Disclaimer: As usual, I hold no ownership over Iron Blooded Orphans, nor any Bandai affiliated media.

Chapter One: Awakening

Blood, that was all she could see, all that seemingly remained of her parents as the monster continued to attack the city. Their blood slid down her cheeks, joining her tears as she huddled in the corner, away from the pulpy mess that had been her family, crushed by the same debris that trapped her within their home.

The ground shook as another explosion ripped through the air and ground, the proximity slowly getting further and further away as the girl curled up on herself. "Why?" she sobbed to herself as she shook in fear and pain. "Why are we being punished like this?"

A noise made her break away from her questioning as something was causing the rocks to shift, a light breaking through as a large chuck was removed. "We have a survivor!" A masculine voice shouted. "Medic!"

Someone dropped in, revealing a large man, looking no older than 20, in a blood and dirt stained white uniform with a patch showing a lion holding a horn bearing seven stars upon it. "Young miss, are you alright?" He questioned as he moved closer to her. "To find a survivor in this disaster, truly, the gods were smiling upon you."

The girl blinked as she stared up at the man, surrounded by a halo of light, unable to see his features. "My name is Agnika Kaieru, what's yours, young miss?" The man smiled kindly as he reached out for her hand.

"A-Alice..." the girl whispered in awe as her hand haltingly reached out for his. "Alice… Senkei…"

"Come, Lady Alice, let's get you out of here," Agnika told her, taking her hand comfortingly and pulling her up. "And back out into the light where you belong."

"Are you sure of this?" Agnika questioned as he looked down at the small girl he saved, barely half a year ago. "There's a chance you will never wake up from the surgery…"

"I know," Alice replied in return, her green eyes staring back at the man who rescued her intensely. "This life you saved, I will not lose it so recklessly, I will survive, and I will pilot a Gundam for you, no matter what."

The man looked down at her from where she lay on the operating table and placed a hand on her head, stroking her blond hair. "From the bottom of my heart, I give you my deepest thanks," he whispered to her, voice thick with emotion for the girl that refused to leave his side.

The girl smiled in return. "Of course," she replied simply before he stepped back to allow the doctors to begin prepping her for the surgery that could change the course of the war.

"As of now… all seventy-two of us are family!" Agnika shouted, his back showing the signs of the new and successful Alaya-Vijnana surgery, as did the back of each of the seventy-one barely pre-teen pilots before him. "We are Gjallarhorn, the stars that shall pierce the darkness that is being casted down upon us by the Mobile Armors that man has created in their folly! And when that darkness is dispelled, we shall lead mankind into a new era of peace and prosperity for all!"

He spread open his arms from atop his position on the Gundam Frame Bael, gesturing to the seventy-one pilots who stood on their own Gundam Frames as they saluted him, their hands covering the Gundam Frame's serial number tattooed with pride for all to see on their chest. "I thank you all for making it this far, and I ask of you, please!" he shouted, tears welling in his eyes. "Push further, now is the time of Mankind's counterattack!"

Alice raised her voice on top of the Gundam Frame Phenex with the other pilots, roaring out their approval and desire for victory.

"Then! Proud pilots of Gjallarhorn! WE FIGHT!"

"Alice… thank you for coming," Agnika said, his once youthful face, now lined with age and the stress from battle said as he looked upon one of his most faithful warriors who sacrificed everything for him.

"Of course," Alice replied, smiling at him, her green eyes not as shiny as they once were, dulled from battle and loss, but still holding the conviction that brought her through nearly a decade of war. "I'll always come when you call."

Agnika smiled fondly at the loyalty that she gave him. "Alice… I have asked much from you over the course of our time together, and… now that it's finally come to an end…" he trailed off a bit, looking down. "The future generations that will follow us… I am worried about what would happen if such creations as the Mobile Armors were to be made again… peace can rust the swords… even if they are still swung in training… that is why… Alice… I must ask of you, one last sacrifice… I-"

"Anything," Alice replied instantly, cutting him off. "Lord Agnika… you saved my life… you gave me the power to make sure that we ended the Mobile Armors, just ask, and I will do it."

Agnika smiled at his subordinate as he sighed. "I know I can trust you with this, Alice… I wish to place you in cryostasis and hide you away… for I fear for the future… not just of any enemies that may come, but… of what Gjallarhorn may become," he admitted, standing up so that he could place his hands on her shoulders. "Alice, I entrust onto you, the ideals and beliefs of Gjallarhorn today… to bring to the future."

Alice nodded firmly, her eyes glinting in determination. "Yessir, I promise… I will do this," she informed resolutely, making him smile before shocking her as he pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you Alice… no… my daughter,," he whispered to her, making the teen blush brightly in response as her eyes widened. "Go, and no matter what Gjallarhorn has become, follow your heart and know you can never dissapoint me."

Alice blinked back a few tears as she nodded. "I will," she assured. "No matter what, I will."

"Good, now go, the engineers are preparing your Gundam for you," he told her. "And know, everyone will support you, no matter what."

"I won't sir!" the girl assured with a bright smile.

"Good."

Green eyes fluttered open as she slowly felt the piercing cold receded from her body, awareness seeping into her. "Time to wake up… huh?" the girl questioned quietly as she slowly began shifting her body and checking her Alaya-Vijnana implant to make sure there was no damage. Looking outside of the viewscreen of the Phenex to the slowly powering room outside of her Gundam, it was a camouflaged station inside of an asteroid lined with Half-metal to hide her Gundam's Ahab Wave signal, and the inside was almost completely bare save for a few storage containers filled with supplies she might need upon waking and the Long Range Booster Pod that her unit connected with for long trips, like the one from Earth to Mars.

A blinking light caught her attention as she looked around, a message was waiting for her. Blinking a few times she reached out and pressed the button. "Alice," an aged by still recognizable voice spoke up, getting her attention. "Alice, thank you for doing this, while you slept, I have sent several codes to the Phenex which access a backdoor into Gjallarhorn's systems. Should you chose to reveal yourself as a member of Gjallarhorn, use the codes within your Gundam and it will connect you with all of Gjallarhorn and authenticate your words, good luck, Alice."

Alice smiled sadly as she traced the console before her. "Thank you, Agnika," she whispered gratefully. "I won't let you down."

It took her a bit to get herself ready to leave the asteroid she had slept in for 300 year, her gundam stored in the Long Range Booster, along with the supplies from within the asteroid itself. The first thing she saw when she woke up was the glittering blue planet of her home. It looked unchanged from when she last saw it, a smile breaking out over her face as she witnessed it. "Home," she whispered in a cracking voice before gathering herself, shaking her head and wiping her eyes.

Regaining her focus she looked around to see a decently sized debris field surrounding her. A couple of Ahab-Wave reactions were showing up on her sensors, but all of them originated from derelict ships that hadn't been around when she went into cryo. A smirk flittered onto her face - just like Agnika to find a secondary way to hide her from prying eyes.

Looking past the debris she saw the Colony that was planned to be built nearby, it was to be called Dort if she remembered correctly, along with a satellite that was transferring a Gjallarhorn IFF. Well, it looked like there was her starting point for finding out more about this new world she was in. All she had to do was send her own IFF to it to gain access to the data feeds that were stored within and hopefully a link back to the bases on Earth.

It was disgusting, completely disgusting…

Alice narrowed her eyes as she looked over the information she acquired from Gjallarhorn's databases, her old codes still working perfectly and allowed her access to all levels of data. Data which showed a staggering amount of corruption filling the once noble Gjallarhorn forces that she and her friends bled and died to create.

"Agnika… It's good that you are no longer here to see this," she whispered despondently. "Too see what your dream has become…"

She shook her head as her Gundam drifted through space from where it had been stored, near a colony site halfway between Mars and the Earth. She turned the Gundam, which was currently in it's MA mode, towards Mars and engaged the boosters. "The Earth is nothing but a cesspool of corruption and greed now," she muttered bitterly. "Then what did we fight for, what did so many of us die for?"

A sigh escaped her lips. "I guess for now, I'm just going to disappear," she said to herself as she rocketed towards Mars. "Might as well see what's become of Mars in 300 years."

It was safe to say that Mars hadn't fared much better than Earth, being the subject of oppression from the new three economic blocs that sprung up after what they called the 'Calamity War'. Many children being forced to undergo the Alaya-Vijnana implantation if they wanted any work at all, work that ended up being nearly suicidal in some cases, and that was without mentioning the 'Human Debris' matter.

With her Gundam well hidden in a Gjallarhorn safehouse that was apparently kept out of the books Alice began looking for work, ending up at a PMC company called Chryse Guard Security, or CGS as it was more commonly referred to.

Although she did end up being put with a bunch of kids in CGS' Third Group being led by a teen named Orga Itsuka, that part, she didn't mind, there was something about these kids that reminded her of her family from Gjallarhorn, that despite everything being put against them… they were still willing to fight for what's theirs.

"So, you're the new mobile worker pilot?" a tanned boy with white hair and golden eyes questioned as he studied her carefully, his eyes flicking over her, admittedly, curvy form before settling straight into her own eyes, his right eye being covered by a single bang as he met her gaze.

"Alice Senkei," she replied with a nod. "Are you Orga Itsuka? The boss said to meet with you." she spat out the title 'boss', only reason she took this job was because it really was the only job she could take with her skills.

Orga smirked as he picked up on her distaste for the fat man that decided their fates. "Yeah, pleasure to meet you, this is Biscuit Griffon," he said as he gestured to a rotund boy wearing a cap with wide green eyes brimming with optimism. "And he's Mikazuki Augus," a gesture to his other side where a tiny teen with black hair and blue eyes wearing an overlarge CGS coat with a bored look. "We're pretty much the command staff of the Third Group, for whatever good that does."

Alice smirked at him. "Well, just listening to you now, I can tell your orders would be better for my stomach than that fat tub of lard," she commented as they began to walk through the complex.

The two larger boys laughed while Mikazuki simply chewed on a date of some kind. "This is the power source of the base," Orga explained as he opened a door, making Alice freeze as her eyes widened. "An old mobile suit that Maruba had found, he's still split between selling it and keeping it, although he did sell off some of the parts and weapons for it."

Alice had only been listening with half an ear during Orga's explanation. 'Gundam… Barbatos… it was piloted by David Rashid… so this is what has become of it…' she thought sadly as she looked up at the incomplete Gundam.

"What's wong?" a bored voice question, making her look over at Mikazuki who was staring at her intently.

"Ah, it's nothing," she replied, shaking her head. "It just seems like such a waste to leave a mobile suit here just for power."

"It is, isn't it?" Orga agreed with a small smirk.

Alice shook her head again. "So, where is this mobile worker that I am to pilot?" she asked. "I'd like to get familiarized with it to tune it up."

"How much experience do you have working with mobile workers?" Orga raised an eyebrow. "The old geezer never let us take a look at your resume."

"I have a few years of experience under my belt," she informed with a shrug, not a complete lie, Gjallarhorn did use mobile workers when the Gundams were under construction or being repaired. "I also have some repair experience under my belt."

"We'll need to test you out first, since we don't have any idea of your actual skill," Orga nodded, glancing over at an orange-haired teen. "Shino!"

Alice shrugged in acceptance as the teen walked over and listened to Orga's explanation and nodded. "Alright!" he agreed eagerly, smacking his fist into the palm of his other hand. "Don't expect me to go easy on you!"

Alice snorted in return, amused by the teen's irritableness. "Same to you," she replied teasingly. "Now, where shall we do this?"

"Outside the base," Orga jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Biscuit, get her one of the spare mobile workers."

"Right!" Biscuit nodded and hurried off.

"Well, this should be interesting," Alice commented with a smile as she looked her opponent over.

"By the way, how did you get an Alaya-Vijnana implant? I've never heard of or seen any female Human Debris, any captured girls usually end up in the sex slave market," Orga's eyes bored into Alice.

Alice shrugged. "I was never Human Debris," she informed, no hint of a lie in her voice. "My former group ended up going our separate ways after most of us died and I ended up here on Mars, no other place for me to work at with my skill set other than PMCs."

"I see," Orga's eyes narrowed, not entirely convinced but accepting her explanation for now. "We'll test your skills first, then assign you a unit. Do be warned, our units are old and barely holding up - the old geezer's never seen fit to give us the newer stuff going into the other groups. I'm surprised he tossed you in with us, although he probably did that after finding out you have an Alaya-Vijnana implant."

Alice snorted, remembering the look in his eyes when he found out about it. "No doubt," she agreed as she followed them to the mobile workers. "But, I don't regret getting it, I was able to help my friend in the end with its help."

"Is that so?" Orga had an unreadable expression on his face. "I won't ask what happened to that friend."

"Thank you," Alice said gratefully as they came into the mobile worker hanger, Orga hadn't been lying about their condition, some of them looking like they were from the Calamity War. Nonetheless she walked over to Biscuit who waved her over to a mobile worker. "Doesn't look to be in bad condition actually," she commented to the chubby teen as she pulled off the jacket she was wearing to show the black sports bra underneath and the AV hookup.. "Mind helping me hook up?"

"Oh… oh," Biscuit looked away with a blush as he pulled the plug out from the seat as she settled in and tried to plug it into the implant while looking and trying not to look at the same time. "Um… uh, am I doing it properly?" he blustered, completely missing the implant in his attempt at not staring.

Alice couldn't help the giggle that escaped from her mouth. "Don't worry about looking," she commented assuringly. "I'm more than used to it, had to pilot topless one actually."

Biscuit's mind seemed to shut down for a moment before he shook his head and decided he needed to erase that mental image from his mind, by blunt trauma if needed. "Alright…" he let out a heavy sigh and looked properly before plugging it in. "You're lucky I'm the only one who heard you… Shino would have had a more extreme reaction."

"Ah, the innocence of youth," she teased lightly as she felt the connection link her to the mobile worker. "There we go, thank you Biscuit," she said as she climbed into the cockpit, closed the hatch and familiarized herself with the controls. "300 years and nothing's different in these at least," she murmured under her breath.

"Everything alright?" Biscuit called out, rapping on the hatch.

"All good here, just thinking about some of the tuning that it could use," Alice answered back as she continued to power the Worker up. "Are the paint rounds loaded?"

"Already done," a dark-skinned mechanic nodded as he walked up to the mobile worker to inspect it, his metal prosthetic feet clinking on the floor. "Don't see many girls around these parts, usually it's just Cookie, Cracker and Atra. Take good care of yourself out there, alright?"

Alice cracked a confident smile at the older man. "Don't worry, I've been doing this for a while now," she assured as she tested the movements a bit, rolling around the hangar to make sure it was working properly. "Alright, I'm ready to go whenever Shino is."

"Just head straight out the gates, Shino is already waiting for you outside the compound," Biscuit indicated the open hangar doors. "Good luck."

"Heh, that the new girlie in there?"

"Yeah, we're testing her," Mikazuki replied as the new girl left the hanger, a group of Third Group members heading out to watch.

"You know, when she arrived, I thought she was here to give some head!"

"Yeah, I bet whoever got her just took pity on her after using her for a bit!"

"Good luck getting me to even touch your ugly ass!" Alice shouted over the mobile worker's speaker as she squared off against Shino.

"You ass-" Shino yelled, already beginning to move.

"Stop it, Shino," Orga raised a calm hand.

"Huh, did you just backtalk to your superiors in the First Group?" the seeming leader of the bunch of goons drawled, pointing at Shino. "You know what'll happen if you cross us, right?"

"I'll accept any punishment on his behalf," Orga stepped in front of the bunch of troublemakers with a calm look.

Alice looked over with narrowed eyes as she watched Orga stand up for his subordinate, a brief image of Agnika superimposing itself over him, making her smile. "Right, how about we get this show underway, Shino?" she said as she focused on her opponent.

"Tch, dammit Orga…" Shino growled as he turned back towards Alice. "I wish he didn't have to do that for us all the time…"

"Then make sure it isn't wasted," Alice advised as the two headed out to the barren land beyond the gate and began circling one another.

"Oh damn right I'll make sure it's not wasted!" Shino shouted as he began opening fire, paint rounds blasting out from the machine guns mounted to the sides of his mobile worker.

Alice maneuvered around the rounds firing her own back at Shino, cataloguing the terrain as she moved, using several boulders as cover from the paint rounds as she danced around Shino. "Oh, this is going to be fun," she drawled as she closed in, firing at Shino.

"Oryaaa!" Shino roared as he performed a jump with the mobile worker to evade, maintaining enough control over the maneuver to fire several rounds down from the air.

Alice grinned as she flared her own thrusters to launch herself out of the way of the shells and tracked Shino's path before firing shells along it, predicting where he was going to land.

"Not hitting me so easily!" the hotheaded MW pilot flared his thrusters as well to push him sideways before continuing to fire wildly.

Alice danced around the shells easily as she moved around the terrain, picking her shots carefully as she tried to slowly trap Shino.

"Take this!" another yell punctuated a sudden forward zigzagging motion as Shino rammed his MW into Alice's abruptly, although she recovered in time and dodged the follow-up burst of machine gun fire.

"Oi! Take it easy, this isn't supposed to be actual combat!" Biscuit groaned over the comms.

"You wanted to see my skills right?" Alice questioned as she returned the favour by way of a kick Shino's unit as she fired her machine guns.

"Augh!" a cry rang out as Shino was peppered with paint rounds. "You're good!" he declared, diving back into the melee bashing his gun arms against Alice's MW.

"Oi, oi, I'm going to have to do a lot of fixing after this so-called mock battle's over," the mechanic groaned.

"Don't worry, I'll help out when I'm finished with Shino here," Alice promised as she landed a few more paint rounds on Shino's machine before kicking him away again.

"You'd better," the mechanic grumbled.

"Hey, I'm not a football!" Shino protested as he took another kick.

"He's literally getting kicked around…" Biscuit let out a bit of hesitant laughter at the sight.

"She's… pretty good," Mikazuki commented as he ate another date, watching the battle intensely.

"Ready to give up yet?" Alice questioned tauntingly as she landed few more paint rounds on Shino's unit.

"Hell no!" Shino hollered as he rushed back into melee range again. "ORYAAAA!"

*CLANG*

"STOP KICKING ME!"

"Why should I? It's rather fun," she commented with a giggle.

"GRRRR!" a spray of paint rounds passed through the air Alice had been occupying as Shino decided he'd had enough of being kicked around and switched tactics. "STOP MOVING SO I CAN SHOOT YOU!"

"Hmm, pretty sure I should be doing the opposite of that," Alice replied as she returned fire. "Y'know, dodging bullets being a very vital part of being alive and all that."

"EAT PAINT!"

*SPLAT*

"I think that's a win for Alice," Biscuit remarked, watching as Shino fell back with a bright paint splatter over the cockpit area of his mobile worker.

"I think I agree, how about you, Shino?" Alice questioned cheerfully.

"I WANT A REMATCH!" Shino roared.

"Some other time," Alice replied with a chuckle as she began to move her unit back to the hanger. "I want to work on tuning up my new machine, I did pass, right, Orga?"

"Yes… yes you did," Orga breathed somewhat laboriously as he walked back into the hangar, favouring one leg but trying not to show it.

Alice narrowed her eyes as she took in his condition, but respected his determination. "I look forward to working with you then," she said as she climbed out of the hatch, still connected to the machine. "You can count on me."

"Thank you," Orga nodded grimly. "If you run into any trouble with the other groups, let me know."

"I will," Alice assured with a nod. "Do you need a lift?"

"No, I'll be fine," Orga let out a pained grunt disguised as a cough. "They'll see it as a sign of weakness and start beating us up again if you do that. I'm sorry your first day had to be like this."

"Don't apologise," Alice told him with a piercing look. "The commander should never apologise for making the decision he felt was best."

"Yes… the commander shouldn't," Orga nodded with a strained smile. "Glad to have you with us, Alice."

Alice nodded in return. "Good to be with you as well," she said before pulling her unit into the hangar for tuning. She decided she could definitely make her home with them. Especially when she garnered enough trust with Orga to learn what their eventual plan was. Yes, she could definitely make her home with CGS' Third Group.

"Ah, excuse me, is this… Chryse Guard Security?" a female voice called out.

Several suspiciously happy voices replied, "Yes this is! How can we help you?"

"I'm here to make a food supply delivery? From Gardenia Farms?"

"Right, right, in this way please!"

The main gate opened to admit a large truck with the Gardenia Farms logo emblazoned on its side being driven by a long-haired brunette who was smiling awkwardly on the way in.

"Wish they'd remember my face is up here…" she sighed once she had cleared sight range of the guards, rubbing her shoulder with a hand as the goosebumps hit her. "You could read their intentions a mile away with their looks…"

She shook it off and decided to just finish her delivery and leave. Of all times for their regular deliveryman to be on leave…

Alice grunted as she adjusted the bolt on her mobile worker to pop off the panel to the internal wiring to work on the connections. "Hey, Ride was it? Can you pass me the wire strippers?" she called out to an orange haired boy nearby.

"Uh… right!" the boy nodded as he began rummaging in a toolbox.

Alice accepted the tool he handed her. "These are wire clippers," she pointed out after a glance. "Wire strippers have the circular end."

"Oh, sorry!" Ride apologized and replaced the tool before diving back into the toolbox. "I'm not much of a mechanic, more of a pilot."

"You should still learn how your machine works, it'll allow you to bring the most out of it," Alice instructed as she began working on optimizing the mess of wires inside of the worker. "If you know it's limits, then you know how to push them beyond it."

"It's kind of hard for most of us, miss," Ride rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Most of us don't know how to read and write, so we can't even read the manuals. Most of the time it's the old man teaching us how to do it."

Alice frowned a bit in response. "Come here, I'll show a trick to increase the feedback response," she said after a moment, making room for the small kid to see what she was doing.

"Okay!" Ride shimmied over to look, glancing at the implants poking out of her back. "Were you Human Debris too? I've never seen a girl Human Debris."

"Nah, I wasn't Debris," she replied as she continued her work, showing him which wires he wanted to work with. "I go the AV implants for… personal reasons."

"Personal reasons?" Ride blinked.

"In other words, it's private," Alice told him, poking his forehead playfully. "Now, see these wires here, they're connected to the fuel pump, now if I just make a small adjustment here… it'll increase the amount of fuel injected, it increases the fuel consumed, but gives it more horsepower in return."

"Oh, I see!" Ride perked up.

"Hello? Anyone here?"

Alice pulled her head out of the internals of the worker to look up. "Yes?" she called back. "You need something?"

"Ah, I'm supposed to be delivering some supplies, but I'm not sure where to put them…?" a brunette with long wavy hair poked her head out into view of the hangar. "Oh, this isn't the warehouse?"

"Nope, hangar, Ride, where is the warehouse at?" Alice questioned, looking down at the boy.

"It's on the other side of the base," Ride pointed.

"Oh," the girl sank visibly.

Alice patted Ride on the shoulder. "Let's go give her a hand, shall we?" she said as she began walking towards the girl. "My name is Alice, nice to meet you, miss?"

"Er, I'm Yuzuki. Yuzuki Gardenia," the girl nodded as she held out her hand to shake.

Alice grasped it and shook in return, her eyes narrowing briefly before smiling. "Lead the way, Ride," she told the child who nodded. "So, been on Mars for very long?"

"I was born here actually," Yuzuki smiled, eyeing the young boy with an unreadable look. "Born and raised here, though I've been off planet a few times."

"Hmm," Alice hummed in response as she looked over the base as a group of Third Group soldiers passed by in a light jog, calling out greetings to Ride and Alice. "What's your opinion on the current situation here on Mars then?"

"It's sad," a regretful Yuzuki shook her head and flinched as a bunch of passing men shot her hungry looks. "And at times disgusting."

Alice shot a glare at the members of First Group before she made a motion of neck cutting. "I guess sad is one word for it," she agreed as they approached the warehouse. "Although, I hear that Bernstein girl is trying to change that."

"It would be nice if she could," Yuzuki agreed, favouring the time-displaced pilot with a smile. "It's nice to see another girl around here… although don't you feel uncomfortable here?"

Alice shrugged. "I'm used to being the only girl amongst guys," she replied easily. "Plus I know how to break their balls in several ways if they try something that I do not appreciate."

"I should probably learn that," Yuzuki let out a regretful sigh as she pulled open the door of her truck and gestured for the two pilots to get in. "Might have at least stopped me from being kidnapped all those years back."

Alice raised her eyebrow before dropping the obviously painful subject. "It's quite simple really, you just need to introduce their genitalia to your foot, rinse and repeat," she informed humorously.

"What's… genitalia?" the orange-haired boy beside them asked, causing Yuzuki to almost floor the accelerator in shock - fortunately the truck's engine was off.

"It's another word for your private parts, Ride," Alice replied, completely nonplussed by the conversation direction. "Where you pee from."

"Oh!" Ride's eyes lit up in recognition. "I got kicked there during training once… It really hurt."

"I thought you used some fancy martial art like kung fu or tai chi or combat sambo or stuff like that," Yuzuki attempted to change the subject as she turned on the engine with a quick push of a button and gently eased the truck back onto the road.

Alice snorted in response. "Not really, some grounding in Krav Maga, but most of my focus is in piloting," she replied with a nostalgic smirk.

"Piloting?" Yuzuki blinked, glancing at a passing mobile worker. "Don't see girls in this line of work often."

Alice shrugged. "It's what I'm good at, plus with these implants, not like I can get any other kind of job," she pointed out. "And I don't feel like earning by laying on my back."

"Yeah… neither do I," Yuzuki let out a bit of a forced chuckle.

"What do you mean?" an oblivious Ride blinked in confusion. "Ah, take a left here!"

"Girl stuff," Yuzuki quickly snapped out a not-explanation as she turned the wheel, going past more mobile workers.

"You'll understand when you get older, Ride," Alice assured, patting his head.

"Don't you find it… scary, fighting like that?" Yuzuki asked, glancing over at where they were reloading a mobile worker's machine guns. "You could lose your life at any moment."

Alice chuckled in response. "Compared to what I faced with my last group, mobile workers will be relatively easy," she answered, looking off into the distance. "Plus, there should be a relative lack of having to worry about non-combatants."

"CGS isn't very well-known for competency though," Yuzuki whispered, making sure none of the people outside could hear her. "My company's heard a lot about that from the other companies that do long-range shipping - not to mention the appalling use of Human Debris as cannon fodder… I only wish more people felt the same on the subject as I do."

"It was the only place that I could find that didn't ask too many questions about my background," Alice said with a relaxed shrug. "And people tend to ignore what they don't see."

"You weren't Human Debris before?" the brunette queried as another turn of the wheel led them past a barracks where several boys and teens were training outside.

Alice shook her head in a negative. "Nope, got these because I volunteered," she informed, gesturing to the implant on her back. "The person I owed my life too, needed my help, so I gave it."

"That's as good a reason as any I suppose," Yuzuki nodded, her eyes flicking backwards momentarily.

"The warehouse is on the left just after here," Ride spoke up, pointing in the direction of said building.

"I'll give you a ride back to your hangar after this?" the brunette offered as they came up beside the warehouse and she backed the truck into one of the unloading bays.

"Sure," Alice agreed as she climbed out to help unload the truck. "I need to finish tuning my worker anyways."

"I think I might prefer to stay in the truck for now," Ride said after taking a look outside.

"I understand," Yuzuki nodded in understanding as she jumped out of the cab and moved to open the rear doors of the truck. As she did, several of the workers moved towards her and she wrinkled her nose at the smell of booze. "Hi, are you the unloading crew?" she forced a mask on her face.

"Yeah," one of them said with a bit of a slur as the others began to pull the crates of food out. "You got the documents?"

"I do," Yuzuki confirmed as she held out a clipboard with several documents on it. "Please sign here and here," she indicated several places on the documents.

The man looked them over carefully before signing with a surprisingly steady hand. "Alright, it all looks in order," he commented before looking at the workers. "Anything missing?"

"It's all here!" A worker confirmed as they pulled out the last of the crates.

"Alright, that's everything then," the lead worker confirmed before handing back the paperwork.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you," Yuzuki gave another forced smile as she headed to close the cargo doors and yelped when a meaty palm smacked against her butt. "H-Hey!"

"Sure you don't want to do more busi-" the man started before being stopped by a knife to his throat.

"How about no?" Alice questioned in a cold, bored, voice as she held the point of her knife pulled from somewhere on her person to his throat.

"Ugh…" the man gulped before taking a few steps back. "F-fine…"

"Thanks, Alice…" a relieved Yuzuki sighed as she rubbed her bum and climbed back into the cab. "Ugh, I need a shower."

Alice shrugged as the knife disappeared somewhere. "No worries," she replied as she leaned back in the seat. "Nothing gets your point across like the point of a knife."

Yuzuki reached into the glove compartment and withdrew a long, curved khukri. "Mine's a little too big to carry around concealed," she agreed.

"Then don't conceal it," Alice suggested. "After all, you'd be surprise how many lose their balls when they see a girl carrying a big knife."

"It's bad for business though," the brunette chuckled, hiding the khukri again after Ride had a good look at it. "I'm usually not the one doing deliveries but our usual driver called in sick today so I had no choice but to leave my desk job for a bit."

Alice shrugged as she relaxed. "Eh, everyone has their own way with dealing with that stuff," she commented with a shrug.

"That's a pretty cool knife!" Ride remarked. "What's it called?"

"It's a knife from Earth called a khukri," Yuzuki explained. "Mostly it's used in a country called Nepal."

"Used more for slicing than stabbing," Alice pitched in. "They also combined it with their local martial art for deadly effect."

"Indeed," Yuzuki nodded sagely. "Though I got mine as a gift without any training in it…"

Alice shrugged. "Eh, it's sharp and can cut, that's good enough," she commented. "What more can you ask for from a knife?"

"I guess," Yuzuki smiled, driving the truck over to the hangar she had picked up the two pilots from. "Alright, here's your stop. I hope to see you two again."

"You know where to find us," Alice said with a wave as she headed towards the hangar. "Doubt I'll be heading anywhere anytime soon."

"Well, if you're called out to the battlefield…" Yuzuki frowned for a moment, leaving it hanging as both of them knew very well what could happen on the battlefield. "Best of luck to you, Alice."

Alice looked at her with a smirk. "Same to you," she returned before entering the hangar to keep working on her mobile worker.

"It was nice talking to you!" Ride waved as he jumped out of the cab as well.

Yuzuki waved as well, before sighing, looking over the bunch of kids working in the hangar with a wistful look and pulling the truck away from the hangar.

As she did, she reached behind her and rubbed her back, her fingers running across a pair of small tents mostly hidden by the thicker fabric specially sewn there.

"Well, I hope I don't see you on the other side of the battlefield anytime soon…" she muttered to herself, forcing another smile onto her face as she stopped in front of the guard house again.

Mobile Suits

Model Number:ASW-G-37 Gundam Phenex
Unit Type: Transforming Long Range Interception Mobile Suit
Powerplant: 2x Ahab Reactors
Manufacture: Gjallarhorn
Operator(s):
Gjallarhorn (Formerly)
Tekkaden
Equipment and Design Features:
Nanolaminate Armor
Alaya-Vijnana System
Cryogenic Stasis System
Fixed Armament:
2x 120mm Autocannons, mounted in forearm armor, deployed in use, usable in both modes
4x 100mm Autocannons, mounted in wing binders, usable in both modes
2x Knuckle Guards
2x Wire-Guided Nano-Laminate Cutting Blades, mounted in wings, deployed or hand carried in use
Pilot(s): Alice Senkei
Appearance: Based on a unique Gundam frame that is capable of shifting its form into a plane like mode for greater speed and maneuverability, it's armor is thinner than most mobile suits. Painted primarily red with black trim and white highlights.
Info:One of the 72 Gundam Frames used by Gjallarhorn in the Calamity War, the Gundam Phenex was primarily used to intercept enemy mobile armors and hold them off while the main forces arrived, allowing time for civilians to escape the combat zones. However, it held a second purpose, after the final Mobile Armor was defeated, the Phenex and it's pilot were to enter stasis for 300 years, only to awaken when either 300 years have passed, or more mobile armors appeared, to allow an experienced veteran to continue their fight and lead the future forces of Gjallarhorn in combat against them.