Hey guys, here's the disclaimer: I do not own any part of Gundam Seed, Wing, X, or 00, all credit goes to their respective creators.

NOW IN BOLD AND ALL CAPS, YET AGAIN!: THIS IS THE FIFTH FIC IN THIS SERIES, THE PRIOR FOUR MAY BE FOUND AT THE FOLLOWING STORY ID'S IN ORDER.

OPERATION WINGED SEEDid:6433275

WALTZING WITH DESTINYid:6764601

00 FROZEN TEARDROPS id:7178572

THE SEVENTH SPACE WAR: A NEWTYPE SOLDIER'S TALE id:7557000

Now regarding the whole start/end/scene breaks and special text that may appear. (xxxxxx: Star/end, xxx: scene break, Thought/flashback, Singing.

*cough*

Now that the mandatory yelling is all completed… As always, please read, review, and enjoy the chapter. Oh and please note, spellings and some lines may differ seeing as After War Gundam X has only ever been fan-subbed in English, and most of the attempts have been rather well piss poor either translation wise, or encoding/timing wise. Thus resulting in either lines being clipped from decent translations due to bad encoding, or poor translation with good encoding but crud quality… *shrugs* so this will be a rather patchwork job to enlighten the west to one of the most brilliant and unique series in the Gundam Meta through the means of this mass crossover. Oh and if you enjoyed the epilogue… wait till the end of the chapter, I'll have a picture for you to enjoy.

"Hey has anyone seen the towels?" Toniya yelled as she opened the bathroom's door just covering herself with hand towel.

"Geeze Toniya can't you just wait twenty minutes to take a bath!?" Sala gaped at her.

"I have no complaints, we'll be more than happy to bring you a towel!" Dearka grinned whilst trying to stifle a stream of blood trickling from his nose.

"Perv… you'd better get back here this instant Dearka!" Miriallia snapped as her arm shot out like a bullet grabbing him by his hair and nearly yanking him off of his feet away from Toniya.

Its only gonna get better folks… enjoy the chapter!

xxxxxx

The Eighth Space War: Light in the Black

Ch. 1

The Gundam X

The group of pilots made their way into the town as it bustled around them "Seems pretty normal to me… I mean…" James looked around them.

"Welcome…" A woman said at a stall in the market square as some people stopped at her stall selling electronics components.

"We have a huge sale on today!" Another man called out as they passed.

"Hey, welcome to our shop!" Another merchant called out.

They continued down the dirt street past the somewhat broken down buildings "This place reminds me of the slums back home…"

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Marie asked as she pointed to a crowd gathered in front of a building.

"Worth a look I guess…" Shiho prodded Yzak and they all made their way over to look.

"You've heard of the Newtype soldiers who fought during the last war right?" A man with black hair in a dirty old tan military uniform asked as he stood in the middle of the crowd "Do you think this is a lie with no proof?" He asked to the crowd. "It is not so. In fact, this man is a surviving Newtype soldier!" He held his hand out to a blond haired man also in the same dirty tan military uniform "In the last war, he and I brought down fifteen ships. There's no mistake! We were called the "Twin Red Stars"!" The man barked to the crowd as he planted his hands on his hips.

The blond haired man opened his eyes "I am an advanced person who should be in the space era…" He had a small scar on his head obviously from a sustained injury.

The black haired man smiled to the crowd "We are needed in this confusing era! So then… now's your chance to hire us!" He smiled.

"What, you guys just looking for a job!?" A boy in the crowd yelled and everyone started laughing.

The soldier glared "Why do you say that? We may look like trash right now, but in times of need, we will…"

A loud dull thud caused the pilots to turn as a split second later a shot whizzed over their heads and struck a water tower on top of the building to their right, causing a massive explosion "A mobile suit!" A man yelled as a heavily customized dark purple and maroon mobile suit with a monoeye stood there.

"Oh shit… it is the post apocalypse… with mobile suits…" Dearka nearly crapped his pants on the spot.

"Don't just stand there Elsman, get out of the street!" Yzak yelled as he grabbed Shiho and began running for cover, with the others close behind.

Xxx

Crockas smirked and laughed, while many people scrambled for cover as he looked down on the town from the cockpit of his Jenice Kai. "Looks like I can get some great work done today." He took a step forward kicking his way through a low wall and demolishing it.

Xxx

Yzak stood watching from the building they were in "How did we miss seeing those two gun emplacements?"

"Shit! A bandit!" A man yelled as he ran past to get more ammunition for the two cannons.

One of the cannons opened fire putting a shot at the Jenice Kai. Which it dodged to the left, easily avoiding the shot as it flew past, and then a huge explosion erupted behind the Mobile Suit, obviously from an anti-mobile suit shell.

Xxx

Crockas glared "It's not like I'm trying to kill you all." He took aim at the gun emplacements "But if you make me, I won't go easy on you!"

Xxx

"Hey, do something, Twin Red something's!" A man called out to the two soldiers on their butts in the street as many took cover.

The two got up and began to book it down the street "AHH!" They screamed as they ran, before a shell from the mobile suit's machine gun hit behind them in a massive blast.

"Fuck this isn't good, should we call the ship?" Dearka looked at him.

"No, let's see how it goes… if it gets worse we'll call for backup…" Heero cautioned as he watched "It's a good opportunity to judge what we might be up against…"

"You're kidding… you're talking about civilians under fire here…" Shiho gaped at him.

"And I've never seen a mobile suit like that one…" Heero looked back at her "Let alone one that could dodge a shot from a cannon at near point blank range…"

"I dunno, they may not need us… hell, they're pulling weapons out of thin air here…" James gaped "I feel under armed with only this pistol…" He watched as the merchant woman they passed prepared a recoilless rifle as two children handed her ammunition.

"Idiot! I need an anti armor round!" She glared at the child.

"Let's move up… maybe we can find a better position to work from…" Yzak looked at the others "Allelujah, Soma, we need a way to distract it, so they can take it out…"

"Roger that… we'll follow." Allelujah nodded as Yzak bolted from cover and followed by the others to the next spot, which was occupied by a lot of the town's people.

"Shit, the town has come a long way in its recovery…" A man at the entrance with a SMG glared. "Can people who have mobile suits do anything they want?" He looked out at the bandit's suit.

"If I aim for the cockpit…" The woman muttered to herself as Soma looked out at her. "Take this!" She fired, the high powered anti-armor round hit the armor in a curved spot causing the shot to ricochet off. "Shit!"

Soma turned to see what happened as the mobile suit turned to take aim at the woman and the two children "Allelujah!" She prepared to run out towards them.

A boy in the room grabbed a bottle sitting on the floor and bolted out past them "Hey kid what the hell are you…" James yelled as he ran past him and the others, pulling off the dirty cloak he'd been wearing and ran towards the mobile suit.

He blinked as something clattered to the ground behind him "I get it…" James smirked as he took off towards it.

They watched as the boy with black hair pulled out a pair of sunglasses as he slowed directly in front of the Jenice Kai., pulling the small cord on the bottle he threw it into the sky as he smirked, hitting it directly on the main camera. In a really loud and bright explosion the home made flash bang went off.

Xxx

"Ahh!" Crockas glared as he shielded his eyes from the blinding white light that came from all of his monitors.

Xxx

The boy thrust his hand into his pocket only to realize it wasn't there "Wha…"

"Hey kid catch!" James yelled as he threw it to him.

"Thanks!" The boy yelled as he fired it directly up, the magnet attaching onto the armor of the Jenice and the automatic lift pulling him up towards the cockpit. He reached out and pulled the lever to force the cockpit open from the outside and touched down onto the hatch.

"Shit… The main camera!" Crockas glared as he rubbed his eyes. "Who the hell did that!?" He yelled as he finally regained his sight to see the boy kneeling on the hatch in front of him with a 9mm pistol aimed at him.

"I did!" The boy with black hair smiled. "I guess this is what they call a hold up…"

Crockas blinked a little shocked "Bastard, where did you come from?"

"Hey, don't move, don't move." The boy smiled "I can fire this gun before your mobile suit can crush me…"

Crockas was a little scared "I kinda like you, kid… If you want, you can join me." His voice trembled a little as the boy's gun clicked.

"Hey, get a clue and wake up." The boy looked at him "This is a hold up." He made his way into the cockpit and gestured for him to get out.

Crockas complied and got out onto the hatch, before he was kicked from it "AHH!" He fell prior to hitting the ground on his back and side. Before he could move the townspeople were around him holding any instrument they had, from spiked clubs, to kitchen knives, shovels, hammers…. And they looked pissed.

"He…" Crockas looked horrified "Hel… HELP ME!" He screamed as they began beating him to a bloody pulp.

Yzak blinked as they joined James in the middle of the street, who just smiled at the kid standing on the open cockpit hatch. "He just beat a mobile suit with a flash bang and a handgun…"

"Not too shabby…" James smirked "Kinda reminds me of Solo a little…"

"That kid did a good job…" A man that had been near the entrance to their hiding spot smiled as he looked up at him.

The boy made a peace sign and grinned "Victory!"

"Are you Mr. Garrod Ran?!" An old man in a black overcoat called out as he walked past them to the base of the Jenice.

"Huh?" Garrod looked down at him.

"I was right." The man smiled "I'm Reich Anto! I've been looking for you!"

"To talk about a job?" Garrod asked as he crouched down on the cockpit, and looked down at Reich.

"Yes!" Reich replied as he yelled up.

"Can it wait a bit?" Garrod asked "I've gotta turn this into money first." He looked back at the Jenice. Before turning his sight back towards the ground and seeing the group around the young man who'd helped him. Grasping the magnet he pulled it off of the hatch before he entered inside and knelt the suit down, so he could get off of it easier.

"I'll be waiting at the hotel two streets over then…" Reich smiled "…come and see me when you're ready."

Garrod nodded and walked over to James "Thanks I owe you for that…" He scratched his head.

"Nah, you don't owe me anything… you just reminded me of an old friend of mine…" James smiled at Garrod. "Did I just hear that you're selling this suit?"

"Yeah, wanna buy it?" Garrod smirked hoping he'd just made a quick turnaround.

"I'll make a few calls and get a transport…" Heero nudged James and looked at Yzak "You have the cash?"

"Yeah…" Yzak nodded "We'll pay… it's a nice suit."

"Well then follow me over to that hotel two streets over… I've got another job I've got to take care of, if the price is right…"

"Sure…" James nodded "We'll meet you there!" He called as Garrod turned and ran back to the Jenice to move it back out of town.

"A kid that young can pilot a mobile suit…" Soma blinked.

"He's what… fourteen, fifteen… we fought a war at that age…" James looked at Heero who nodded. "Let's go, we've got a meeting to attend… and I like this place more by the minute…"

Xxx

Shingo looked at one of the sensors as he steered the ship "It appears we've shaken off our pursuers…" He relayed to Jamil.

Jamil nodded and got up from his seat on the bridge "I'll leave it to you then…" He made his way from the bridge.

"Yes, sir!" Shingo replied as Jamil exited the bridge.

Toniya looked back at him "We went through so much trouble just to kidnap one girl…"

"What does the captain want with that girl?" Sala looked back over her shoulder at Tonya.

Toniya shrugged "Who knows…"

Xxx

Jamil made his way through the corridors, stopping briefly outside of a room he looked in the window in the door seeing the sleeping girl, Tiffa Adill. He turned and continued on towards his cabin.

Tiffa slept while the light of the moon illuminated her face in the dark room as she dreamed.

She watched as a white, red and blue mobile suit with a gold V shaped antenna and acid green cameras stood before her with a tremendous moon looming behind it. The wind blew her hair before the suit reached out for her.

Tiffa opened her eyes and pushed herself up in bed before looking out at the moon looming overhead.

Xxx

"I still don't get why you said you'd come along…" Garrod asked as he looked at James and the small group.

"Call it repaying the favor for saving us in town… besides… if these guys are as bad as they sound to kidnap a little girl… they deserve it." James smirked as he looked at the ship.

"Yep, it's just where that guy said it would be…" Shiho looked at it as some people extended a hose towards a lake.

"Let's go." Garrod nodded as he made his way down the hill followed by the others.

"It's ready!" A man yelled from near the lake. "Turn on the pump!"

"Roger!" The man near the ship yelled back.

"Hurry everyone, otherwise we won't arrive in St. Range by tomorrow morning." Sala stood watch over the crew as they pumped water from the lake into the ship.

The group quickly snuck their way past joining Garrod, one by one hugging the hull of the ship near a pipe leading up to the upper deck. "Up…" Garrod jumped onto the pipe and shimmied his way up it quicker than the others would have expected.

James smirked as he went up next, followed shortly by Heero, Soma, Allelujah, Yzak, Dearka, Setsuna, and Kira.

Quickly getting inside, the group made their way through the halls hugging them tightly as they went rounding a corner they fell in behind Garrod, when right in front of him a door swung open "Hey! Haven't you finished pumping the water yet?!" Toniya yelled only wrapped in a light pink bath towel. Garrod hit the floor as fast as he could to make sure she didn't see him as the others tried as hard as they could to look like the wall. "I'm taking a shower, so hurry up!" She yelled.

Shiho and Soma glared at Garrod as he peaked up from the floor at Toniya, while biting their tongues in trying not to give him a verbal lashing as to not give them all away.

"Geez!" Toniya glared as she reentered the shower.

Garrod wiped some of the drool from his chin "This might be a delicious job…"

"Perv…" Shiho rapped him on the head as she made her way past him.

"Huh?" The door clicked open and Toniya saw Shiho in front of her "Who... Ahh…" She gasped as Shiho grabbed her and put a knife to her neck, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Please don't scream… I don't want to kill you…" Shiho whispered in her ear "Just cooperate and you'll be fine."

"Great…" Yzak grumbled "Soma, help Shiho tie her up while we find the girl…" He gestured to Toniya before nodding to the others to continue.

"That's disgusting you know…" Shiho grimaced as she felt Tonya's tongue on her palm.

"Oh, yeah! It should be this way." Garrod smirked as he led the way rounding a corner and found a red door with a brass plaque on it reading captain's quarters. He knelt down and fished a lock pick out of his pocket.

"Hey we don't have time for this…" Yzak looked at Garrod "We've got to get the girl and get out…"

"Easy Yzak… we've got this… plenty of time, it'll take almost a half hour before this ship's tanks are finished filling…" James smiled.

"This is like what you did when you were little, huh…" Heero looked at him.

"What can I say, it's fun being a little bit of a delinquent again…" James grinned.

The lock clicked and Garrod pulled the handle down opening the door "Come on…" He quickly made his way inside followed by the others.

"Besides… good chance for information, huh…" James looked at Yzak before he saw Garrod quickly make his way over to the ship's safe and chuckled to himself "Incidentally, I bet a vulture has money, so…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out an electronic cracking device before sticking it to the safe, the numbers ran before it found the right frequency and it hit. "Alright." He smiled as he pulled the handle down and opened it. He blinked a little surprised "What's this?"

"What?" Setsuna looked over, seeing Garrod reach in and pull out what looked like a control stick for a mobile suit.

"A mobile suit control unit?" Garrod looked at the control stick; it was different than the ones he'd seen before on Jenice and Daughtress type mobile suits. He sighed "Oh well, it's better than nothing." He stood and shut the safe again as he stuck the control unit into his jacket. He gestured and they made their way from the room.

Xxx

Sneaking down the hallway they met up with Shiho and Soma "It's about time we found you… where did you go?" Shiho asked.

"That girl bit me…" Soma glared as she nursed a sore red mark on her hand.

Footsteps coming from the next hall caught their attention and they jumped to the wall "It's almost time to go! Everything's ready!" Shingo walked past the junction in the hall without noticing them.

"This isn't good, we've gotta hurry…" Garrod muttered under his breath.

"Well if we hadn't wasted time in the captain's quarters…" Allelujah grumbled "I mean come on…"

"What were you doing there?" Soma looked at them.

"A little old fashion looting …" James grinned, knowing Allelujah had a slightly similar experience before he'd joined Celestial Being. "Huh…?"

"La laa la la laaa la laaa la laaa la la la la la…" A girl's voice sung as they heard it softly drifting down the halls. Garrod crept out as the others quickly followed hoping they could get this over with and get out of here. As they rounded the corner they saw a door and they made their way to it, Garrod peaked through the window.

Sitting on the bed illuminated by the light of the moon was Tiffa, wearing her light pink dress she hummed a tune that sounded almost like a music box's lullaby as she looked out at the moon. Garrod opened the door and entered alone, leaving the others outside. Rubbing the back of his head he looked at her as she turned her attention to him "Umm…"

Tiffa drew back a little surprised to see him "I, uhh… I…" Garrod stuttered a little.

Tiffa shifted back a little further.

"Y… you're wrong!" Garrod exclaimed "What's wrong?" He asked himself a little perplexed at where he was going with the situation. "What am I saying…" He ran his hands through his hair, trying to get his thoughts straight. "I mean… I, uhh…"

Tiffa blinked at him, waiting for him to get his thought process in order.

"That's right, I came here to rescue you!" Garrod smiled at her.

Tiffa stared at him blankly not saying a thing.

Garrod straightened himself up a little "I really did come here to rescue you."

Tiffa just continued to stare at him for a moment when she remembered it, the white mobile suit with acid green eyes reaching for her. She smiled a little, causing Garrod to blink "I've been waiting for you…" Tiffa spoke softly.

Garrod nodded "Let's go…" They made their way to the door before they quickly made their way out "Let's go!"

The others quickly followed as he led Tiffa towards the hangar.

Xxx

"Main engine activated! Freeden, ready for launch!" Shingo announced as the ship began hovering slightly above the ground.

"That Tonya… still taking her shower …" Sala glared as she looked over at the vacant station. An alert popped up on her monitor "Wait, hatch four is still open!"

Jamil looked over at her before bringing up the ships cameras on the hatch in question only to see three cars running away, zooming in he saw Garrod with Tiffa in a blue dune buggy racing away from the ship. He glared as he saw it.

"Heat source at eight o'clock!" Sala relayed from her station as the bridge door opened.

"There are people on the ship, they're after that gir…" Toniya pulled her jacket on as she continued to attempt to dry her hair, seeing the image on the screen.

Jamil turned to his left and saw a shell strike near the ship, as three Daughtress type mobile suits opened fire on his ship.

"Mobile suits!" Toniya yelled.

"Freeden, move out quickly!" Jamil ordered.

"Right!" Shingo replied while he pushed the throttle of the ship up as it began pulling out it quickly picked up speed, as a shell struck just behind the ship that would have been a direct hit.

Xxx

Garrod glanced back over his shoulder seeing the Freeden being chased away by the Daughtress's fire "A fight between Vultures. Oh well, it's good for us."

Tiffa glanced back at the other jeeps with the people in them. "Hold on tight!" Garrod called to her over the drone of the buggy's engine as they hit a few bumps.

It didn't take long for them to reach the rendezvous point they had discussed, the three cars slowed to a stop in front of Reich Anto.

"Good job, you're right on time." Reich smiled at them.

Garrod shrugged as he climbed out of the car "Well, it's my job." He smiled "Well, Tiffa… uhh…" He blinked as he looked at her, seeing her sitting shudder still and seemingly afraid. "What's wrong?"

"Well, Tiffa… come along." Reich looked at her, before the van's headlights came on illuminating all of them clearly.

"I don't like this… something about this seems rotten…" Allelujah glared.

"Yeah, something's off…" James nudged Heero, who put his hand on his sidearm.

Garrod leaned into the buggy and looked at her "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked her directly, before Reich's shadow crossed him and causing Garrod to turn to look at him.

"What're you doing? Come along, now." Reich spoke directly to Tiffa as he stood there.

"NO!" Tiffa screamed as she covered herself, instantly Garrod's head shot back to her.

"Hurry up and come along!" Reich commanded his tone obviously impatient at that point.

Before any of the others could do anything, Garrod glared at Reich prior to jumping into the dune buggy and starting it again, revving the engine he pulled out at high speed slinging dirt up behind him as it fishtailed momentarily before it shot off into the night.

"Stop!" Reich yelled before the two jeeps shot off after Garrod past him.

"Kid has good instincts… I'm glad we avoided a shootout there…" Shiho smiled as she looked at Allelujah, who had been ready to bring an SMG up from behind the seat.

"Is this better, Tiffa?" Garrod asked as they drove.

Tiffa sat silently for a moment before nodding.

Garrod smiled. "Well, it can't be helped! Everything will work out!"

Xxx

"Emergency message to HQ! Send mobile suits!" Reich leaned into the van using a headset to contact his superiors. "What!? Vulture!? It doesn't matter! GET MOVING!" He ordered.

Xxx

"Is this way right?" Garrod asked as he glanced over at Tiffa who nodded in response "Are there any roads?" He asked, and she shook her head. "Well then…"

"An important power…" Tiffa spoke calmly.

"Wha…AHH!" Garrod yelped as she leaned over and pulled down on the wheel sending the buggy into an abrupt right turn, just as a shell struck behind them where the buggy would have been.

"Oh shit, they've got mobile suits!?" Yzak glared "Hey Setsuna get a hold of the ship, tell them we need backup at… oh for god sake, where the hell are we on this map!?"

"Just tell them to hone in on our position using the radio signals!" Heero yelled over to him. "James keep driving and don't let one of those shells hit us!"

Garrod looked back over his shoulder and saw the three machines, a Daughtress Command, and two Daughtresses. "This isn't good!"

"Go straight." Tiffa spoke calmly.

"Wha…" Garrod looked at her.

"Go straight…" Tiffa repeated herself as one of the mobile suits rifles opened fire again.

Garrod clenched his eyes "If you say so but…" the shell struck to their right hand side "That was…"

"Left!" Tiffa told him again.

Garrod blinked before pulling an abrupt left hand turn.

"What the hell is Garrod doing?" James gaped as he watched the car dodge the shots.

"Does it matter, they're after them not us!" Yzak glared at him "Any luck with…"

"Working on it!" Setsuna yelled back as another shell struck near the buggy.

"Right!" Tiffa continued with her directions. And Garrod followed by pulling the buggy right, avoiding a shot narrowly.

Xxx

"Shit! Why can't we stop a buggy?" One of the pilots asked.

"We should just hit it." The other pilot suggested.

"Get in front of it!" Reich ordered.

Xxx

Garrod blinked a little in awe of what was happening "Incredible! What the hell is going on?" He glanced over at Tiffa "That's it! Maybe they want her power…"

Tiffa pointed at something ahead of them and Garrod looked "What's that?!" He yelled as they drove over the rough ground leading towards some buildings built into a cliff face.

"Inside." Tiffa instructed.

"Understood." Garrod replied as he accelerated.

"Right!" Tiffa looked over just in time to see one of the Daughtress's appear ahead of them.

Garrod swung the car sideways momentarily and getting out of the way of the shot as it struck where they had been, when the second stepped out directly in front of them, followed by the Daughtress Command "I'M NOT THAT EASY TO GET!" Garrod roared as he slid around the one directly ahead of him and past the Daughtress Command without a single shot touching the car, and right inside the nearest gap leading inside.

Xxx

"Shit! This building's an old UNE base." One of the pilots yelled.

"What should we do, boss?" The other pilot asked.

Reich looked at it "Our mission is to catch Tiffa. Follow me." He ordered as he started towards it.

Xxx

"What's the plan?" James looked at Yzak.

"They aren't following us… get a hold of the ship now!" Yzak ordered as he looked over at the other jeep.

"Are we just going to leave Garrod and Tiffa to them?" Allelujah looked at Yzak as they saw the mobile suits moving towards the facility.

"Garrod should be able to take care of himself for a bit, based on what we've seen… we need our mobile suits to counter theirs though." Heero looked at him.

"I'm through!" Setsuna yelled over.

"Relay our coordinates!" Yzak yelled back.

Xxx

Garrod looked back over his shoulder through the gap in the large hangar door they'd entered into "Don't they ever give up…?" He looked around "What is this place? A mobile suit factory?"

Tiffa gasped as one of the massive doors crashed in as one of the Daughtresses forced its way inside.

Garrod pulled the buggy into a sharp right turn as it opened fire, the shot hit directly behind them shaking the whole building. As he slid on the concrete floor he came face to face with the other two suits "AHHH!" Garrod frantically turned to the left as they also opened fire, firing repeatedly before the blasts finally kicked the light buggy into the air and blasted it sideways through a hole in the wall. "AHHH!"

Garrod groaned as he hit the ground hard, the car skidding past and hitting the far wall of the room "Tiffa!" He pushed himself up worried about her, only to see her standing in front of him, some flames behind her from some oil that had caught fire illuminating the room. She pointed across the room at something without saying a word as Garrod stood, he turned and looked.

There on a mobile suit transport trailer was a white, red and blue mobile suit with a golden v shaped antenna, Garrod's eyes shot wide as he saw it, he knew it, everyone knew it, the same type of suit that had caused the end of the last war. "That's… a… a… G… Gundam!" He stuttered for a moment seeing it.

A moment later Tiffa lost her balance and began to fall to the floor "Tiffa!" Garrod turned and ran over to her catching her shoulders "Tiffa! Tiffa!" He yelled trying to get her to wake up.

The sound of crashing metal caught his attention, and he looked up to see one of the Daughtresses forcing its way inside. "Damn it!" He looked over at the Gundam "Does it still work?" He scooped up Tiffa in his arms and ran for the Gundam. Seconds later the three Daughtresses forced their way inside completely as he scrambled up the short ladder on the transport and into the Gundam's cockpit.

Reich's eyes were wide as he saw it "That's a… GX-9900."

Garrod had Tiffa on his lap as he entered the cockpit hoping he could get them out of this, "Please move… WHA?!" He grasped for the controls with his right hand while cradling Tiffa with his left, only to grasp nothing but thin air. "No control unit!?" The suit shuddered as two of the Daughtresses opened fire. "AHH!" He was forced back into the seat and the control unit he'd stolen from the Vulture ship fell out of his jacket spinning on the console next to him.

"What incredible armor!" Reich gaped as he saw the Gundam, which had been knocked off of the trailer, and appeared to not have a scratch on it still. "Not even a scratch! They can't move. Just capture it and open the cockpit!" He ordered.

"Roger!" One of the pilots replied as he moved towards the GX-9900.

Garrod saw the control unit and grabbed it "If this works, I'll believe in god!" He yelled as he clenched his fist around it and slammed it down into the spot for it, instantly the cockpit came alive around them "YEAH!"

Tiffa began to stir in his arms and he beamed at her "Tiffa, I believe in god!" He pushed the control stick forward and moved the foot pedals "Alright, lets go!"

The GX began to rise from the transport trailer as it moved its foot and braced itself while it rose, all three Daughtress type suits stopped.

"Impossible!" Reich looked on in awe as it began to rise.

"Stand up!" Garrod yelled as the GX-9900 hissed, its cooling vents on its chest clearing fifteen years worth of dust accumulation in a massive hiss of rushing air as its cooling fans came alive for the first time since they were last tested. Its acid green eyes flashed as its cameras focused on the three mobile suits.

Garrod smirked "Thanks for chasing me all this way!" He called over an open frequency.

"Eat this!" One of the pilots yelled as he opened fire on the GX.

Garrod charged him the shots ricocheting off of the suit as he went. "AHHHH!" He thrust the control unit forward and the massive arm of the GX-9900 shot forward in a right cross, with its fist crashing directly into the head of the Daughtress and destroying its three main cameras. The suit toppled backwards and crashed to the floor as Reich and the other pilot looked on, a few small explosions tore into the suit, beginning to fill the room with smoke around them.

"Go back!" Reich ordered.

"Y… yes, sir!" The other pilot didn't really hesitate after seeing what had just happened, turning and beginning a hasty retreat.

Garrod glared "Hold it!" He yelled as he chased after the two suits. As they reached the outside they came under fire from the two suits, using their machine guns to go fully automatic on them while the one Daughtress equipped with a shoulder mounted cannon bombarded the buildings behind them. "AHHH!" Garrod yelled as the buildings and rocks came down on top of the GX-9900.

Reich looked at the rubble pile "Did we do it?" He asked, and a moment later he got his answer, as the GX-9900 erupted out of the rubble towards his suit.

"AHHH!" Garrod roared as he charged the Daughtress Command.

"What!?" Reich's eyes shot wide as he saw it closing, both him and his subordinate opened fire again, as the GX launched itself and leapt into the air grasping the hilt of its Large Beam Sword over its right shoulder, he drew it as he came down almost on top of the Daughtress with the cannon carving its left arm and leg off, it exploded as the fifteen year old Daughtress' electrical system short circuited.

"AHHH!" Reich turned and fired nearly point blank on the GX, which nearly instantly spun and brought the beam saber across in a diagonal slash through the upper torso of the Daughtress Command. Sparks arched around the suit, and no sooner than that itscockpit exploded knocking it backwards before its core detonated in a massive blast.

Garrod breathed heavily calming his nerves before he looked at Tiffa "It's alright, Tiffa." He paused as he saw her looking at something "What's wrong Tiffa?" He asked.

Turningback to the main monitor and looking for himself, his eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he saw it touch down before them, a red and white GW-9800 Gundam Airmaster, and a few seconds later the dark forest green GT-9600 Gundam Leopard slowed to a stop next to it.

Xxx

"A Gundam type, huh?" Witz Sou looked at the GX-9900 "This'll be an interesting fight…"

Roybea smiled "Heh… oh, what a pain."

Xxx

Garrod blinked "Gundams… two of them."

Xxx

"What the fuck… three Gundams?" Naina blinked as she saw them "We're trying to track down the others and now we come across three Gundams, here… are these, the suits they said were chasing them?"

"I don't know… but without the others, there's no way in hell I'm fighting them, not in this!" Duo yelled while he rolled pulling a sharp turn as Naina also made a sharp maneuver to avoid the three suits.

Xxx

Garrod blinked as he saw the Vulture's ship that he'd rescued Tiffa from approaching the two Gundams from behind them.

Xxx

Jamil stood as he saw the GX-9900 "Is there a moon?" He asked.

"Wha…?"All three of the bridge crew looked back at him.

"I'm asking if there's a moon!?" Jamil glared while he kept looking at the main monitor as the GX-9900 deployed its beam sword again and readied to fight with the full moon looming overhead, partially obscured by cloud cover.

Xxx

Garrod watched as the two opposing Gundams took a step towards the GX-9900, the eyes of the Airmaster flashed as he looked at it, almost as if it saw him looking at it. "Ahh…"

The Leopard lifted its right arm, where its six grenade launchers are mounted, and opened fire with a barrage of grenades, forcing Garrod back as they struck where the GX had been standing.

The Airmaster took off, hovering just above the ground as it charged him "It's been a long time since I had a decent fight! Roybea, you're not needed!" Witz smirked as he took aim at the GX and fired, forcing Garrod to jump back again to avoid the shots.

Roybea sighed and rolled his eyes a little "Witz sure is happy… it's more grown up to finish the job quickly, go back and get the money, isn't it?" He took aim at the GX again and activated the Leopard's Inner Arm Gatling, it flipped forward into position covering the entire left arm.

Garrod looked around frantically "Where's a weapon?" He asked knowing he couldn't fight back if they kept him at range without some sort of gun. "Is this one?" He flipped a switch and one of the parts of the back rotated and ejected the Shield Buster Rifle, he caught it as he flew above the Airmaster. Before he could aim he pulled back, narrowly avoiding a burst from the Leopard's Inner Arm Gatling. The shots clipping the side of the rifle knocking it from his hand "AHH!" He screamed as he fell, punching the thrusters he narrowly avoided crashing prior to flying behind a rocky outcrop out of their line of fire.

Witz glared "I told you to go back!"

Roybea cracked a smile in return "It's my job, too." The two suits began moving towards the rock to finish the job.

Garrod looked around the rock slightly with the GX's cameras "Are they coming? Alright, in this situation…" He leapt upward landing on the top of the rock. "Hey, you guys!" He yelled over an open frequency.

Witz and Roybea stopped "What the…?" Witz looked a little taken aback as he heard him.

"It's a kid's voice…?" Roybea blinked a little out of it himself at what was happening.

"If you attack now, something bad will happen!" Garrod yelled over the frequency.

Xxx

"Are you getting this?" Naina blinked.

"Yeah…" Duo replied "What the fuck is he doing?" He rolled over to try to get a look back at the battle.

"Trying to get himself killed, I think…" Naina rolled again and slowed with Duo to get a better look at the battle.

Xxx

"Listen to me carefully!" Garrod smirked as he had the GX's hands planted on its waist "This Gundam has a secret weapon!"

Xxx

Jamil was taken aback at the comment knowing that the GX's main weapon was more than capable of filling the boy's bluff, and he wasn't sure if he knew it or not.

Xxx

"If you don't wanna be attacked…" Garrod continued his bluff, before a hail of bullets, beams and micro missiles struck the cliff face directly in front of him and knocking him back. "AHH!"

"You idiot! That kind of bluff doesn't work!" Witz yelled back over an open frequency, before he took off towards the top of the rock where the GX had been.

Witz smirked as he closed the missile container housed in the right shoulder of the Leopard "Telling lies is bad." He followed after Witz as they continued their assault on the GX-9900.

Garrod grimaced as he fell back from more hits near the GX "Damn, I knew that was too obvious…" The suit shook from a hit to the shoulder.

Xxx

Jamil sighed as he realized the boy really didn't know about the GX's true main weapon. As he noticed the others on the bridge still looking at him he sat down "Sala, contact the pilots." He looked at her.

"Yes, Sir!" Sala replied as she turned back to her console and began readying the message to be sent.

"Our purpose is to get Tiffa Adill." Jamil began dictating the message. "Don't attack the cockpit directly."

Sala nodded and typed in the message, and the computer converted it over automatically for it to be sent via a light signal to the two Gundams.

Xxx

Witz caught the red flashing light from the ship about a mile and a half back now sending the signal in the dots and dashes of Morse Code. "Don't attack the cockpit?" He blinked.

Roybea smiled "Yeah, yeah, I get it." He continued firing, adjusting his firing angle to disable the GX if possible.

Garrod blinked as he saw the message as well "I see, they're trying to get Tiffa back. If that's the case…" He looked at Tiffa.

Xxx

"What the hell, they're sending a message in such an out dated method?" Duo blinked "They're telling them not to attack the cockpit, because they want to get this Tiffa Adill person back…"

"Shall we get involved? Obviously that kid has someone they want, do you think he kidnapped her?" Naina looked down on the battle.

"Not just yet… we don't know what the hell is going on here." Duo looked over at Naina's suit "First we saw that thing chase out a group of that one type of mobile suit and roast them, then they got involved with these guys... Something's telling me the kid might be trying to protect her, if he was fighting the other group before."

"You're just like your brother, wanting to run and hide instead of getting involved." Naina narrowed her eyes as she opened a video link with him.

"I am not!" Duo glared at her, knowing she'd hit the nail on the head.

"Then how do we…" Naina paused as she noticed something in the battle before them, the GX-9900 launched skyward towards them and flying backwards with its arm extended.

Xxx

"Wait!" Roybea yelled as Witz took aim at the GX.

"What?!" Witz's eyes shot wide as he saw it. In the GX's left hand, was Tiffa.

"How about this?" Garrod yelled over an open channel again "If you want to shoot, shoot."

Xxx

Jamil's eyes widened as he saw it on the main monitor.

"That little…" Toniya gaped.

Xxx

"What a dirty…" Naina blinked.

"Smart move…" Duo replied.

"What, he's using her as a human shield!" Naina yelled at him "That's lower than dirt!"

"No, he's not…" Duo smirked "He's doing it with her help… he helped her into the hand and made sure she was alright! That kid's using an underhanded tactic, yet a clean version of it, to get the hell out of there. That's just brilliant!"

Naina paused and looked at the scene as the GX touched down in front of the Leopard and Airmaster.

Xxx

"I knew you couldn't shoot…" Garrod smiled as he extended the arm, "…because you want her back."

Witz glared at him "You little cheater!" He yelled over the open frequency.

Roybea smiled "He's pretty good…"

Xxx

Jamil glared as his grip tightened on the arm of his chair, knowing this was a bluff he couldn't call.

Xxx

"I hold the ace of hearts!" Garrod smirked "Don't forget that! See ya!" He spun on the spot and took off at high speed, the verniers coming online at their full power and sending the GX into the air as it flew away from the other Gundams, before its back's binders unfolded into an X shape, and began to shine a brilliant white as it flew away and using them as a sort of solar sail.

Witz glared at the back of the GX-9900 "Shit! He made a fool out of me!" He launched into the sky and transformed the Airmaster into its flight mode and gave chase, quickly gaining on the less aerodynamic GX.

"Hey, hold on…" Roybea blinked as he saw Witz charging after it.

Garrod gaped as he saw the Airmaster coming in fast on his rear "What!? He can fly too?"

"Gotcha!" Witz yelled as he lined up the GX's solar array to knock out its primary form of flight, and as he began to depress the button a micro missile detonated directly over his left wing, knocking him off of the tail of the GX and making the Airmaster to spin. He transformed the suit to regain his stability "What the…!?" He looked down at Roybea before noticing the flashing light from the Freeden again sending him a signal. "Let them go…" He glared before looking back towards the GX, which was just now a gleaming dot getting further and further away.

Xxx

"Follow it!" Duo spun and took off after the GX, keeping it on his tracking screen.

"Why the hell are we?" Naina asked as she took off after him as well.

"Because we need some answers… and I'd rather deal with one Gundam than two, if we get into some sort of "misunderstanding", and which is piloted by some kid and not pilots that know what the hell they're doing." Duo relayed as they flew slightly higher than the GX-9900 as they continued to give chase.

Xxx

Garrod popped the cockpit hatch and climbed out onto it as the arm came closer "Sorry, were you scared?" He asked as he put his hands on Tiffa's shoulders.

Tiffa looked at him "I believed… in you." She smiled lightly.

Xxx

"I'm going back to the Freeden." Roybea took a sip of his drink as he looked at Witz on the monitor. "Under my contract, I get maintenance. Their mechanic is good…"

Witz still fuming at the GX being allowed to get away, he glared "I'll get some rest too…Damn it! If I don't rest, I can't cool off…" He turned and began following the Leopard back towards the Freeden while he carried GX's lost Shield Buster Rifle, resisting the urge to slug one of the monitors in the cockpit.

Xxx

An Information Broker smirked as he lowered his binoculars "It's been a while since I had some good booze…" He quickly made his way off of the rock face and down onto a hover bike, starting it up he shot off into the night.

Xxx

The Gundam X was knelt behind Garrod and Tiffa as they sat on a log with the small campfire illuminating the small clearing in the woods around them. Garrod used a fork to shovel more of the canned food he'd brought into his mouth "I don't know when our next enemy will come… I need to eat a lot right now." He spoke between mouthfuls, not really chewing his food in the process. "I need to lose them somehow…" He paused and looked at Tiffa "But after that, what the hell should I do?" He blinked "Are you already done?" He asked noticing she was still holding her cup of food.

Tiffa held it out for him. Garrod blinked "I'm okay…" He looked at her.

Tiffa just reached out a little further holding the cup for Garrod. "Well…" Garrod sat down his now empty cup and took Tiffa's prior to quickly beginning to shovel the food into his mouth. After gagging momentarily he hit his chest a few times, trying to dislodge the stuck food in his throat before it finally came free, he gasped for air and sighed "I thought I was gonna die…"

Tiffa smiled lightly at him.

"Well, it's good that you didn't…" A boy's voice called out, causing Garrod to turn to see who it was.

"James is that you?" Garrod blinked as he heard the familiar voice.

Duo walked forward with Naina blinking slightly "Hold on, how do you know my brother's name?"

Xxx

"God damn it, why the hell did it take you so long to find us?" Yzak snapped as he climbed out of the jeep in the hangar of the Astarte.

"What did you want us to do, plow our way through a mountain?" Wufei glared back at him.

"When I'm being shot at, by three, god damned, mother fucking, mobile suits, YES!" Yzak was livid as he continued to lay into Wufei for not getting them sooner.

"Well, it didn't help that you weren't anywhere near the town…" Wufei bit his tongue to resist the urge to rip Yzak right back. "Also, we did dispatch most of the remaining mobile suits, besides your units, to find you."

"There isn't time for that, divert them to the coordinates I relayed from, there was a battle going on in that area." Yzak glared as he marched past heading towards the interior of the ship.

"Where are you going?" Wufei looked at him.

"To clean up and cool off before I find a reason to kick your ass back to Mars!" Yzak snapped as he slammed the bulkhead door to the hangar behind him.

"Easy Wufei…" Heero cautioned seeing he was ready to go after Yzak.

Suddenly, without any real warning, Wufei punched the hood of the jeep he was next to, leaving a dent that had a fist like shape in it.

"I'll talk with Yzak… he's just tired…" Shiho walked past Wufei quickly.

"So where's Duo, we met a rather interesting guy in town and I think he'd like to meet him?" James asked as he walked over from the other jeep.

Wufei's other arm shot up so fast that James didn't have time to avoid it as it had him by the collar "That moron and his girlfriend were the ones sent off in the direction of your coordinates!" He nearly spat in James' face "When he gets back, you'd better hope I'm not still ready to kill someone." He half released and shoved James back before quickly marching out of the hangar in a similar manner that Yzak had.

"Well this is a great start to a "peaceful" relief operation…" Kira rolled his eyes as he helped James to his feet.

"Well, if he's headed in that direction, he could be getting involved with those three mobile suits…" James sighed as he looked around at the others. "We don't know what they're capable of..."

"Well, as of right now if they're anything like this thing you brought me…" Ian jerked his thumb back at the Jenice Kai Crockas' custom "I'd be a little concerned…"

"Wha…" James blinked. "Nah, they were a different type, more along the lines of being closer to the Astray's frame. With three cameras in their heads, why should we be concerned?"

"Because… this thing, granted its old… about fifteen years old… it's been well maintained. And it has armor, and firepower. Its machine gun is a 100mm. It fires anti mobile suit shells that would give any of the suits we have on board currently a serious run for their money."

"Wait, are you saying that thing could take out one of us, if we got into a fight with it?" Soma looked at it.

"Well that's the thing… seeing as this thing is so heavily customized, and so old… we don't know what else we could come up against… it could go either way. Customized suits could be merely cosmetic, or performance wise be more powerful or weaker. If we run into Gundams that Able created…" Ian scratched his head "And this was a just mass produced suit… If what you said was right, we're looking at a possibility of mercenaries running around with mobile suits that have all been heavily customized, personally tailored by their pilots for their own fighting styles. And if some of the data we recovered from this machine was right, they've been piloting them for nearly fifteen years… we could see anywhere from amateur piloting skills to veterans with more experience than even you guys."

"So is that the long version of saying, we might be fucked?" James asked.

"Yeah. There are way too many variables currently… we could see anything, from stuff that wouldn't be fit to be called a pile of scrap being piloted, all the way up to…" Ian looked at them.

"A Gundam… like you said, one of the scientists did come here… we could run into them…"

"Could nothing … There's a good chance based on some of the data the DSSD sent us a little while ago that a Gundam may have been the cause of that mass colony drop." Ian looked at them "Not entirely sure yet… but I'm doubting it, based on what they said I don't think it could be a mobile suit, it has to be a mobile armor or a battleship based on the firepower."

"What kind of firepower?" Heero asked.

"You know the O'Neil type colonies that a few nations have around in the C.E.?" Ian looked at them "From what the report said in the message a wall of massive beams hit a few of them and completely destroyed them."

Xxx

A pack of hover bikes roared through the forest following the information broker before breaking off in different directions to head to different points and to find as many people as possible to sell the information about the Gundams.

The information broker slowed as he reached the camp of one of his regular clients "Hey, I've got some premium information…" He smiled as he climbed off of the bike and walked over to her.

Wedoba Morte looked at the picture he held out for her and she blinked seeing it "You've seen this type of Gundam?" She asked turning to him as she sat at the small collapsible table in her camp. "It's rumored to have an old UNE secret weapon. Is this it?"

"Most likely." The information broker smiled as he stood there with his hand on his hip. "Also, the one using it is probably not a mobile suit pilot." He reached into his coat and pulled out another image of it from the front and handed it to her "Is this the Gundam's…"

"If you get it undamaged… you can be the strongest mobile suit pilot." The broker smiled "If you damage it… you can sell its parts for whatever you want. Any arm or leg can become money. That's a Gundam." He walked over next to her and waved a disk in his hand towards her "The details are on this disk. You should hurry up."

Wedoba's head spun and she looked at him "Otherwise… someone else will get there first?" She asked.

The broker smirked "This is business."

Wedoba glared as she snatched it from his hand "Alright then!" She glared at him, knowing he'd go to someone else if she didn't buy it.

"Thank you very much." The broker grinned knowing he was going to be making good money off of this.

Xxx

Jamil stood in his darkened office looking at the picture of Garrod looking back over his shoulder at the ship as he escaped a glare in his eyes was clearly visible. He glared knowing now that the boy had also taken the GX-9900 that had originally been entrusted to him, but he'd left it. The still open ship's safe on the floor next to him. He crushed the photograph in his hand.

Xxx

"Don't you think it's strange?" Roybea asked as he stirred some cream into his coffee. "Jamil Neate is famous in the world of the Vultures, isn't he?"

"Jamil sure is eager to get that little girl." Witz leaned against a parts container.

"That's it, the latest attack on the Alternative Company was pretty serious." Roybea sighed as he continued to ponder.

"I don't know what he's thinking, but I'm not interested in it." Witz shrugged.

Roybea took a sip of his coffee to see if he'd gotten the mix right "Really? Well, that's too bad." He looked over at Witz. "If we get her secret, the source will…"

It dawned on Witz "Will it be good business…" His eyes were wide as he leaned into Roybea.

Roybea held up his hand to his mouth and hushed him "Your voice is too loud. What'll you do if someone is listening?" He looked at him.

"Well, we were listening…" Toniya's voice came from behind him, causing both of them to jump seeing both her and Sala. "What are you going to do?"

Both Witz and Roybea grimaced as they saw them "These free agents are dangerous…" Toniya looked at them. "They stink of betrayal."

"I'll report to the Captain…" Sala turned to leave Toniya with them as she went to report what they'd heard.

"Wait a sec!" Roybea yelled as he got up, Sala turned to look at him.

"Make your excuses to the captain." Sala stated flatly to him.

Roybea smiled "You're cute when you're angry." Sala shot him a glare in return before turning back to continue. Roybea ran over and grabbed her arm "Hey, I said wait! You also risked your life to get that little girl without knowing the reason." He looked at her.

"Th...That's…" Sala paused knowing he was right.

"Because the captain is quiet." Toniya shrugged.

Roybea looked at Sala "We're also in the business of risking our lives." He shrugged lightly "At least, the secret of that girl Tiffa is something you want to know as well, right?"

Sala paused and looked at Toniya who shrugged, they were also in the dark, not knowing anything beyond the fact that they'd rescued her from the Alternative Company.

Xxx

"What the hell, a light signal?" Meyrin blinked as she saw it.

"What?" Kathy looked up from her station, before the others started coming over.

"Contact Yzak, someone wants to talk with him…" Meyrin looked up and realized she was surrounded by everyone on the bridge.

"Don't bother… what's the message?" Yzak asked.

"I'll reply, asking them." Meyrin began sending the response.

Yzak moved down to one of the bridge's windows "Which side did it come from?"

"Port." Meyrin replied. "He's…"

"Stop the ship, I'll talk with him, it's something I heard about in town, they're called information brokers. Because the communications satellites and information networks were destroyed from the war they created this sort of system… Where people hunt down all of the information and sell it to whoever will buy it." Yzak made his way from the bridge leaving the others to look around at each other.

"So what was the message?" DaCosta asked.

"I only caught some of it… because Yzak asked which side it was from. But I could have sworn I saw the Morse Code to spell out Gundam." Meyrin looked around at them.

Xxx

"So, that's what went down…" Duo chuckled as they sat across from Tiffa and Garrod on another log.

Naina looked up at the face of the GX-9900 "You were pretty lucky that you stumbled across this suit…"

"Yeah, I guess…" Garrod shrugged as he looked at the small campfire. "So, Tiffa, where were you before you were caught by them?" He asked a little out of the blue wondering why the Vulture and Reich Anto were after her. "And what a mysterious power… Some Newtypes in the last war… were probably like you, right?"

Duo and Naina's ears perked up at the mention of the term they'd become so familiar with in the recent months. They looked at Tiffa as Garrod turned to look at her.

"Well, Tiffa, I can't learn anything if you're quiet." Garrod smiled at her.

"I…" Tiffa spoke softly before looking at him "I want to know about you."

Garrod blinked at the request before smiling lightly and nodding "Alright…" He turned back to the fire "I was born right around the time the war ended." He broke the stick he'd been prodding the fire with and tossed half of it into the fire. "My father was a military engineer. He was killed in the war. When I was young… everything was pretty messed up. There was no sun. It was like winter for a long time. About half of my friends died. When the spring came…" He smiled as he looked over at the GX-9900 "I decided to become a mechanic. I probably take after my father. I'm good at that kind of stuff. But, one day… my town was attacked by rogue mobile suit pilots. It was a miracle I survived. No, I thought, I was going to die. That was when I was released. Now I do this." He blinked as he felt something on his hand, he realized Tiffa had put hers on his hand. "Uhh…"

"Sad times…" Tiffa looked at him "Your memories are also sad." She spoke softly "I'm also alone."

Garrod without really realizing it put his other hand on hers "Tiffa…"

Tiffa looked at it "Warm… hand."

Garrod realizing what he'd done rather unconsciously, jumped a little embarrassed and blushed lightly. Duo and Naina giggled lightly at the touching moment they'd just witnessed.

"Well, Tiffa, if we can… if we can get away… then, we'll… then we'll… WHA!?" Garrod spoke before suddenly tackled off of the log by Tiffa. A shot hit near the leg of the GX-9900, causing Duo and Naina to jump for cover as well, as more shots hit around Garrod and Tiffa.

"What the?" Garrod looked up as the loud dull thud caused them to tense.

"What the hell!?" Naina looked up and gaped as they were confronted with a highly customized Jenice with long curved golden horns coming up from the red head, like an ancient warrior's helmet.

Wedoba Morte giggled to herself as she looked down on the four "I've found the treasure!" She took aim at Garrod and Tiffa directly. "Sayonara kiddies…"

The red monoeye of the Jenice Kai Slash Buffalo flashed as it locked onto the two on the ground. "Get out of there!" Duo yelled.

Wedoba pressed lightly on the trigger button when a shell streaked in from the side and hit her suit's machine gun, causing it to explode.

Garrod taking the chance without any prompting he grabbed Tiffa "Now!" They both ran for the GX-9900, as Naina and Duo ran into the woods to get their own suits.

Wedoba opened her eyes and looked to see where the shot had come from, only to see suits she recognized "My allies!?"

Garrod climbed into the GX-9900 and connected the controller bringing the suit online. As the monitors turned on the scene around them finally unfolded "What the…?!" He saw nothing but mobile suits to all sides "Wh… Why are there so many mobile suits…" Suddenly the Jenice Kai Slash Buffalo leapt towards them with its heat saber raised high over its head to attack the GX. "AHHHH!" He pulled back narrowly avoiding the attack, and as it charged a second time he flew to the side avoiding its strike.

Two Daughtress type mobile suits equipped with shoulder mounted cannons fired at Wedoba, trying to get the GX-9900 for their own. "I won't let you have him! THIS IS MINE!" She charged the GX-9900 again attempting to bring an end to this by taking it down.

The GX blocked the attack by using its arms, bringing them up and crossing them as the heat saber struggled to get through its superior armor sparks flew from the heat saber. Garrod struggled against the Jenice Kai Slash Buffalo as it threatened to overpower the GX.

"I've got it!" Wedoba smiled as she pushed, trying to knock the GX-9900 over onto its back.

The backpack of the GX-9900 rotated and Garrod grabbed the large beam sword, drawing it as he stepped back and breaking free from the attack Wedoba had him with, and then he brought the large beam sword down through the leg of the Jenice, sending it to the ground disabled. Shots began striking around Garrod, forcing him back further only to come in contact with two more suits behind him, he spun leveling the saber at the strange white and maroon suit, he'd never seen before, carrying what sort of looked like a staff with a strange end. "What the?"

"Garrod keep your head in the fight!" Duo yelled as he took aim with the Vulpecula's beam rifle at one of the custom suits and fired, hitting it in the shoulder. "Naina keep them at range!"

"You don't have to tell me that!" Naina snapped back as the Tallgeese VI leveled its staff like cannon at the two Daughtress types that were bombarding them and fired. The massive beam struck the two suits destroying them.

"What the!?" Duo gaped as they suddenly came under bombardment from over twenty more mobile suits that were advancing on them "Shit who called in the cavalry!?"

"Who cares, we've got to fall back, or they'll overwhelm us!" Naina yelled as the three began backing up to avoid being encircled.

Wedoba glared as she slammed her fist onto her suit's controls "Shit! I almost had him!" Suddenly a shadow was cast across her as something blocked out the moonlight over her suit, she looked up to see one of her allies' mobile suits holding its machine gun over her cockpit "AHHH!" She screamed as it thrust downward with the butt of the massive rifle, sending it crashing through the cockpit hatch.

The suit seemingly writhed a little bit before it was finished, withdrawing the rifle two more suits drug the Jenice Kai Slash Buffalo off with its cockpit now smashed in.

Xxx

"Are you serious, we're going after a Gundam?" Wufei looked at Yzak.

"There's a good chance we know who's piloting it, and even more of a chance that Duo and Naina are in the same area!" Yzak looked around at the pilots in the briefing room. "Based on the information we've received thanks to that broker, it may be that Gundam Ian mentioned in that report of his."

"A Gundam with an external power source for its primary weapon…" Heero looked over at Kira "But why?"

"An external power source would free up the limitations of the suit based on its internal reactor… it may give it a slight handicap, but the limitations of its firepower capabilities are virtually removed. You could have a beam cannon that far exceeds any of our suits capabilities to maintain." Kira looked around at the other pilots.

"Like how much bigger?" James asked.

"At the very maximum… without causing the suit to explode from the energy intake… I'd say close to Libra's firepower." Kira looked at them and then at Setsuna "Unlike the 00 Quan(T), it wouldn't be dumping a controlled burst of high density particles… you're looking at an overwhelming beam similar to how the Twin Buster Rifle was." Kira looked again to Heero.

"And we're supposed to go, engage, and capture this suit?" Allelujah looked at them.

"You're crazy." Lockon stated flatly. "Without our Gundams that's suicide. What if it's not this Garrod kid you're talking about piloting it?"

"In a world with no order, we can only depend on ourselves." Yzak looked at him "They have to fight to live. So we must do the same in this case… to rescue our comrades. Yes their war may be over, but the individual wars continue."

Xxx

Garrod charged a Jenice and carved its arm off with the beam sword, and knocked the suit to the ground, before retreating back again to the other two suits.

"This is crazy just look at them!" Duo watched as two suits lunged for the severed mobile suit arm and fought over it, as if they were two homeless men fighting over a scrap of meat. The battlefield became a brawl, as all of the suits began fighting one another.

Xxx

"Get lots of information!" The information broker smirked as he called to his comrades around him on the bluff "Information on a Gundam is money!" He chuckled to himself "Info! Info! Information is money." He took a swig of some booze he'd gotten "Anyway, humans are such ugly bastards that they'll keep fighting even after the war is over." He laughed in a drunken stupor "But intelligent people like myself can stand idly by and benefit!"

Xxx

Shingo blinked as he saw explosions and lights on the horizon in a forest ahead of them "Captain… We see lights at two o'clock, it seems to be a battle!" Jamil glared knowing why there was probably a battle. Word had most likely gotten out that there was a Gundam being piloted by an inexperienced kid who couldn't really handle it.

Xxx

Garrod shielded the cockpit a little with the arms of the GX-9900 as the mobile suit pilots closed on him firing their machine guns and CIWS. He knew what they were thinking "Cockpit… the cockpit. Go for the cockpit!"The cameras were all alive giving off an eerie glow in the blackness of the night, the only lights around them were from the machineguns spewing their shells as they fired, the cameras and the light of the full moon. "I WON'T LOSE!" He glared as he dodged a red and tan customized Jenice using the sword to cut its legs off at the knees. "I don't wanna die here!" He charged the next one by grabbing its machine gun and forcing it away while he thrust up the beam sword through the head of the blue Jenice custom, destroying its cameras. "I won't die!"

He spun and charged another suit, cutting its left arm and leg off "I won't let her die!" He screamed.

"Garrod…" Tiffa spoke softly as she watched him fight, knowing he was protecting her.

Duo and Naina watched as Garrod carved his way through suit after suit, disarming them or disabling them. "He's pretty good… for a rookie…" Naina blinked.

"Yeah…" Duo blinked before an alarm went off in his suit, he lashed out kicking the knee joint of a Daughtress and breaking its knee prior to driving one of the arm mounted beam sabers through the side of the chest.

Xxx

"We'll reach the combat area in five minutes." Toniya announced. "Be ready." She looked at Roybea on her screen as he sipped a drink.

"Anytime's okay. By the way, you're cute." Roybea smiled at her, before Toniya shut the line on him and went to Witz.

"Are you ready, too?" Toniya asked him.

"I would be, even if you didn't ask. Man, you're a persistent girl." Witz glared at her.

Toniya sighed as she leaned back from the console on the rail behind her station "Mobile suit pilots are so stupid…" She scratched her head.

Sala opened a line with the two pilots "You two…" She looked at them, causing them to blink back at her a little surprised "Please, do your best."

Xxx

Garrod carved through another suit before large explosions and blasts began erupting around them, knocking his suit back into the Vulpecula and Tallgeese VI. "AHH!"

"Fuck those shells are way too big to be from mobile suits!" Duo glared as he brought up the radar signature "Incoming battleships!"

Two Rocky Class land battleships closed firing their cannons bombarding the area, thus destroying mobile suits and anything surrounding them. Before finally homing in their fire on Garrod, Duo and Naina, the Mobile suits around them began their advance again.

Garrod glared "Damn it! Up till now…"

"Garrod…" Tiffa spoke catching his attention. "Power for you…"

Garrod blinked a little perplexed "Power…?" He watched as Tiffa closed her eyes, sitting calmly next to him.

Xxx

"What the hell?" Setsuna blinked as he felt it "There it is again…"

"What…" Yzak looked at him and then to Kira "So, I wasn't the only one who got that feeling back when we were being chased…"

"What's going on though?" Allelujah asked "It's like…" He looked at Kira and Setsuna.

"No… this isn't like us… this is almost…" Setsuna looked at Amia who'd joined their little meeting.

Amia blinked not sure what to say "Uhh…"

"It's almost too powerful to be possible…" Kira looked around at them "By all rights, anyone with the newtype trait expressed to that kind of level should be dead."

"No, the A classification is possible physically, but a full A-class newtype really hasn't appeared… beyond Quatre, Setsunaor Kira... though even Kira isn't quite as sensitive as Quatre or Setsuna, and none of you really use your quantum brainwaves quite that extensively outside of combat." Hilde looked around at the three of them.

Xxx

In the dusty remains of a lunar base, computers came online for the first time in fifteen years as a connection was established. The large satellite microwave dish rotated to align with the Earth.

Xxx

A stream of data appeared on Garrod's monitor reading UNE Satellite System.

Xxx

Jamil's eyes widened as he sensed it "It can't be…" He looked over at Toniya "Mobile suits, move out!" He ordered and the two Gundams launched.

"Don't Tiffa!" Jamil yelled causing everyone on the bridge to look back at him, while he held a hand to his head, obviously in pain.

Xxx

The GX-9900's chest began to glow slightly as the system connected "AHH!" Garrod screamed as the suit was knocked back again.

"What in the hell is going…" Naina launched skyward as more mobile suits appeared on her radar "Duo it's the Astarte!"

"Yeah, I see it!" The Astarte was closing from ahead of them with a force of ten mobile suits closing on the battlefield, from a similar direction he could see the Vulture's ship from earlier "And so are those two Gundams!"

Xxx

"Move, move, move!" Witz yelled over his and Roybea's frequency as they closed on the battle, firing on the enemy mobile suits as they went.

"Don't get in our way!" Roybea smirked as he unleashed a barrage of missiles and bullets, ripping through a group of mobile suits.

Xxx

"Gundams!" Shiho yelled as she saw them from the cockpit of her Gunner ZAKU Warrior.

"Doesn't matter there's Duo and Naina, let's give them covering fire!" James yelled as he pushed his Vulpecula harder towards the two suits flying over the battle.

Xxx

Garrod blinked as the monitor showed the final screen reading Satellite System GX-9900 NT-001 "What's this…?" He asked. "Satellite system?" He looked at Tiffa who nodded in return.

"So this is… the power?" He asked before turning back to the main monitor, he flicked the switch on the control stick activating its targeting system, suddenly a whitish blue beam shot down through the light cloud cover past the airborne mobile suits from the Astarte to the chest of the GX-9900.

Xxx

"What in the…" Kira blinked "Guys, I think that's…"

Duo rolled over "Oh shit… from the moon?"

"Detecting high energy readings coming from that beam!" Tieria yelled as he looked down at the GX-9900 "A Gundam type…"

Xxx

Roybea and Witz stopped on a ridgeline overlooking the battle where they could see the flying mobile suits "What's that!?" Witz asked.

"Is that… a laser circuit from the moon!?" Roybea blinked as it descended through he strange mobile suits to the ground.

Xxx

Jamil watched as the familiar laser circuit descended into the forest they were approaching "Tiffa, please listen to my voice!"He strained trying to use his abilities, only resulting in bringing waves of pain to wash over himself. "It's no good!" Small streams of blood slipped through his fingers staining the white glove on his hand.

Xxx

Yzak looked down and blinked, as the backpack rotated on the GX-9900 and it deployed a long cannon over its right shoulder before the panels unfolded into a solar array shaped like an X on its back. "What in the hell is?"

"Clear out, that thing's gonna fire!" Heero yelled as he pulled high and away from the GX-9900.

"We should stop him, we don't know what that thing could do!" Naina yelled back to him.

"And what, get taken out with it, if it explodes!?" James yelled back at her as he began following Heero "That thing's been sitting around for what? Fifteen years, the amount of energy it's about to intake could cause its reactor to go critical! It's too late to stop it now!"

The Preventers flew away towards the ridgeline where Witz and Roybea were "Oh crap… more Gundams!" Lockon gaped as they took aim at his GN-X VI.

"Look you two on the ridge, we're just clearing out! Don't shoot!" Kira yelled over an outside line.

Witz blinked a little surprised as the Aquila transformed and touched down near them "That Gundam down there is about to open fire with some sort of externally powered cannon!"

Xxx

"After 4.03 seconds, microwave!" Garrod said as he waited for the energy circuit to be completed.

"It's coming." Tiffa replied.

The thin beam glowed brighter momentarily as the energy circuit was completed and it began charging the internal power storage for the cannon.

Xxx

A bright flash caught the attention of the Preventers pilots as they turned and saw the GX-9900's mirrors illuminate a brilliant whitish blue.

Some of the mobile suits below them seemed to hesitate attacking the GX and some even began to back up to run away.

Xxx

"DON'T FIRE!" Jamil yelled as he sensed what was about to happen.

Xxx

"GO!" Garrod yelled as he pulled the trigger and the Satellite Cannon erupted, its tremendous bluish white beam enveloping all before it, vaporizing the mobile suits ahead of it immediately, splintering the rock below them before turning it to ash.

"SHIT!" Yzak yelled as they all cleared the hell out of the way, knowing what it would do to them.

Xxx

Garrod strained against the controls as the GX was pushed backwards slightly from the pressure wave of the massive beam it unleashed. He turned the suit bringing the beam around and enveloping more of the rogue mobile suits and Vulture pilots, the cone of the beam even enveloping the two Rocky-class ships that had engaged them, vaporizing them.

Xxx

"AHH!" The information brokers screamed as the beam reached them, as they seemingly evaporated as if a nuclear blast had struck.

Xxx

The bridge crew of the Freeden gaped in awe as the entire horizon glowed a brilliant white, brighter than the sun. "Wha… What's that?" Toniya asked.

"I… I don't know." Shingo replied in awe and terror.

"A nightmare." Jamil spoke as he sat there knowing what was happening, causing them all to look at him again "A fifteen year old nightmare."

Xxx

"AHHHH!" Garrod screamed in horror as he destroyed everything around the GX-9900 with the UNE's fifteen year old secret weapon, the same weapon that had been deployed during the final battle of the war, the Gundam X's Satellite Cannon.

Xxx

As dawn broke over the horizon the destruction became visible to them all "This is…" Yzak looked horrified.

"Too much…" Heero was hard pressed to release his grip on the controls, he was actually afraid of that Gundam.

Xxx

"So, this is the Gundam's power?" Garrod's eyes were wide as he saw the scene of destruction he had caused, the ground seemingly turned to ash, as thin wispy vapors of smoke rose from it. He smiled a little "But, we're still alive. Right, Tiffa?" He asked as he looked to her. "Uhh…" He saw her sitting there, her eyes were wide, seemingly in shock and horror of what had just happened. "Tiffa?"

Xxx

Witz and Roybea looked down on the scene of destruction with the other pilots that had gotten away with them "That Gundam is too much…" Witz spoke over an open channel.

"Too much for that kid." Roybea nodded.

"Fuck… that thing has the firepower of the fucking Libra…" Duo gaped.

"Everyone alright?" Quatre asked "I've gotten a transmission from the Astarte that several people have collapsed as a result of something!"

"What?" Yzak yelled back "Why?"

"All of them possess the newtype trait… it's possible they sensed…" Quatre passed along.

"There has been too many deaths…" Setsuna looked down at the battlefield. "That girl…"

Xxx

The bridge crew of the Freeden looked down on the battlefield that had been vaporized "Too many died." Jamil spoke softly "Tiffa, you will…"

Xxx

Tiffa gasped "AHHHHHH!" She screamed grabbing her head while feeling the deaths of the people that had just occurred, their fear, and the sheer terror they had felt as they had died. "AHHHH!"

"What's wrong, Tiffa?" Garrod yelled trying to ask her frantically "Tiffa!?" He reached out for her "TIFFA!?" She collapsed and he caught her as the sun illuminated the Freeden and the Astarte closing on their position.

Xxxxxx

And now, as many who may or may not have seen a certain image of the lead from Gundam X floating around the internet, just google Garrod Ran. And I quote exactly what just happened. "He hijacked a mobile suit using only a pistol and a home-made flash bang, stole a Vulture's prized possession, found a Gundam, wiped out an army, and put his girlfriend in a coma. And that's just the first two episodes."

As I personally describe him to friends who haven't seen the series, he's Duo Maxwell + MacGyver = Garrod Ran.

Chapter 2 is already under way, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter, because… hey someone turn on the heat…

"Brother, I think its time we make our appearance…" Olba Frost smiled as he leaned over Ald's shoulder

"I couldn't agree more Olba…" Shagia Frost smiled.

HELP ME!

"Oh you can go to hell as it freezes over after all of that stuff you just put us through!" Yzak yelled as he knocked some dirt out of his boot.