Misconceptions

Gundam, UC 79

-

Alexis Pierce stood up when the recruiting officer walked into the room. She
read the name off

of the little patch on his chest, Colonial Simpson. He was much bigger than
Alex, but that was

because she was only eighteen and a young woman. Well, she would be eighteen
in twelve hours.

Alex was pretty tall, topping out at 5' 10".

"Congratulations. I understand that all of you volunteered to join the
military. Preliminary

results of your testing show a fairly high aptitude for kinetic skills and
detail oriented

mindsets." Simpson smiled. "That's just what we are looking for. You are
being assigned to a

new unit that is being built from the ground up."

The six youngsters murmured their surprise. One of the recruits raised his
hand.

"Go ahead, Larson."

"So what is our unit going to consist of, sir?" the wiry red haired man
asked.

"You don't have to worry. We aren't going to be training you to fly haulers,
if that is what

you are wondering. No, this unit is going to consist of the newly
commissioned mobilesuit units

that are going to be coming out very shortly." He gave them a look that
brooked no argument.

"This is classified top secret. You are not to tell anyone about these
weapons."

"Mobilesuits, sir?" Alex asked.

"Yes. The Federation has just completed the design for a counter weapon
against the Zeek's

damned Zaku. Most of our new recruits are going to be trained exclusively
for these." Captain

Simpson shuffled some papers and pulled out printouts of a map. "You'll be
assigned to barracks

C, which is out of the way on this base. Sergeant Huros will be in charge of
your preliminary

training. Report to him immediately. That will be all."

As the captain walked out, the new pilots looked among each other in
surprise. Alex grabbed her

duffel bag and started to walk out. The other recruits followed her very
shortly. It took about

twenty minutes, but they eventually found barracks C with little problem.

Spike Montoya, one of the other recruits looked at the building
speculatively. "I wonder who

else we'll be bunking with?" He grimaced as he saw a group of workers
putting in a foundation

for a large building only a hundred feet behind the barracks.

The older man who stepped into the doorway replied. "No one. This is just
for you punks. All

right! Fall in. Move it, move it you maggots!" the sergeant yelled out. He
was almost pleased

with how quickly they responded. "That was almost good enough. Pierce,
Montoya! Fifty push-ups,

now!"

Spike and Alex frowned but dropped and started doing push-ups as the
sergeant started in on his

introduction.

"I am Sergeant Huros. Do you know what that means, Larson?" the crop-haired,
olive-skinned man

shouted.

"No, sir!"

"It means that as far as you care, I'm God. When I give you an order, I mean
for you to follow

it immediately. You wimps will be spending the next two months learning the
controls of your

new mobilesuits. By the time you get them, you'll know how they work better
than the people who

engineered them." He took a deep breath. "During that time, I am going to
attempt to whip you

into some sort of physical shape. You will also go over tactics. Leave the
strategy to the

brains. If you live long enough, maybe we'll teach you some of that too."

Alex finished her push-ups a good ten seconds faster than Spike. She stood
back up and put

herself at attention. It sounded like this sergeant was going to be a
serious hard ass.

"All right. Follow me and I'll show you the simulators. By the time I'm
finished with you, you

will hate them."

-

Two months later, the 102nd Tactical Unit had decided that they did, indeed,
hate the

simulators. They had been configured as the new RGM-79G. This was suit
specifically designed

for ground combat and economy. They'd managed to 'find' the simulator files
for the "Gundam"

and decided that quality really did make a difference.

"Hey, Spike? Do you really think these things will function as promised?"
Alex asked. She had

cut her hair as short as any of the male pilots.

Spike shrugged. "We'll see. They're shipping in the first units today."

"Really?" She jumped up and looked out the window. "Would that be them?"

The rest of the 102nd joined her at the small window. In the air where the
medium transports

that the Federation used. The pair of vehicles landed carefully in the newly
cleared area in

front of the reinforced hanger that had been constructed during their
training.

"All right! Pierce, Simpson and Montoya! Follow me." Sergeant Huros shouted
as he opened the

door. The rumbling roar of mighty jets filled the building. The three
highest rated trainees

followed the gruff man out to the landing field.

They shaded their eyes. Even with the light cloud cover, it was still quite
bright. The Rocky

Mountains to the west added a breathtaking vista that they had all learned
to ignore.

Their engines immediately started to whine down moments after they landed.
Large cargo doors

opened and you could see large flatbed trailers that carried the tarp
covered forms of the

102's new GMs.

-

"Captain." The deck crew of the Zeon cruiser bustled about their business as
the lieutenant

saluted the man in the control seat.

"Carl. Are the Zaku ready for deployment?" Captain Titus asked.

"Yes, sir. They should reach the engagement zone in half an hour. I still
don't like this,

Captain Titus. If they have functional mobile suits, we could be putting
them into a very

serious firefight." Lieutenant Lueng frowned deeply as he talked.

"They'll be fine, Carl. All the Intel that we have says they are receiving
three units today.

And these units are being delivered to a small airbase and their trainees
that haven't even

used a mobilesuit." Titus smiled coldly. That new mobilesuit was causing a
terrible ruckus to

space command. He wasn't going to see that happen with his men. "Besides, we
should outnumber

them by one mobilesuit."

"Yes, sir." He turned towards the communications officer. "Operation: Ground
Snake is a go."

"Initiate M-Particle saturation. Gunnery, as we come over the rise, take out
those

communication grids in Colorado Springs. Let's not give this base any
warning." The captain

watched as his bridge crew began to work in a hurried manner.

As the large aerial cruiser came over the hills to the south, particle beam
cannons struck the

local communications centers in twelve separate areas of town. The two Gows
opened their

forward bay doors and dropped a pair of Zaku each.

-

Alex suddenly looked up. "Mynovski particles?" she said in consternation.

"What did you say?" Huros said loudly. He said everything loudly.

"Somebody is dumping a lot of M-particles into the area, sir!" She started
to look around

nervously. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Sergeant Huros didn't bother to reply as he ran into the crew area of the
cargo transport they

were in. "Radio the tower and see if something is going on."

Alex had already climbed up and onto the top of the GM. A boot knife cut the
sturdy tarp,

revealing the closed hatch. In just moments, she had slipped in and shut the
hatch. A sudden

nervous fear damped her brow with sweat. She started the activation sequence
as quickly as

possible. Within seconds, the internal reactor was beginning to rev up.

Sergeant Huros slid down the railing from the upper cabin. "I want you three
up and prepped to

go in five minutes! We may be under attack!"

Spike Montoya and Tim Larson looked at each other in surprise. Spike yelled
out, "Yes, sir!

Pierce is already in one that's outside!"

Tim yelled as he ran for next mobilesuit. "I thought these things took ten
minutes to go from a

cold start?"

Alex's GM suddenly belched coolant and made a roaring sound as it sat up.

"How the hell did she do that?" Spike yelled. That had to have been two
minutes, tops!

"Don't you mind! Get yer ass in the next GM before I shove my boot up you
butt!" Huros yelled

as he ran to the GM that was half in and out of the Medea transport.

Alex grunted as the mobilesuit jerked a bit to its feet. "Damn things jerks
more than the

simulator." With seemingly well practiced movements, she knelt the GM nest
to flatbed truck

carrying the weapon components. She grabbed the beam spray gun and swore as
the computer asked

to calibrate the new weapon. "You piece of crap! I don't have time for
this." With her left

hand of the GM, she loaded its single beam saber into its shoulder holster.

With another rumble, she stood up the GM and turned it towards the south.
Getting a mobilesuit

to actually run usually took a week of training. Trainers referred to that
week as the "falls

week" because it typically took days for the new pilot to get their feet
under them. Uncannily,

Alex only stumbled once before she got the hang of it.

Several soldiers looked up in surprise as the GM tromped on by. Once she
reached the end of the

row, she triggered her thrusters and leapt over the intervening four story
command center.

Moments later, sirens began to wail.

The colonel that she had just startled swore up a storm. "Who's in that
mobilesuit? What is

going on?" he yelled as he ran into the command central hub.

A young woman turned to him. "I don't know. I'm not getting a response!"

"It must be a spy! Tell Huros to get the other mobilesuits after it!" he
roared. He spun to a

group of soldiers who were checking a communications panel. "What are you
doing?" Colonel

Simpson yelled out.

"We're trying to find out why our optical data lines aren't responding.
According to the

self-test, the cable's been cut ten miles away."

"Ten miles? That's Colorado Springs!" the colonel grabbed the large
binoculars and turned

towards the south. "Oh my god. Sound incoming air raid! We've got enemy
mobilesuits only

minutes away!"

"We're being jammed! M-particles at high saturation levels!"

-

Mantar was a fairly typical Zeon mobilesuit pilot. Not too smart and fairly
quick. He'd seen

enough combat to know how to react quick enough to keep himself alive. When
the Federation GM

suit rocketed over the small hill in between him and the enemy base he
adroitly sidestepped a

shot that looked like it could have hit him.

"Damn pilot must be stupid or something, men! Those plasma beams don't have
the range of our

machine guns! Why don't we show our appreciation to our enemy and kill him
mercifully!" Mantar

shouted excitedly.

The other three pilots acknowledged the orders, opening up with their
machine guns, except for

the one with a rocket bazooka. He was almost in position to take out the
enemy command center.

As his fellow pilots fired, he fired off a shot at the building. The
laser-lock failed and the

shot missed by fifty feet, disappearing over the hill. He grunted in
vexation. "Damn! Missed!"

"How the hell can that thing move like that?" Mantar yelled, starting to get
angry. This was no

trainee. This was a pro, no doubt! The strange mobilesuit in front of him
ran and rocketed

around like a maniac was in control. Only a few of the bullets even hit and
at that distance

had lost an appreciable amount of their velocity.

"Don't worry, sir! I've got it!" the pilot of the Zaku with the rocket
bazooka shouted. He had

the navy-blue and white suit bracketed and immediately fired!

Alex yelled as she suddenly urged her GM to leap into the air, spinning to
fire wildly at the

incoming missile. Her second shot managed to hit the missile, explosively.

Mantar stared in shock. "Newtype!" He was so startled that he didn't even
notice when a new GM

tromped over the same rise and fired a rocket bazooka. He only had a moment
to scream out

orders before his squad mate exploded. "Damn!"

Up in the control room of the Gow cruiser, Captain Titus frowned. The
Federation's response had

been far quicker than he had expected. It now seemed obvious that they had
also sent in a

trained pilot, probably to teach the recruits how to use it.
"Communications, laser-com the

Zaku with 'Tango-Tango' and prepared to pick up the survivors!"

"Yes, sir!"

Moments later, the Zaku started to retreat in great leaps and bounds. Alex
started to follow

when Lieutenant Huros laser-commed her. "I think they've had enough,
private. Return to base."

"But-"

"That's an order!"

"Yes, sir!" Alex slammed her fist against a panel. She was consumed with an
anger that almost

mastered her.

-

Captain Athena Wills walked along the corridor at a clipped pace. She rapped
on a door with no

identifying marks. She waited a second and then entered when she heard
someone allowing her

admittance.

"Captain Wills reporting as ordered," she said tersely.

Colonel Matthew nodded. "Please, sit down."

"I take it we've had another pilot show amazing aptitude?" Athena asked as
she doffed her

Federation's officer cap.

"Yes. One of the most damndest things. A recruit with that level of skill is
just unheard of.

Except for Amuro Ray, of course."

"Yes, sir. But that's why we've kept an eye out. With this disturbing
intelligence coming from

Space Command about Zeon Newtypes, we have to investigate this ourselves. We
can't let luck

just deliver us an important asset like this." Athena almost vibrated with
her intensity of

belief.

"Yes, yes. I understand." Colonel Matthews stood up and walked over to stare
out his window.

"We're gearing up for our offensive in Europe. This girl was slated to be
shipped to the front

in a GM. We're going to be transferring you to her tactical unit as their
new Commanding

Officer."

"Yes, sir. If you don't mind me saying so, leaving her in a GM is a waste of
her talents," the

woman interjected.

"I don't know if we'll be able to swing you a Gundam. They are in
chronically short supply. And

expensive to boot!"

"The Pegasus has already proven the worth of an elite unit, sir. I'm not
asking for this

lightly. You know that, sir!"

Matthews sighed. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, sir. I won't disappoint you."

-

Tim skidded into the bunk room of the 102nd's room. "Hey guys! Did you
hear?"

Alex looked up from her bunk where she was reading a spec manual on the
mobilesuits. "What?"

"Something about that sneak attack that the Zeeks did caught someone's
attention! They're

giving us a new CO."

Spike pulled the girlie magazine that he'd laid over his face off and almost
glared at the

smaller man. "What of it?" That had been four days ago. Huros and Alex had
already received

medals of valor for successfully repulsing the assault.

"I just heard through the rumor mill that she's a captain!" Timothy almost
bubbled with

enthusiasm.

"That doesn't make sense. That's at least two grades higher than a tactical
unit usually gets,"

Spike argued.

"That's right. But this unit is no longer... usual." The uniformed figure
framed the doorway.

She stood only up to five feet four inches, but seemed to radiate a sense of
command that was

undeniable. A little bit of blonde hair peeked underneath her cap, which
shadowed her deep,

midnight blue eyes. "Form up!"

Tim goggled for just a second and was just a little slow to react. The six
soldiers of the 102

lined up and snapped sharp salutes.

Captain Athena Wills looked over the group carefully. She looked over her
shoulder towards the

door that opened. "Sergeant  Huros. Please fall in."

He snapped a salute as he took his place at the closest end to her.

Captain Wills then saluted. "At ease." She stared at them levelly for a few
seconds. "I am

Captain Wills. As Private Larson mentioned so loudly, I am a few ranks too
high to be in charge

of a 'mere' tactical squad. There are some very good reasons. You are not
cleared for that

information. It is on a need to know basis."

The tactical squad murmured in surprise.

"At least not yet. The parameter of this unit has undergone a change. You
will still be

shipping out for Europe in a week, not next month."

"What? Excuse me, Captain. This unit is not fit for front line duty!" Huros
interjected

forcibly.

"I understand your feelings in this matter. We will ship out in one week
nonetheless. We will

also be receiving the last of your mobilesuit units today."

Spike whistled softly. Somebody was pushing really hard on their unit all of
a sudden.

A rumbling sound started to fill the room.

Athena checked her military watch. "Exactly on time. Follow me." She turned
and walked back out

the door, quickly followed by the entire group.

Alex and the others shaded her eyes. She squinted slightly as she saw the
four Medea Transports

landing in front of the new Mobilesuit Bunker.

"Baker and Thomas! Unload Medea 52. Larson and Montoya, you have Medea 16.
Huros and Long, you

have Medea 99. Pierce and I will unload Medea 9," Athena barked out as
sharply as Huros ever

had.

The soldiers blinked in surprise. They had been surprised by her willingness
to jump in. Most

Captains wouldn't be bothered to get their hands dirty. They got over it in
short order.

Athena snapped a salute to the flight technicians as the opened the bay
doors on Medea 9.

"Lieutenant Miller! Good to see you, sir."

"Captain Wills! Your baby is ready and raring to go," the officer said as he
shook Athena's

hand.

"Were you able to get the spare beam rifle?" she asked.

"I don't know how you managed that, but yeah, we got 'er." Miller just
scratched his head in

consternation.

"Um, Captain Wills?" Alex asked tentatively. "Our GMs don't have the power
plants to fully

power a beam rifle!"

"That is correct, Private. This is not a GM, however."

Alex turned her head suddenly. "A Gundam?" She whistled in appreciation and
hopped up onto its

flatbed.

"Your Gundam."

Alex spun around in surprise,  tripping on the edge and falling on her butt.
"My Gundam?"

"Colonel Matthews and I believe you are the type of pilot that the Gundam
was designed for.

Leaving you in a GM would just waste your abilities."

Alex just sat there stunned. What was this all about?

Athena tipped the brim of her hat back. "After we get these mobilesuits
settled in and get the

technicians activating them, I'll brief you on your mission. We will also be
having a very long

talk about yourself."

-

Alex sat on her bunk, trying to read a magazine about fashion and style. If
she'd been asked

about what she was reading, she would have had to look to figure it out.

"Private Pierce! You're next!" Captain Wills called out from her office
door.

Spike just walked past her, shuddering theatrically. "I think she's from
Intel. Maybe they

figure there's a spy on base," he whispered to her as they passed in the
hall."

Alex looked surprised. She schooled her face into a mask of calmness as she
walked in. She

saluted and then sat when directed. She was surprised when the captain stood
up and started

attaching a few discreet devices to the door, walls, floors and on the
window.

"That should be adequate. We're going to be working closely together, so
please call me Athena.

If you have any questions, please go ahead and ask," she said as she sat
down at her desk.

"Er, Athena, why did you just do that?" Alex asked as she waved across the
room.

"What I am about to tell you is classified." Athena tossed her a folder.
"Here are your orders.

Read through them and hand the folder back. I'll go over the basics as you
read."

"Yes, sir!"

"Please, just Athena. As for what is going on, you have been assigned to a
top security unit

consisting only of Newtypes."

"Newtypes? Isn't that something from the Zeeks propaganda?" Alex started
reading. She was being

promoted to sergeant? "I'm sorry, but I'm not really that familiar with it."

"The Newtype phenomena has only been verified as a reality in the last year.
The Zeon are

working as quickly as they can to exploit their Newtypes. We have only
verified two Newtypes

that are capable of piloting mobilesuits. Amuro Ray is assigned to the Space
Command at this

point. You are the other one."

"Me?"

Athena nodded. "You. You exhibited an uncanny prescience during your first
battle, knowing of

the attack before the enemy was even spotted. Lieutenant Huros reported that
you stated you

'felt' M-particles being seeded in the area. That was what really triggered
my curiosity. The

human body is incapable of detecting Mynovski particles."

Alex looked confused, but didn't want to sound stupid. At Athena's
reassuring nod, she finally

asked, "What is a Newtype?" She'd always been able to feel that strange
awareness of

M-particles. What was so strange about that? Her mother had been able to do
so too.

"A Newtype is supposed to be some sort of evolutionary advancement due to
humanities' expanding

into outer space. According to Zeon doctrine,  it will herald a new age. The
Zeeks used this

pretext to launch their aggressive war, killing millions," Athena said
tightly. You could not

miss the tension that lay under those words. It was a very rare person that
had not lost

someone important to them.

"But I've never been into space. I was born here in the North America
Quadrant," Alex

explained.

Athena blinked in surprise. "It doesn't necessarily have had to be you. It
could have been one

of your parents or grandparents."

"I don't think they have either. I'm sure my mother would have mentioned it,
at least. Besides,

we are from a really poor, farming family."

Athena pursed her lips. "That is... interesting."

"I thought everyone could feel M-particles? My mother and I always felt when
they were doing

that testing up near Black Hawk," the young woman explained as best as
possible, her confusion

quite evident.

"Black Hawk. That's where they did the testing on new fusion reactors. A lot
of sub-atomic

particle research was used in that," the captain mused. "If you don't mind,
I'm going to do

some checking. A Newtype that was born on Earth, with no contact to the
mutating effects of

space travel. It's quite interesting." Considering, hadn't she just heard of
a plan to get one

of the Zeon Newtypes to come to Earth to see if it affected her abilities?

"If you say so."

"You said your mother could feel it too?" Midnight blue eyes watched Alex
closely.

"Uh, yeah. She said it affected her, um, sight."

Athena looked confused. "Sight? That's something I've never heard of
before."

"Not her eyes, her... sixthsense," Alex finished quickly in a mumble. She
stared at the ground

uncomfortably.

"Sixth sense? She claimed to be a psychic?"

"She always was a little weird, if you know what I mean."

"Thank you for your candor. I do appreciate it, Alex. I think that's enough
for now." Athena

stood up and handed Alex her new pips. "Congratulations, by the way. That
was a superb job you

did there."

"Thank you." Alex was a little wild-eyed at this point. She really wanted
something to distract

her at this point.

-

Mantar grit his teeth as he prepared to launch using the new Rik Dom he'd
been assigned to. He

could hear the engines of the Gow rumbling through everything. This was
going to be a fairly

major operation. Some big-wigs wanted to blunt the looming Federation
offensive that seemed to

be in the making. Mantar and his men were going to overwhelm the same base
they had hit just a

few days ago.

Up on the bridge of the Gow, Captain Titus looked over to Lieutenant Lueng.
"Carl, I just got

some last minute satellite Intel. It appears that they just had a flight of
Medea Transports

that showed up out of the blue this morning."

Carl pursed his lips. "It shouldn't make a difference. We have ten mobile
suits, half of which

are the new Rik Doms. They are supposed to be more than a match even for
that 'Gundam' that

we've been hearing about."

"Inform Mantar that there may be stiffer resistance than expected," Titus
commanded. He

swiveled his chair back to the front. "Commence operation."

The four Gows and their fighter escorts turned ponderously and accelerated
to attack velocity.

As the battle group topped over the hills to the south of Colorado Springs
again, they leveled

communication emplacements and a few antiaircraft vehicles. The Rik Doms and
Zaku IIs spread

out in a battle line as they tromped over the rolling hills towards the base
just over the hill

again.

Sergeant Huros yelled out over the laser-com, "Let's do this! All units,
open fire!"

>From four emplacement pits, three GMs and one Gundam fired a salvo of rocket
bazookas and one

beam rifle, catching the attacking units in a vicious crossfire! As far as
the Zeon soldiers

could tell, the empty woods and hills started laying down a heavy fire.

Alex grinned in her new Gundam, which was hidden underneath its own
camouflage. "I guess

training to set up an ambush on an attack squadron wasn't such a bad idea
after all!"

Mantar screamed out, "Take out those snipers! Move it or lose it!" His own
Rik Dom started to

jink and dodge erratically as it positioned for an attack on the beam weapon
emplacement. He

lined up his shot and fired, when the target erupted into flame!

The Gundam's camouflage burned off as it landed, just as it was supposed to
do. Alex charged

towards the surprised mobilesuits. Two more shots took out the flatfooted
Zakus, while a third

only winged the second Rik Dom.

Captain Titus gripped the arms of his chairs. "We've lost how many mobile
suits?"

"Four, sir! The Feddies had laid down some sort of ambush! Bastards!" the
communications

officer called out.

"We're taking fire from nine o'clock high!" one of the pilots yelled out as
he felt the ship

shudder under him.

Federation high speed attack fighters swooped over the confining mountains
at nearly full

speed, slowing down as quickly as they could to unleash blistering particle
beam blasts as they

chopped through the Zeon fighter formation and hit the west most Gow. That
giant air wing

shuddered for just a second and then exploded.

Athena smiled grimly as she walked her GM forward, leading the last three
GMs over the ridge to

attack the Zeon mobilesuits head on. The colonel in charge of the base had
stationed marines

several dozen miles out with laser-com equipment. He'd run them ragged with
the extra patrols,

but it had just paid off handsomely.

The new GMs unloaded on the Zeon mobilesuits, catching them in the flank
again. Two more

mobilesuits were knocked out of commission with their first shot. "Let's rip
into them, men!"

she yelled out.

Mantar swore as even more Federation mobilesuits entered the battle. He saw
one of them make a

mistake no trained soldier who'd been on a battlefield do. "Looks like most
of them are pretty

raw! Use that against them, men!"

The Rik Doms were very maneuverable, able to zip around like hovercraft.
They started using

their advantage to take increasingly accurate shots at the slower responding
GMs. Two GMs

exploded before their pilots even realized they were being attacked.

The Zaku IIs were nowhere near as effective, but were able to hold their
own. Most of the Zeon

pilots were keeping an eye out for that overly fast Gundam. By doing that,
they had managed to

avoid getting shot with its beam rifle so far.

"That's enough of that!" Alex yelled out. She rocketed the Gundam forward at
two Zaku that had

bunched a bit to cover each other. Their machine guns bounced ineffectively
off of her angled

shield, even as the Gundam whipped out its beam saber. With blinding speed,
it cut both of the

Zaku in half with one swing.

Before she even landed, Alex spun her Gundam to slash into her blind spot
and landed heavily.

Her beam saber sliced  through the legs of a Rik Dom that had attempted to
blindside her.

Mantar goggled. That must be the Newtype! That had to have been in its blind
spot! If he'd been

a bit closer, he would have tried that too! He toggled a switch to try and
contact the Gows.

"We're getting chewed down here! They've got one of those Gundams that we've
heard about! The

pilot has to be a Newtype!"

Lieutenant Lueng looked over at Captain Titus. "We've lost six mobilesuits
so far. We've only

taken out three of the enemy suits. It doesn't look like the mobilesuits
will be able to take

the base at this point."

"We're going to switch to a bombing run. We'll blow up the base and retreat.
All Gows and

escort fighters, prepare to switch headings on my mark. We're going to about
ascend to seven

thousand feet and unload on that base. Carl, have the mobilesuits retreat."
Captain Titus

chewed his lip for a second. It was time to be decisive. That was the only
way to win this

minor battle.

"They're retreating! Keep up the pressure! At this rate, we'll have
destroyed all of them,"

Huros yelled excitedly.

"Sergeant! I think... the Gows are going to attack the base!" Alex spun her
Gundam around and

rocketed towards the west.

"Get back here! You're leaving us exposed here!" Huros yelled loudly. His
battered GM fired

another two shots in quick succession at the retreating Rik Doms.

"Belay that order! Sergeant Pierce, you are freed to act independently under
my authority,"

Captain Wills snapped across laser-com.

"Captain? We don't have time for some crazed-"

"Sergeant Huros, shut up. That's a direct order. Do you understand?" Athena
said, cutting off

her second in command.

The surviving GM pilots were all surprised. Something really unusual was
going on here.

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Huros spat out. "Montoya! Snap it up there and try to
flank them."

Alex barely even heard the commotion that her abrupt departure had caused.
Her Gundam was

leaping up the side of mountain as agilely as a goat. A driving need pushed
her ever onward and

up. At the top of the mountain ridge, she just held in the throttle of her
Gundam's thrusters,

launching it into the air right in front of a Gow carrier.

"Coming up to attack speed, Captain!" the pilot of the Gow Cleo called over
his shoulder.

"All ships are in formation. Dopp fighters are prepared to strafe the base
on our orders,

targeting anti-aircraft batteries!" Lieutenant Lueng called out from his
console.

"Very well." Captain Titus nodded in approval.

"Captain! Something just happened to the Memnes! It's listing and on fire,
no response from the

pilot."

"How the hell did that mobilesuit end up on top of the Memnes?" Carl Lueng
shouted as he

spotted the Gundam on top of that Gow.

"That pilots going to try and blast us all by himself? Orders to the fighter
escort! Have them

ready to sweep across the top of the Cleo and brush this insect off of our
back!" the captain

thundered.

"What about the Diana?" the com officer yelled.

"It's too late for them."

The Gundam ran across the wings of the doomed Gow carrier Memnes. In front
of it lay another

Gow. The crew of the Diana barely had time realize they were under attack by
a deadly foe when

the Gundam landed on top of it.

"It's on top of us!" the pilot of the Diana screamed. He could feel the Gow
shudder as the

mobilesuit moved overhead. The blinding light of a beam cannon covered his
momentary scream of

terror before he and the crew were vaporized.

Alex turned her Gundam away from the belching hole she had just blasted
through the bridge of

the Gow. She started to run towards the last Gow in the row when she almost
physically felt the

readied attack against her if she leaped towards the last Gow. With a
screech of metal on

metal, she skidded the Gundam to a halt on the very tip of the wing of the
giant air-wing.

"What the fuck was that?" Alex said to herself. The Gow was turning away
from her, getting

away. With a snarl, she snapped of shot after shot at the Gow's engines. Her
gun cycled only

three shots before failing to fire. "Now what?"

"That pilot must have the devil's own luck!" Titus looked over his tactical
display. "Order a

full retreat. We're going to attempt to pick up any surviving mobile suit
units."

"We're losing engine thrust on engine one! That pilot must have shot it
out!" the Gow's pilot

yelled out.

"Damn the Feddies! Have the Dopp fighters make their own attack run on that
base and then

regroup to a defensive screen around us! Detail a wing to blow that Gundam
off of the Diana!"

Lieutenant Lueng shouted.

Dopp fighters screamed off at full power to follow their orders. They really
didn't have the

firepower to truly inflict telling damage on a modern air base, but they
were going to try! The

four Dopps that were ordered to attack the strange mobile suit almost
snarled in unison as the

looped under the Cleo and spat machinegun fire at the brightly colored
figure that stood on the

Athena's burning deck.

"Damndamndamndamn and double damn!" Alex yelled as her Gundam lurched. The
Gow was starting to

drift towards the ground thousands of feet below them. Machinegun spattered
off of the Gundam's

armor. Far faster than anyone should have been able to, vulcan gunfire raked
out at the

fighters, destroying two of them outright.

The two remaining fighters looped out and around. The lead pilot informed
his wingman, "It

looks like our friend down there ran his beam rifle dry. Stay out of the
effective range of

those head cannons and we'll chop him up!"

"Yes SIR!" the wing man shouted almost gleefully. He locked on missiles to
the Gundam and

fired, growling in anger as the Gundam fired its head cannons and took them
out. That pilot

must have the devil's own luck!

Warning lights started to blink frantically while alarms started their
raucous warbling. "I

know we're falling from over three thousand feet, you dumb computer!" Alex
shouted, panic

starting to creep into her voice. She was going to die! There didn't seem to
be anything that

she could do. She was even willing to trust that stupid
sixth-sense-mumbo-jumbo that her mother

had always talked about. "Oh, hell! Why not?"

With that, she just followed her instincts, running back up towards the
center and back of the

top of the doomed Gow known as Athena. The Dopp fighters still tried to gun
her down, but seem

confused about what she was trying to do. The Athena was only moments away
from impacting into

a hill almost head on!

"Got it! This is so crazy it might even work!" she crowed to herself.

Spike just watched from almost two miles away from the crashing Gow. "Did
you see that,

Captain? I can't believe it!"

"Now all she has to do is survive her heroics!" Captain Wills called out,
only taking a moment

off of watching the surviving Rik Doms retreating further and faster than
her crew could

follow.

Alex took in a deep breath and then yelled out, "YAHOO!" as the Athena
plowed into hill. It

crumpled majestically even as secondary explosions started to rip through
it. At what seemed

like the very last moment, Alex slammed the throttle arms all the way
forward. She knew that

the Gundam didn't have the thrust to slow her down enough to survive impact.

But it did have enough thrust to push her over the top of the hill. Guided
more by luck than

training she tried to frantically keep her feet underneath her as the Gundam
skidded gigantic

furrows down the hill. Trees and smaller boulders just shattered as they got
in her way, until

the Gundam finally stopped. Over stressed actuators whined in complaint and
the Gundam could

barely stand, but Alex only had bruises to show for her amazing brush with
death.

"Impossible!" Sergeant Major Huros shouted. No mobilesuit could have done
that. None!

"Way to go!" Tim shouted.

And Captain Wills just smiled to herself. Even better than she had hoped.

-

In the Mobilesuit hangar, Huros threw his helmet at the ground right in
front of Alex.

"Alright,  Pierce! I don't know what you were thinking, but that sort of
gung-ho heroics is

shit! Not only could you have gotten yourself killed, you could have-"

"Sergeant Major Huros. What do you think you are doing?" Captain Wills
demanded imperiously as

she walked up.

"Captain?" the befuddled Sergeant asked.

"I will talk to you privately, later." The blond haired captain turned to
her command.

"Congratulations on your victory. Go take a shower and get some rest.
Dismissed."

She waited for everyone but Huros to leave.

"Excuse my candor, Captain! What the fuck do you think you are doing
undermining my authority?"

"Your authority? Sergeant, this is my tactical unit now. Sergeant Pierce is
to be trusted

implicitly when it comes to her hunches! And I gave her my direct order to
continue," Athena

snarled right back at the huge man.

"What the hell sort of crap is that, Sir?"

"That is classified!"

"I think I have a need to know here, dammit!"

Athena was almost shaking in her fury. Mastering herself finally. "This
under the strict

guidelines of Top Secret clearances. Do you understand?" At his nod and
sudden understanding of

the seriousness of the nature of what she was about to relate, she
continued. "Sergeant Alex

Pierce has been identified as a strong New Type. Her New Type abilities are
to be fostered and

trained as best as possible, as they may be a vital strategic ability to the
Federation. There

is no one, repeat, no one within this tactical squadron that is more
important to get home

alive than Pierce."

Huros just blinked, then got even more furious. "She's a snot nosed brat-"

"Are you understanding anything that I just told you, Sergeant?"

His face started turning beat red. "I am not going to let some mumbo-jumbo
punk-assed kid with

delusions of grandeur think that she can-"

Click. Captain Wills had her sidearm pointed at his chest. "Sergeant Huros,
you may consider

yourself under arrest for disobeying orders and possible charges of
treason-"

Huros just leaped forward in a murderous fury, with the full intention of
taking the sidearm

away. This little, no good little bitch was just irritating the hell out of
him and needed to

learn a lesson.

The thundering gunshot echoed in the hanger as the two bodies collided.

-

"Attention!" barked out an unfamiliar voice in the barracks. "Fall in!" the
tall, imposing man

in the uniform of a colonial yelled out.

The 102 fell into line with amazing alacrity, in various states of dress.
Alex prayed that her

towel would stay in place, as she had just exited the shower.

"Sergeant Pierce? Front and center!" Colonial Simpson shouted out.

"Sir! Yes, Sir!" she snapped out while saluting. She started praying harder.

"Assemble your men in two hours for an emergency deployment. Meet me in ten
minutes for

instructions regarding the change of command with your tactical squad.
Dismissed!" With that,

Simpson turned on his heels and moved out of the barracks at a fast walk.

"What the hell was that all about, Alex?" Tim asked.

"Yeah!" Spike chimed in.

"Not a damn idea, guys." Alex started to throw clothes on as quickly as
possible. Nudity taboos

had lasted a total of two days before the extra pushups that she'd had to
endure had killed

that idea.

"Well, good luck! Colonial Simpson is supposed to be harder than Huros!" Tim
said glibly.

Alex smoothed her hair back and stuffed it under he cap. "Well, you heard
him. Spike, I want

you and Tim to get the rest of these guys ready and check with the repair
teams for the

Mobilesuits. I want a full list of functionals and what it'll take to be
ready in fifty-five

minutes."

"Ah, man!"

The sergeant didn't even bother to find out who made the comment as she
stepped out of their

barracks. She started to trot towards the command center. She backtracked a
moment later and

then hopped into the squads assigned ride. Within moments, she was driving
at almost reckless

speeds towards the main command center.

After some quick directions to the CO's office from a sentry that challenged
her, she managed

to find it within a short time, only showing up a minute late.

She rapped on the door. "Colonial Simpson?"

"Come in. I'm impressed. I wasn't expecting you for another five minutes."

"Sorry, sir! I'm not familiar with the layout of this building!"

Simpson narrowed his eyes. "No reason you should have been. Due to an
incident with Captain

Wills and Sergeant Major Huros, you are in command of the 102nd tactical
squad effective

immediately."

Alex looked down for a second. "May I inquire as to what happened, Sir?"

"Not at this time. There is most likely going to be a trial. You will be
needed as a witness,

so don't go and get yourself killed." The colonial stood up and spread out a
map. "This will be

throwing you to the wolves, but Jaburo wants that last Gow finished off. It
appears to have

gone to ground near Denver, which is held by the Zeon, of course."

"Yes, sir. What are our orders?"

Simpson narrowed his eyes at her. "You are to get your troops to the
suspected landing zone of

that Gow and exterminate them with extreme prejudice. Your actions may
determine the direction

of the inquiry into the incident between Huros and Wills. That is all." He
spun back to his

computer.

-

"Incident?" Tim asked.

"That what he said. I'm as much in the dark as you guys," Alex said. She
shrugged theatrically.

"How many mobilesuits are functional?"

"Four that pretty functional. Two more are fixable in two days. Captain
Wills was almost as

tough on her GM as you were on your Gundam," Spike replied.

"Looks like I'll be using Huro's GM. Have everything prepped for us to
depart at 18:00 hours.

We'll then have a briefing and then move out."

"Eighteen-? That isn't enough time to properly repair these guys!" Tim
called out.

"Just get them fixed up as best as possible. These orders come from Jaburo!"

Just minutes later, the remnants of the 102 were gathered around a table
that Alex had set up.

Maps and papers were strewn around.

"You guys have done an amazing job! Thanks a lot for your hard work. Here we
go." Alex took a

quick breath. Her first command. Don't screw it up. "The enemy Gow that
attempted to attack us

earlier has holed up near Denver, at an old airbase. It's pretty lightly
defended and Command

has decided that they want that unit annihilated utterly." Alex took a swig
from her water

flask. "We've only got four effectives right now. Nick, Spike, Tim and
myself will take the

functioning GMs and do a two prong attack."

Tim looked over the area. "The terrain is easier to get through here, where
the road is."

"That's correct, but they've got ack-acks and anti-armor weapons there too.
On the other hand,

it's a good distraction. This hill is impassible for anything except, of
course, Mobilesuits.

These guys seem to be old hands at this." Alex suddenly smiled a nasty
little grin. "They

probably don't think much of us yet. We'll set up a diversion at the main
gate to make us look

inept. The real attack will be over that hill."

"Whoever is knocking on their front door is going to get beat down pretty
hard," Spike noted.

Alex pursed her lips in thought. "I'll be the distraction. Spike, you're in
charge of the

actual assault on the hanger."

-

"Hey, Gunnie?" a Zeon private yelled out.

"What?" the gunnery sergeant yelled back.

"Something's tromping its way towards us, around the bend."

"Fall in! Looks like the Feddies are coming right down our guns! What a
bunch of idiots!" he

yelled back. In moments, all of the tanks and anti-armor emplacements
rotated towards the road.

"Come in, Echo-niner! Looks like we've got unfriendlies walking into our
guns." He listened a

second. "Yeah, I know. They must have taken the stupid-Feddies course of
strategy."

A GM suddenly walked around the corner, its Spray Particle Gun (SBG) at the
ready.

"Fire!" the sergeant yelled. Ha! He'd get to bag one of the new Feddie
mobilesuits. Damned

idiots didn't even know what to do with them-???

The man couldn't believe his own eyes as the suit suddenly rocketed sideways
in an amazing

dodge and then leaped into the air. The anti-aircraft guns just couldn't
track something that

big making such advanced maneuvers. Two tanks exploded from blistering
return fire.

"It's some sort of Feddie Ace!" he screamed into his Com. "We need those new
Mobile Suits out

here to help us repulse the attack."

Mantar looked up from where his Rik Dom was getting some armor repaired in
the spacious hangar

that held the wounded Gow Memnes and its escorts. "What the? Shit! That New
Type is here?"

Lieutenant Carl Lueng pulled himself out of the guts of the other surviving
Rik Dom. "You heard

the man, Mantar! Get in that Mobile Suit and drive off the enemy!"

"But Sir!"

"I know you'll be almost a sitting duck, but this bases' defenses can not
stand up to a

concerted attack from a MS Ace!" Carl Lueng stood up and saluted.

His mouth suddenly dry, Corporeal Mantar saluted back. "Yes, sir." In
moments, he was in his

rapidly activating mobile suit. He tromped out of hangar with the Memnes at
his back. He was

about to turn towards the main gate of the compound when he caught a glint
at the top of the

hill. "Ah, shit. It's a diversion!" he yelled into his commo.

The air bases commander in his bunker blinked at that. "What the hell are
you talking about,

pilot?" he called out suddenly into the headset he was wearing.

"They're flanking us!" Mantar yelled, almost in a panic.

"We've been spotted," Spike shouted. "Charge!" He pushed his GM into a
loping gait and then

leaped at the last moment. The enemy's fire scorched the paint on the bottom
of his GM's feet.

Behind him, Nick had ducked behind him to shift his position. The wild shot
hit a weakened

section of the armor and started to spurt vapor. "I'm hit! I'm losing
coolant! It isn't

shutting down!" the panicked pilot screamed.

"Punch out, Nick! Damn it, punch out!" Tim yelled. That thing was going to
blow! He pushed his

own GM into a frantic run. He had only made it about fifty feet before
Nick's GM exploded,

pushing him forward even faster.

Back at the gates to the air base, Alex spun her GM sharply. "How did that
happen? The plan is

going to the crapper!" She suddenly charged the remaining anti-aircraft
guns. The gunners

panicked and ran, so she didn't even have to do anything except step on two
of them in passing.

She crouched the GM and then leaped over the corner of the huge building.
Right below her

landing zone was a Rik Dom that was shooting at the remaining GMs.

Mantar suddenly felt a palpable anger emanating from above! He was so
shocked at the feeling

that he barely even noted that he just stood there as the GM activated its
beam sword as it

came down. At the last moment, he tried to move, but it was too late.

His Rik Dom's armor failed almost instantly. The beam sword slashed
effortlessly through the

pilots compartment and into the core. Alex rocket leaped again on pure
instinct, just a bare

moment before the mobilesuit exploded.

Technician's screamed two Federation Mobile Suits dashed through the door
and into the armored

hanger. Carl looked up from his repair work to see a nightmare entering.
With brutal

efficiency, they let loose with blistering fire into the damaged Memnes.
"Captain Titus! Get

out now!"

Whatever the captain's response, it wasn't fast enough. With a mighty boom,
the Gow started to

explode, killing all aboard. Carl just stared in shock. His friends were now
gone.

With a cry of anger, he tried to ignore the tromping of mobilesuit and
repair the final Rik

Dom. He'd show those bastards.

"Step away from the Mobilesuit," a voice blared out from the GM that was
standing.

Carl Lueng spun around, his fists tight in anger.

"I don't want to hurt you, but that Mobilesuit is coming with us," the pilot
said.

The voice sound like a woman's voice, he thought to himself. He was too
caught up in his anger

to really notice anything beyond that about his enemy.

"Just back away. I really don't want to hurt you?" the voice said from the
GM.

Another GM tromped up. "Ah, just kill him already! Damn Zeeks are all
bastards anyways!" the

male voice from it called out.

"I don't kill defenseless people. Even Zeon," she retorted. "I won't sink to
their level."

Carl tried to climb into the cockpit of the mecha, but he was plucked from
the gantry like he

was a rat. He thought for sure that he was about to die. Not many pilots
were good enough to

not crush a human, he idly thought.

"There you go. Spike, pick up that mobilesuit and let's hoof it back to the
base." The GM set

the Zeon soldier down. With reasonable care he was placed next to some of
the men from the base

trying to put out the fire.

Carl just stared. He'd have some bruises from that. But he really wasn't
hurt. All he could do

was just stare as the three Feddie Mobilesuits left with the last Rik Dom.
He was brought back

to his senses as one of the firefighters screamed for help.

-

"I would like to say how proud I am. We have struck back against the Zeon
fascists with their

murderous tactics. No longer do they have the technical superiority to
dominate the

battlefield." Colonial Simpson looked over the parade ground and the four
rows of soldiers.

"Sergeant Pierce, step forward." He pinned a medal to her chest.

At his nod, she backed up into the ranks. He called up another fifteen
people to receive a

similar medal. Her stomach churned. The scuttlebutt had it that the 102nd
was due to be

dissolved and they were going to be transferred.

"I had to pull some strings to get those medals for you this quick. Once
again, let me tell you

how proud I am of you all." Simpson saluted them, to which they all
responded. He nodded at

Alex, Tim and Spike. "You three have probably heard, the 102nd has been
dissolved. You are all

transferring to the new 85th Tactical Squad."

"Yes, Sir!" they said.

"You've got someone's eye, Pierce. You're the new CO of that unit. Do me
proud. You'll ship out

to England at 2200 hours. That's all," he finished. He saluted one more time
and then abruptly

walked off with his second in command.

Spike just looked pleased as the cat that bagged the mouse. "England! I'd
heard that the

operation was going to be in Europe!"

Tim just nodded and fiddled with his sun glasses. "Congratulations, Alex.
Looks like we didn't

screw up enough to mess up your promotion!"

"You guys did the best you could. Nick just got hit with a lucky shot," Alex
said as she

grabbed them both by their shoulders and hung off between them. "Let's hit
the bar."

"I thought we were on duty?" Spike asked, slightly startled.

Alex just winked. "I won't tell if you won't! Besides, we deserve a bit of
celebration."

"You're on, Sarge!" Tim said enthusiastically.


------

Arthur Hansen

______


Cast of characters:
Sergeant Alexis Pierce - main hero of the story.
Sergeant Major Huros - bigoted first C/O.
Captain Athena Wills - mysterious C/O, in charge of the New Type battalion
on Earth for the

Federation.
PFC Timothy Larson - survivor of the 102nd, transferred to the 85th.
PFC (now Corporeal) "Spike" Montoya - survivor of the 102nd, transferred to
the 85th.
Lieutenant Carl Lueng - Zeon officer that survives attacking Colorado
Springs.
Corporeal Mantar - Zeon MS Pilot, KIA in battle near Denver.
Colonial Simpson - in charge of Colorado Springs Air Base.
Captain Titus - Gow Captain that goes down with his command.

Colonel
Lieutenant-Colonel
Major
Captain
Lieutenant
2nd Lieutenant
Sergeant Major
Sergeant
Corporal
Lance Corporal
Private


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