded husk of another. One looked like a tank, another a great red mobile suit, and then two slender suits, one carrying a sword and a great red shield, and the other a beam cannon as long as a Zaku was tall.

           “shit, captain Char those are mobile suits….like the ones Garma met on Earth”            “hush, Ramirez, move the ship back to orbital distance, I am going to go in there and see if I can get a few pictures of what is going on. ______________________________________________________________________________

 Char floated in through the open hatch of the sunside dock of the colony, air rushing out at him as the door on the other end of the dock had been left open by the zeon troops he had sent to their death.

           “Ramirez, Darius if you can hear me, I am now entering the Colony, I can see the suits from here, they appear to be lifting pieces of the Zaku, and of additional mobile suits similar designs to themselves. I will get closer to see if I can take photographs directly of these suits

 Char continued down the hallway, and out into the colony proper, he slowly allowed adjusted his jetpack, so that he matched the colonies rotation, and began to fly towards the ground,making a less than dignified landing, rolling in the dirt near the outskirts of town.

             He could see the great mobile suits working away to lift parts of the suits that had been laying out on carrier trucks onto a great conveyor belt, heading towards one of the other docking bays, likely the one where the Trojan Horse was docked. Char grabbed the camera he had brought with him, and began to snap away at the suits. Adjusting the lenses and settings to get heat, and minovski readings of the suits. After he had been taking pictures of them for a while the suits themselves made their way onto the belt, and they too were loaded aboard the ship. A few dozen jeeps and ambulances coming down the ramp and going out into the city            “well, Darius, Ramirez, if you can copy me…I have taken around 100 pictures of the four suits and I am heading back to the dock. Luckily it looks like they are also loading a lot of refugees onto the Trojan Horse, so I should be able to make my escape through the dock without too much worry, see you guys in a few” Char said, putting the camera back into the small case on his belt loop. He turned and began walking towards the great faux mountain at the edge of town that lead to the dock. A staircase rose all the way up its side for emergency situations when the roads or conveyor were turned off, unsafe or simply down for maintenance.            “stop right there….drop the gun and take that mask off” Char heard call out to him from the bushes as he made his way to the exit. A woman holding a revolver looked out at him as she stood from behind the bushes and approached him            “….you’re pretty brave ma’am, you don’t look like a soldier, and you definitely aren’t a guerrilla” Char said walking towards her

           “take one more step and I’ll shoot, I swear it!” she said cocking the gun. Char stopped and stared at her, she looked familiar, like a memory, someone from a past life

           “take the mask off, and turn around!” she said again, motioning with the gun for him to turn around. Char undid the clips to his normal suits helmit and slid it back onto its resting position above the normal suits backpack. And undid his mask, sliding it off his head the red tint of the lenses fading allowing him to see the world in its true colors for the first time in weeks.

           “wha…..what?” the woman said as char did so, a look like she had seen a ghost across her face, char smiled. Lunging towards her, kicking the gun from her hand.            “nice to see you too, Artesia….it’s been too long” Char said standing overtop of her, just then a Jeep drove up, and one of the soldiers riding in it fired a shot at him. Char pulled his mask back on, as he used his jet pack to launch back towards the Dock, another shot firing up at him, cutting through his side, piercing his kidney. Pain rocking his body. He made his way to the docks inner wall, and once he saw that no one was following him, he reached into the pouches around his belt and injecting himself with pain killers, and then covered the area where the shot pierced his normal suit with a bit of 0G tape to prevent air loss.            “Ramirez! Darius! Fire up the engines! Catch me, and begin pursuit of the Trojan Horse!

   a zaku launched from the front of the Musai, and grabbed Char just as he launched from the Dock, the fuel in his Jetpack largely spent. The Red Zaku grabbed him, and then turned to head back towards the Musai. Once aboard they felt the ship launch forward, lunging towards the Trojan Horse, as it began to leave dock. Char Stumbled onto the bridge, looking at the great view screen ahead of him, the Trojan horse moving far faster than they were.            “Darius, track the ship, follow its heat trail, and ready the med bay, I got shot….think its bad” Char said clutching his side

             Char awoke in the medbay hours later, an IV pump next to him whirring away slowly pumping pain killer into his vains.

           “ugh…..Where are we?” Char groaned out, the intercom in the room, mounted near the door called back            “we’re nearing Luna 2, looks like the Trojan Horse is trying to get repairs or something near the Federations last real strong hold near earth.”

             “do we have reinforcements in the area? We aren’t going to be able to take those suits on, even with my Zaku” Char called out, sitting up on the operating table, pulling the IV line out of his arm, bubbles of fluid floating freely out into the room

             “well…Captain Gadems Papua should be in the area, we could radio for assistance”

inside the great hall in Zum city, the Zabi family convenes, Degwen the Grand Duke of Zeon sits in a plush gold and red throne, to his left his eldest son Gihren, the Admiral of the Zeon Space Forces, to his right, Dozle, his second oldest son, commander of the Zeon Space Attack Forces, and on a video monitor at the end of the table, calling in from the Moon, where she oversaw the invasion of Afroeurasia, Kycelia Zabi, his Daughter.

           “the invasion is going according to plan. Garmas forces are sweeping North America, and Kycelias men are swarming the South of Asia and heading towards Africa. Soon we will be able to force the federation to grant us our independence” Degwin spoke, his voice low and raspy, he was a very old man now, at nearly 90 years old.

           “father, you are being too short sited, the federation has completely abandoned all assistance to the colonies, they have abandoned all Martian colonies and autonomous countries, they have abandoned all non Jupiter energy fleet controlled lands around Jupiter as well, the Federation is in shambles, if we can make a rush for Dakar, and a rush for Jaburo, we could end this war in a matter of months. Kycelia has her men working day and night to design a machine capable of punching through the bedrock above Jaburo, and we should have results from Rear Admiral Sahalin or General Mquve soon enough to allow us to not just get our independence but conquer earth.“

           “you are right Gihren, we could conquer the earth….but who would rule it? The Federation is built atop the united nations of Earth, established over 200 years ago. They won the trust of the world, they helped establish the colonies, they helped land men on mars, on the moons of Jupiter….they can only rule because the people in the countries aligned to the federation allow them to rule.”

           “then like the federation, we will force those counties to put us in charge, to allow us to rule!” Gihren shouted back at his father

           “you are short sighted Gihren, yes now we have these….these cyclops monsters, these mobile soldiers, tanks on legs, mowing through the enemy lines, but what happens when the federation fields their own weapons to match ours, or decides the treaty we signed does them no good, and decides to take their plentiful nuclear arsenal and aim it at our homeland, at your soldiers. What then Gihren?”

           there was silence in the board room after Degwans remarks, he sat back into his grand throne, Kycelia started in

           “father is right, the proper line of action will be to replace the Federation gradually, earn our indepence and then sow distrust in the Federation on Earth, putting Zeon commanders, the bishops and priests of the Contolist church and the Zabi family into places of influence and power, then after we have earned the trust of the earth sphere, we can bring them under our own web of influence, and remove the federation not through war, but through displacement. As the major powers did to the league of nations when it proved unable to protect them from another great world war, do you agree father”

           “….while I can see the benefit of growing our Duchies connections outside the bounds of Zeon Controlled territory, I am not sure I wish to replace the federation outright, I would prefer to dissolve the federations control of the colonies and remove the polluters and perverts in power of the federation. So that one day humanity can return to the earth, and not have to live in these giant tin cans floating in the sky.”

           “but father” Kycelia continued “ it is the belief of Contolism that man should divorce himself from the earth, so we can grow as a species and evolve, that one day the meek will inherit the earth, but not for generations. The earth must heal, it must return to the form it had during the times of-“

           “do not quote Zeon Zum Deikun to me!” Degwin snapped at her “I was there by his side for decades as he preached that gospel, trying to convince us refugees that we would be victorious in the end, and where is he now Kycelia! Where!” Degwin turned to Dozle “do you also want to propose some preposterous idea Dozle?”

           “no father, I believe that once we convince the federation to release the shackles of colonialism on us that the rest of the world will see they to are being controlled. I believe that once Garma frees the United States of Northern America for instance they will see that the Federation superseding their own governments right to self govern is a very undemocratic, and near authoritarian idea”

           “yes….that we can hope for certainly, the time for a single powerful government ruling the whole of this solar system is behind us, one man cannot control all men, he can control a few, and they can control many, but a few men in Dakar cannot possibly make decisions on what is best for Mars, for Jupiter, for mining colonies in the belt, for us here in Zeon. It should be our right to rule ourselves, as we see fit.” Degwin sat back into his chair, calm now that one of his children saw this all as he did

             “and what if one day the people of Zeon decide that they don’t need a Duke sitting atop their parliament? Decide that you being the final say in their governance, what if one day they want to be rid of you? What then father?” Gihren said standing up and staring his father down

             “then I will pack my things and leave, lest I watch myself and the rest of my family be beheaded as monarchs of the past were, I rule because the people of Zeon chose me, chose us, to rule them. They believe that through Zeon Zum Deikuns legacy, we will lead them on the correct path…..if that belief changes one day, than I shouldn’t force them to follow our family, and if our defenders, our benefactors refuse to protect us, I will pack my things….and I will leave” Degwin said, reaching into a box on the desk in front of him, and retreiveing a pair of black aviator style sunglasses and placing them over his face as he relaxed his neck into the soft fabric of the chair

              “father has lost the will Kycelia, he is a weak man at heart now…..I cant believe what he said back there” Gihren said looking out the bay window in his office, taking a slow sip of scotch as he did so.

           “he just wants to follow the will of Deikun, he believes that people of space will ultimately become the Newtypes as mentioned in the gospel, and eventually be worthy of inheriting the earth….he believes the people of Zeon will follow us, as we represent that will, we represent the message of the Gospel to them, we will be the shepherds to that promise land.” Kycelia said as she moved forward, placing a hand on her brothers shoulder

             “its all bullshit, we won’t inherit anything save a worthless duchy from that man, we wont inherit the earth, the only way Zeon will get what we want is if we take it……if the federation gives us independence how soon until we are no different than the United states, or the Greater European Union a country in name only, unable to make our own decisions for ourselves, or how soon will we becomer fucking Russia. How soon before the Federation backs a separatist movement against us? How soon until a band of Kievan militia storms our capital city? Father wants to bet that what? People will become Newtypes and rally behind us as the federation slowly kills itself and we watch the earth die as we evolve beyond its need?” he said sipping again “it’s all bullshit Kycelia”

           “but Gihren, you of all people should realize that the Newtype phenomena is-“

           “be careful what youre about to say sister, I am not as soft as our father”

           “Gihren please she’s your-“

           “GET OUT!” he shouted throwing his glass of scotch to the floor, shattering the glass “I have told you time and time again to not speak about her or anything related to that women around me.” He said staring daggers into his sisters eyes

           “Gihren be reasonable, we need to work together or this war will kill us all” Kycelia said, putting her hand on the gun on her hip

           “this war might kill father, and it might kill soft hearted Dozle, and our naive youngest brother, but it won’t harm the two of us….surely one of us is more than enough to steer this ship into port dear sister” he said reaching down to his side arm as well

           “….Gihren you sound like you think this war would be easier to win if some members of our family weren’t around anymore”

the troop transport ship was getting hotter and hotter, the ship had four Zaku with their backs braced against the central pillar, around their feet sat dozens of infantry, and ten magellan attack tanks.    

           "Troops this is your Commander, we are going to land a bit north of where we planned on, brace for temperatures below what we had expected. The plan is still as we discussed before breaching the atmosphere, we aim for New York, if we can cripple their capital we can cripple the whole of the USNA, from there half of us head for Quebec, the other half heads for California. We can do this, we are the chosen people! SEIG ZEON"            Garma could hear chants of Seig Zeon from outside his Zaku as he felt the parachute deploy and the retro rockets of the drop ship. The doors opened up, they were on land luckily. Around him was nothing but wilderness.

           "Lt. Ciladay, where are we?" Garma called out, as his Zaku stepped off the platform and into the soft, wet soil of North America

           "we're in a region named Newfoundland, we're very far off course Lt. Colonel Zabi"

           "fuck.... okay this changes plans, we're much further north than anticipated, we won't have backup for some time, so watch your shells, watch your fuel, we march on New York." Garma said over the intercom

           "sir, I am getting a signal, metallic heading this way"

           they looked at the horizon, and coming over it, heading right towards them, a great white two hulled battleship. a low rumble accompanying it

             "Lt. Pegoud, do you still have your long gun?" Garma said, whispering so hopefully the minovski static would hide his voice            "yes Colonel, but if I fire it on earth the recoil will knock my zaku on its ass, if it doesnt rip the torso off entirely"            "then fucking jump or something, that's a battleship, its as big as two Salamis class ships, our guns won't even scratch it"            2nd Lt Gram Pegoud stepped off the platform, he piloted an old Zaku 1, he insisted it was more suited for combat than the newer zaku 2 as it still was outfitted with anti nuclear armor. he reached back into the drop ship and pulled out an enormous gun, from end to end it was as tall as the zaku itself. this was an anti battleship gun, a rifle designed to broadside a Salamis class battleship. he lifted it up, the sound of the servos firing to support the great weight of the gun was unexpected, usually the emptiness of space hid a lot of the noises of the great cyclopses they piloted. he then got the zaku 1 into a jog, and took a leap, firing the rifle while he was airborn, the recoil of the shot knocked the zaku onto its back as he landed, but the shot rang true, its shell shattered one of the great red wings of the battle ship and it dipped in the air and began to change direction

             "HOT DAMN GRAM! get your ass up and do it again, we might knock that bird out of the air"

           "not sure I can do that again Colonel, just about every warning light I have is going wild."            "well then we need to buckle in, they look mad as hell, tanks scatter and prepare to fire, infantry brace for hand to hand, if shit gets to real I'll give the word to fall back.

             the two hulled battleship fired a blast of pink light at them, the air around the beam boiling and ionizing, the ground below it drying up and turning brown as the greenery is cooked.

             one of the zaku in their party was caught by it, its arm melting into sludge as the beam melted through the ceramic and steel.

           "Bulder are you okay?" Garma yelled towards them

           "fuck fuck fuck, yea I'm still here but god damn I coulda died" she cried out as her zaku stumbled away from the molten remains of its left arm, raising the machine gun intot he air and firing off volley after volley of rounds at the beast

             "sir their opening a hatch on the front, it looks like a fighter jet is being launched our way"            "this isnt how a Zabi goes out, ground troops fall back, Tanks provide cover fire for me, Zakus, cover the ground troops and begin retreat, I will take the fighter out" the fighter jet was large, it looked almost like a bomber, it was much larger than the saberfish they had drilled on. it fired two great cannons at Garma, but they missed. he threw his machine gun to the forrest floor, and pulled his heat hawk from behind him. he took a running leap at the fighter as it approached him, he swung the blade at the fighter, he caught the ship in the middle between the cockpit and the fuselage, but the knee of the zaku, it crushed in the cockpit completely. the weight of his Zaku dipped the fighter to a low angle, and the ship plummeted into the ground as he jumped free of it, the ship slid along the ground and right into a low body of water near them

             Garma heard Cheers in his ears

           people were applauding that he took a human life

           when will the applause stop he thought

           I'm no celebrity, don't praise me

           I am but a man

Zum City was cold, the air was stale, as power from the heating and cooling systems had been leached to the great electromagnetic catapults at the end of the colony. all designed to launch hundreds of warships towards the earth

           "it's been a long time since it was just the two of us" Char spoke quietly as he stared out the great windows of the Diet building, the great seat of the Duchy here in the heart of Zeon. he looked over at the dark haired Prince, Garma Zabi, youngest son of the Grand Duke.

           "yea, I think the last time I got to be alone with just you was when we were rooming together at the academy" he laughed and glanced back at char, the red lenses of his glasses obscuring his eyes

           "can't believe we ship out tomorrow morning...you with the earth invasion team, and I get to do colonial patrol and recon....likely going to be the last time we see eachother for a lot longer than last time" Char said turning towards him

           "char don't say that, we'll see eachother again, I'll see to it....I'm a Lt Colonel after all, I have sway, I can get my brother to send you earthside for me" Garma said his fists balling up as char pulled him into an embrace

           "Garma, I am not some concubine to be called upon as you see fit, I have to make a name for myself as well, once Zeon has won this war we can see eachother again, for now though let's just enjoy tonight" ________________________________________________________________

           Garma awoke in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, Char wasnt in bed anymore, and he smelled smoke. he stumbled out of his bed and opened the great oak double doors to his master suite, he saw the light to his private bath was on at the end of the hall, he approached cautiously. as he looked in the room. Nude, Char stood over the sink, wet, as if he had just showered, smoking a cigarette and dismantling a Zeon recoiless handgun.            "god that smells awful, what are you doing up?"            "if you think it smells bad, don't ask me how it tastes" char said with a small laugh

           "if it tastes bad then why are you smoking it?"            "it steadies the nerves"

           "is everything okay Char... is this about deployment? or is it something I did?" garma said reaching out and placing a hand on his arm

           "god you're freezing!" Garma snapped in surprise

           "cold showers will do that to you" Char spoke bluntly

           he put the cigarette out on the stainless steel bathroom counter, sat the parts to his gun back on the counter and wrapped his arms around Garma

           "you've done nothing but wonderful things for me Garma, I dont deserve something like you" He said as he began pressing his lips against Garmas Neck

           "if anything Char you deserve better, I've never had someone treat me the way you do, like I'm a person....not like I'm some celebrity"            "I would never treat you like a celebrity, you're a prince, nothing more"            "thats one of the things I love about you Char, you're so kind to me" he said wrapping his arms around chars waist as he kissed away at his neck

           "I wish I had your luster Garma, I wish I could hold you for the rest of your life, I wish I didn't have to say goodbye to you"

the D20 live play one where we would explore what Gundam would be like if the original pilots hadn't died minutes into the first episode? well its out now guys!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-1-g-team-43894665