UNIVERSAL CENTURY 0094

SIDE 3

The Musaka-class space cruiser with the designiation Ottoman waited amidst the area of Side 3, home to the Federation-influenced Republic of Zeon – it had made a rendezvous with a leftover Endra-class cruiser, as it supplied with the Ottoman with two additional mobile suits for the upcoming mission that was described as crucial to the cause of the continuation of Neo-Zeon's fight against the Federation. The revived Neo-Zeon had fallen into a state of disarray last year, so the priority was to reorganize and regroup instead of foolishly trying to counterattack the Federation.

Nikolai looked upon his mobile suit in maintenance, the sturdy AMS-119 Geara Doga that was the standard mobile suit of Neo-Zeon's forces – he was one of three of the cruiser's MS pilots, although he couldn't say that he considered himself much of a pilot in the first place. His comrade that outlived him by only a year, Rana, watched her own Geara Doga with the same vengeful, yet motivated look in her hazel eyes that he usually saw her with.

"Aren't you a bit nervous ?" He asked out of her blue in hopes in achievement small talk, "This time, we're not getting any backup if anything goes wrong, like if we're up against a Federation fleet."

"I don't need to hear that from a runt who's never actually been in combat before," Rana dismissed him as usual, "I'll do whatever it takes to make the Federation bleed."

He didn't know why Rana's hatred for the Federation was so strong, but he wouldn't dare to bring it up to her out of fear of alienating her even further. That encompassing hatred that gave off that aura of coldness was probably the reason he couldn't ever really connect with her. It was also true that he never participated in combat – he simply didn't get the chance to, but Rana got the opportunity to express her anger out during the battle around Axis for a short moment before the fight halted.

"That's a bit harsh, Rana," An older male voice said, "I figured you could get along with him by now."

Garret was the ship's third MS pilot of forty-five years of age, the guiding light of Nikolai and Rana who were no more than raw recruits in their early-twenties. The bukly man served in the former Principality, making him a hardened pilot and a sort of father figure to the two young soldiers. He used to pilot the Geara Doga, but after sustaining heavy damage at the fight near Earth and being abandoned, what stood behind him to replace it was a currently limited-production model of the newer and more refined AMS-129 Geara Zulu supplied by the other ship. Like the Doga, it was intentionally reminiscent of the old Principality's Zaku.

"Besides, the three of us will be acting as backup, so I don't want to see any wild stunts from either you. It's only a small job, anyway."

The mention of being "backup" made Nikolai want to bring up something; a Musaka-class had the capacity to carry four mobile suits, and what occupied the fourth spot in the hangar was a Geara Doga that came from the other ship. The peculiar detail was that its paintjob was in shades of crimson.

"So, we'll be backup to whoever's in that ?" He said, pointing at the red Doga.

"Right. I'm not too sure about this operation, but the Commander's going through with it because of that pilot."

"I guess that means he must be pretty good," Rana remarked, not particularly intrigued, but Garret seemed to know more than he let on.

Nikolai couldn't but think of one thing when seeing the mysterious Doga; that particular color scheme was a trait of Char Aznable. At first, it reminded him of how he admired mobile suits in his childhood days, especially for the ace pilots that controlled them – The Red Comet, The White Wolf, The Nightmare of Solomon, and The Crimson Lighting, names that inspired both fear and awe. His father had been a pilot fighting for the future of spacenoids too – in a way, he inherited his father's job, but the reverence that those ace pilots received was also a motivator for him.

And yet, this was followed by a feeling of hopelessness and doubt, as Char was beacon of light for spacenoids, which was why he was worshipped by his revived Neo-Zeon movement. Nikolai felt that fighting for a Neo-Zeon led by Char was a heroic cause in the name of the people of space abused by authority for so long, even if it was soured for him because of the attempted dropping of Axis on Earth in the end.

He sensed that the absence of that unifying figure also had an affect on Rana, Garret and the rest of the crew, as well as the miracle that pushed back the asteroid from Earth. He heard of other members of Neo-Zeon who had simply abandoned the fight after that incident a year back. Judging by how drained Garret seemed to be, maybe he was considering that option too. Nikolai couldn't deny that he might've felt the same thing.

"Sir … " He addressed Garret, "What's going to happen to Neo-Zeon from now on ?"

Garret, surprised at the sudden question, quietly sighed after a moment and reassuringly put his artificial metal hand that he had lost on Earth on his subordinate's soldier. "I don't really know, to be honest. Whatever the case, I know I'll still have to look out for you two. That's enough for now."

"It's enough for you," Rana murmured, "What's enough for me is that I can still fight."

…

Commander Duncan Duller sat in the bridge's command chair, indulging in his old-fashioned smoke pipe. The somewhat stubby man in his seventies usually found himself worried about a given mission, but not this time, as years of Zeon's continued defeats had beaten it all out of him. Garret Garland joined the bridge, standing at attention.

"I hear you received your new mobile suit," He addressed the pilot, "How are your youngsters holding up ?"

"They're on edge, obviously."

Duncan and Garret did have a habit of concerning themselves quite a lot with their subordinates. After all, they were the only veterans onboard the cruiser, those who fought for Zeon since the early days, while the rest of the crew were those of the current generation that joined the revived Neo-Zeon because they were swayed by Char.

"I can't blame them," The commander quietly said, "There isn't much to be glad about after last year. Anyhow, the Anaheim transport's already left Granada. We'll intercept it soon before it gets to Von Braun."

The objective would be to capture an experimental and powerful mobile suit developed by Anaheim Electronics – it departed from the lunar city of Granada, former headquarters of Kycilia Zabi's forces, now acting again as a Federation base as it did before the One-Year War after the treaty between them and the restored Republic of Zeon was signed there. It was supposed to arrive from Granada to Von Braun, somewhere where Anaheim worked on development of MS. Once the MS is obtained, the Ottoman would move to the civilian mining asteroid known as Palau along with other Neo-Zeon survivors.

Garret's new Geara Zulu had been supplied by Anaheim itself, but the company took contracts from both Zeon remnants and the Federation for its benefit – this particular project was in cooperation with the Federation, so they wouldn't simply hand it over to Zeon. But the secret MS was meant to be used by a special pilot, the one who would lead Garret's team in his crimson Geara Doga.

"That man," Garret wanted to ask about that particular pilot that troubled him and the Commander, "They call him the second coming of Char. What exactly is he, sir ?"

"You can think of him as a near-perfect copy of Char, from what I understand," Duncan let out a puff from his pipe, "From the perspective of the men that created him, Neo-Zeon cannot continue its existence without Char as a leading figure. That man's purpose is to be that mythical hero to lead us again."

"I just don't understand it," Garret pondered, "Even his voice … It's almost as if he was possessed by the ghost of Char."

Nothing was known about the man that was Char's "copy." He had simply appeared as a tool to uphold the moral of what remained of Neo-Zeon and its supporters, to keep them all together like Char did. Duncan sensed that Garret was conflicted about such a man, and he felt the same.

"Regardless of his origins, I've grown quite tired over the years," Duncan spoke honestly, "After watching the Principality slowly crumble apart into squabbling remnants for so long, I placed my faith in Char to bring our ideals to life. Now that he failed and we're simply trying to survive again, dedicating myself to a mere copy seems foolish."

Garret had nothing to say, but he understood and felt he shared the Commander's sentiments. However, Neo-Zeon's members had already placed their trust in that man out of desperation, and it wasn't hard to understand why. Even Princess Mineva Lao Zabi, the heir to the Principality that was beloved by all, had done the same thing. Despite their grievances, Garret and Duncan didn't seem to have much of a choice but to follow along as well.

"He works in his own fashion," Duncan remembered it was almost time, "And he's quite talented, it seems, so your team likely won't have to do much as support, but Anaheim probably has a mobile suit escort of its own. Stay on guard."

"Yes, sir," Garret saluted with his fake hand and departed to the hangar – perhaps some would follow that salute with the infamous chant, Sieg Zeon, but given the aura of anguish among the crew of the Ottoman, it seemed to be in bad taste to do such a thing now.

…

The second generation of mobile suits possessed the feature of an advanced cockpit view – that is, it revealed all the surroundings around the pilot in the command chair, so Nikolai was encompassed by the void of space wherever he looked, with the exception of Rana's unit to his right and Garret's Zulu to his left.

The trio had positioned themselves "above" the Anaheim transport where the ship looked somewhat small from that distance, but it was still at least half the size of their Musaka-class. Nikolai's Doga was converted into the heavy armament type; a backpack with two large propellant tanks that provided increased thrust, but the main reason for the conversion was the large Lange Bruno gun. The long-range beam weapon could easily tear apart the transport, but Garret trusted him to use it once the target's mobile suit escort came out.

"Where's the red Doga already ?" Nikolai thought and his hands shivered out of nervousness as he watched the Ottoman tail the transport. Shooting it might result in its destruction, so the cruiser had deployed Minosky particles to hamper the transport instead.

The MS escort came out of the transport, although their size was akin to that of birds from this distance – he spotted seven so far, green and blue MSA-003 Nemo units produced by Anaheim itself during the Gryps Conflict. They vaguely resembled the Federation's GM.

"The red Doga's late," Rana's nerve broke, "I'm going in !"

"Rana, no !"

Rana's Doga bolted straight towards the nest of Nemo units.

"Nik, stay put and take 'em out with the beam cannon," Garret hastily ordered, "I'm not letting her go alone !"

"Roger," Nikolai zoomed into the engament zone with his cockpit interface, Rana and Garret flew around the Nemo units that encircled the transport, avoiding fire. He focused on Rana, who flew straight ahead into one of the seven enemy MS and pummeled into him like a bull, grabbing him by his shoulders and unloading her beam machine gun straight into his chest, leaving him in burning smoke. Nikolai's heart sank.

He switched his focus to a stationary Nemo, trying to hit his comrades with his beam rifle. This was his first true dive into combat. It would've been so easy to blow him away with his long-range beam weapon, like the one that Rana blasted away without second thought or mercy, as if he was a doll. One just had to forget that mobile suits are piloted by humans, isn't that right ?

And yet he found breathing heavily, unable to shoot. Was that Nemo's pilot in a similar state, especially after he watched his teammate die so quickly ? Nikolai tried to find an excuse not to shoot – these escorts were amateurs, akin to himself, he could let Rana and Garret take it from here, right ?

"That's not it," He lamented to himself, "I didn't get to fight last year because I just got left out. I just didn't want to fight like this. I wasn't made for this. I can't be the Red Comet."

The Nemo was still in his targeting scope, but he quickly moved to aim his legs instead. Surely, the pilot would live, as he would simply float away before Rana or Garrant could get to him. He fired, watching as the Nemo's bottom was obliterated in an instant flash, leaving him slowly floating without any control.

He breathed a sigh of relief for a moment before beams flashed before him – a lone Nemo had broken away from the rest and gunned it straight towards Nikolai, closing the distance between them at a rapid pace. It didn't give the Zeon pilot the chance to use the Lange Bruno gun.

The Nemo fired eratically as Nikolai hastily attempted to fly away from him, trying to dodge his shots - the Doga's increased thrust wasn't enough to compensate for Nikolai's skill, the Nemo managed to hit one of the propellant tanks, making the Doga loose control. Nikolai spun around, struggling to think.

"Damn it, damn it !" He struggled to regain control in the face of the Nemo, with the only option he though he had left was the Sturm Faust. The warhead was powerful, but unguided – The Doga's shield carries a rack of four of these missiles that could be fired directly, so the Zeon pilot pointed the shield at the Doga and unleashed the red warhead.

Even if the Sturm Faust was unguided, perhaps it was enough at this distance to blow the enemy away, yet the blast that engulfed his field of vision was only a false hope. From the remnants of the blast, a concentrated yellowish blade of plasma appeared in the hands of the enemy MS. The Nemo, with only its left arm and shoulder blown apart, charged at his opponent with a beam saber in its other hand to finish what he started.

Nikolai froze, unable to do anything but stare as the Nemo would cut him down in an instant. A vision flashed before his eyes, he thought he could see the miracle of Axis before him again – it was followed by an image of his younger sister that was not only calming, but even divine.

But that image was broken by some sort of red blitz, a flash of crimson that was too fast to be identified. Whatever it was, it blazed through the Nemo, slashing its chest apart and leaving a burning husk behind. Nikolai didn't understand at first, but he noticed that the fighting had stopped. The Anaheim transport was at the mercy of the Ottoman, with Rana and Garret safely flying around the prey. There were no enemy MS to be found, so had they taken them all out in that short amount of time ?

He realized that he was still flying without any control with a blown up propellant tank, unsure of what happened. He could've still regained control of his unit regardless of that, but he did nothing. At that moment, something had gripped his own MS – it pulled him out of his shock, the crimson Geara Doga had appeared and grabbed Nikolai's unit to stop him from flying uncontrollably. Everything before that now made sense, as it was the red Doga that saved Nikolai's life.

Because Nikolai was still unresponsive, his saviour gently dragged him along back to the ship. A comm channel had suddenly opened between him and the red MS, "Your tenacity is admirable, Ensign Zolkov, but sacrificing yourself here wouldn't do any good."

Something seemed strange. The young pilot thought his mind was playing tricks on him. The voice that addressed him sounded like that of Char Aznable's.

…