This is my old One Year War fanfiction, completed back in the year 2000 and is now part of a trilogy of UC fanfictions. This fic is mainly concerned with the One Year War era, so watching the Original Gundam series and generally knowing a lot about UC Gundam will generally make reading this fic more enjoyable. Also note that this is a Side Story much like the 08th MS Team or 0080, with purely original characters, though there may be a well-placed cameos or two. The story's a bit action-oriented at the start, but gets mushier in the later parts(there's no fun without a little romance or two^_^), so maybe patientce is in order for some ^_^;;;
And this is a dual POV fic, meaning that both Federation and Zeon troops get covered, though the Federation side will probably have more coverage.
Also, I might be tardy in putting up ALL of the chapters here(there are 38 in all), especially if reviews are scarce(so please send some comments ^_^). However, if you like the story and just can't wait for what's going to happen next, check it out at http://www.newtype-asylum.com . The rest of the fic and its two sequels are all there.
Many thanks go to Shin Matsunaga, Mark Simmons and the Newtype Asylum crew for providing historical data for this fic and an exntensive array of One Year War mecha for me to use. Also, thanks to the current fans of the "Fleet" as well as those of you who're reading this now. I hope you enjoy it ^_^.
---------------
Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: The Forgotten Fleet
Prologue:
The year is Universal Century 0079. For the past seventy nine years the ruling government of the world, the Earth Federation, had been conducting a massive colonization program that would see most of mankind migrate to giant, 20 mile long space colonies orbiting Earth. The corrupt leaders of this government though, having imposed this migration upon mankind, have now excused themselves from it and have made Earth their exclusive domain while maintaining a firm control over the colonies.
However, one group of colonies on the far side of the moon, Side 3, would not accept such an injustice. In UC 58 the Side 3 colonies would declare independence and rename themselves the Principality of Zeon. The Federation imposes sanctions against them and expects their resistance to be short-lived, but such is not to be. Instead, Zeon begins to build up its military might and begins preparing for an eventual showdown with the Federation. Preparing with new, untested weapons capable of destruction on an unimaginable scale. Weapons these so-called Zeon "liberators" were all too ready to use against an unsuspecting populace in the name of their cause. And now, as the year starts, the fearful ramifications of those events would finally be seen...
Humanity's greatest bloodbath, was about to begin...
------------------------
Chapter 1: The First Day
Jan 3, UC 0079. Colony Cluster Side 2
2nd Lt. Sylvie Gressier, chief communications officer, EFSFS Battleship Amerigo, looked impassively as a flight of four Sabrefish space fighters flew pass her ship. A young, bright officer, a mere twenty-three, her petite frame and kind, warm face denoted a certain sensitivity and kindness that seemed wholly unsuited to the military profession. Unfortunately for her, fate was about to change that forever, and in the most tragic of ways.
The four SabreFish fighters were a reconnaissance flight sent out by Colonel Alexander Dolvich to patrol the areas around the colony cluster of Side 2. Intel had reported increased Zeon fleet movements for the past several days, although intel believed that the Zeon fleet was just flexing its muscles and was not gunning for an all-out war. The Colonel didn't think so though, Sylvie thought, and the Colonel was usually right. That was why he'd managed to convince fleet command to station the Amerigo and the Salamis class cruisers La Spezia and Cherbourg just outside Side 2 to patrol and act as a deterrent force. Unfortunately, if a shooting war DID start, they'd be pretty much be alone for the first few minutes. Worse, they only had 2 more battleships and 8 cruisers on standby since the rest of the fleet was still tied up in port under orders from high command. "Provocative" they say. Sure. Her train of thoughts interrupted by a transmission from the recon flight.
"Sir Alpha 1 here, Alpha 4 is seeing lights bearing 312. We're not sure what it is, it's not appearing in radar."
"Hold position. Signal the fleet Lt. Gressier, we may have company," the Colonel ordered, as he picked up a pair of binoculars and stared towards the direction of the lights.
Sylvie nodded. She had just started to send the message to fleet command when she started to heard some sort of static. She quickly forwarded the message, since it might very well be some sort of jamming. After confirming that HQ had received it, she started to isolate the source of the static. What she found worried her... It was a general broadcast type transmission, emanating form Side 3..."Sir, I have a broadcast coming from Side 3. Oh my God... They're..."
"And so..." the voice on the radio concluded, "A state of war exists between..."
"SH*T! It's war!" the Colonel announced as he put down the binoculars, "All hands to battlestations! Seal your normal suits! I see five ships, four Musais and a Tibe, bearing 312. Warn Alpha flight! It's war people! Zeon is going to war!"
Just to confirm the Captain's last statement a volley of beams suddenly struck the cruiser Cherbourg. The Salamis cruiser was well armored, but her reactor was already breached. She lingered for a moment, before exploding in a giant white fireball that rocked the Amerigo. It was exactly three seconds after the Zeon declaration of war. Nothing could now stop what would happen next.
------------------------
The pilot of Alpha 1 saw the beams come, and had already ordered his men to evade. It was only partially effective. Alpha 2 and 3 were both taken down by beams fired by the lead Musai. Alpha 1 and Alpha 4 reformed their formation to try to fight back, only to see four humanoid machines start heading towards them. They were Zeon's trump card. Giant humanoid fighting machines known as Mobile Suits whose speed and firepower far exceeded those of any conventional space fighter. And the four they saw were the latest workhorse of the Zeon armed forces. The MS-06C Zaku II.
Alpha 1 and 4 both tried to evade as the four enemy units fired their machine guns, but Alpha 4 was hit and exploded by a 120mm shell. Alpha 1 managed to evade their fire for a few seconds more, but eventually a shot from the enemy squadron leader found its mark, and Alpha 1 went down in flames...
-------------------------
Sylvie watched all four of them go down. She tried to stop her hands from shaking, as the fear began to replace the initial shock. She still had a job to do, "Fleet Command!!! We are engaging a superior force, we need help now!"
"You must be insane!" a shaky voice replied, "That broadcast couldn't have..."
"Everybody on the Cherbourg is dead and you're still believing that sh*t intel feeds us?!" Sylvie asked angrily as her voice shook uncontrollably from the fear, "We need to... we need to..."
"We'll be ready in five minutes," a calmer voice responded over the radio, "Hold them."
"We may not be here in TWO minutes! Can't you..."
"We'll hold, but in 5 minutes there won't be much left of us," the Colonel interjected coolly, "Gunnery! Do you have the lead Musai in your sights?"
"YES SIR!" the Gunnery officer Len Roberts replied confidently. Outside, all five forward turrets had already trained out their twin mega particle cannons at the lead Musai.
"Then fire!"
Len nodded as he relayed the command. A total of ten mega particle beams lanced out into darkness, searching for Zeon steel. The Musai tried to avoid, but it was by then too late. Six shots hit the Musai, wrecking the bridge and all her gun turrets. For a moment it seemed that the ship might actually survive the hits, but with no bridge to direct immediate damage control, she was doomed. A succession of secondary explosions ripped the Musai in half...
"That's a kill!" Len remarked loudly enough for all to hear. Besides the Musai they had killed, another Musai was damaged and left burning by the La Spezia. But any elation they had was soon extinguished as the black space turned yellow again from the beam fire of the Zeon ships, and several more explosions rocked the ship.
"Damage Report!" the Colonel demanded.
"Two turrets are out, engine 3 is dead, but the La Spezia is..." Sylvie reported as she looked at the Colonel, the fear in her eyes apparent...
Another huge explosion shook the ship violently to the left. The Colonel looked to his right. The La Spezia was gone, save a few charred pieces of wreckage. And the Amerigo was alone.
"Colonel, four humanoid types heading for us!" the executive officer reported, concern in his voice growing with each word he spoke.
Sylvie checked to see if her normal suit was fully sealed. It was. Around her the bridge crew was doing the same thing. Unfortunately normal suits, though a lifesaver if the bridge was to decompress, would not stop 120mm shells from ripping the to pieces. They should have transferred to the secondary bridge, but there was no time. She could only cringe as she saw the four MS head for them, their machine guns already trained out, ready to fire...
------------------------------
By that time twenty additional Federation fighters of all types had managed to arrive at the scene. What they found was a horrible mess. The Amerigo, the only surviving ship, was adorned from bow to stern with flames, and her bridge already shattered by a volley of 120mm shells from a group of four MS. Yet, she was still firing her 2 surviving forward turrets, fighting back while the ship slowly tried to turn around to withdraw.
"What took you?" a scared female voice asked. It was Sylvie.
"Delta leader here, sorry. But I'm glad you're still in one piece. Get outta here, I'm assigning Echo squad to cover you. We'll take care of them for you. Out." He gave her a thumbs up sign as he passed by the shattered bridge.
Sylvie nodded as she put down the mike. She held her hand as it started shaking again. It was covered with blood. One piece huh? She looked around the bridge. It was a shambles. And there was blood. The blood of her friends and crewmates that she had just seen get blown to pieces right in front of her eyes. Only she and the Colonel were lucky enough to live. She'd be dead too if Len hadn't pushed her away, and it was his blood that was in her hands. She began to feel her stomach turn, but before she could vomit, merciful darkness enveloped her thoughts, as her brain finally shut down from the shock...
-----------------------------------
Nov. 4, UC 0079
Somewhere in Southern Ukraine
1st Lt. Sylvie Gressier woke up from her bunk, sweating. She had that nightmare again. That damn nightmare of the first day again. She shook her head. It wasn't time for that now. Today was going to be a big day, and possibly the turning point of the war.
She had been in every major battle, and defeat, of the Federation. From the One Week War, to Ruum, she had been on the Amerigo as radio officer to witness the virtual annihilation of the entire Federation space fleet. After the space force was decimated she had been sent to Earth as a radio techie for a Type 74 hover truck, just in time to see Odessa fall, which was one of the most mineral-rich areas on Earth and was even now feeding the Zeon war machine.
But all was not lost, yet. One of Zeon's greatest advantages was the giant humanoid machines known as Mobile Suits, and the Federation's hitherto lack of it. But now, though most of the Federation had yet to know, the EF had managed to crash develop its own highly advanced Mobile Suits. One of which, the Gundam, had killed Garma Zabi, one of the members of Zeon's ruling family a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, she had also illicitly read a few intel reports regarding Zeon fielding a succession of new prototypes to counter the Federation's new MObile Suits. But the question was, whether they would have resources to build them. That question would be answered tomorrow, in the Ukrainian city of Odessa.
----------------------
Note: Usually, I post a few items of trivia and consistency in the bottom of each chapter, as is the case here.
OH! BTW, Expect lots of flashbacks!
Also, note that for consistency and prevent mix ups, ALL character will use _army_ ranks, even ship captains.
----------------------
Notice:
This story and all related material is copyrighted by Thomas E. "Zinegata" Ting, no part of this story may be taken by any other person. If you wish to use any material, please contact me first. Gundam and all related trademarks are owned by their respective companies.
---------------------
This fanfic is also hosted in the Newtype Asylum at http://www.newtype-asylum.com . A premiere site on the One Year War era of UC Gundam.
And this is a dual POV fic, meaning that both Federation and Zeon troops get covered, though the Federation side will probably have more coverage.
Also, I might be tardy in putting up ALL of the chapters here(there are 38 in all), especially if reviews are scarce(so please send some comments ^_^). However, if you like the story and just can't wait for what's going to happen next, check it out at http://www.newtype-asylum.com . The rest of the fic and its two sequels are all there.
Many thanks go to Shin Matsunaga, Mark Simmons and the Newtype Asylum crew for providing historical data for this fic and an exntensive array of One Year War mecha for me to use. Also, thanks to the current fans of the "Fleet" as well as those of you who're reading this now. I hope you enjoy it ^_^.
---------------
Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: The Forgotten Fleet
Prologue:
The year is Universal Century 0079. For the past seventy nine years the ruling government of the world, the Earth Federation, had been conducting a massive colonization program that would see most of mankind migrate to giant, 20 mile long space colonies orbiting Earth. The corrupt leaders of this government though, having imposed this migration upon mankind, have now excused themselves from it and have made Earth their exclusive domain while maintaining a firm control over the colonies.
However, one group of colonies on the far side of the moon, Side 3, would not accept such an injustice. In UC 58 the Side 3 colonies would declare independence and rename themselves the Principality of Zeon. The Federation imposes sanctions against them and expects their resistance to be short-lived, but such is not to be. Instead, Zeon begins to build up its military might and begins preparing for an eventual showdown with the Federation. Preparing with new, untested weapons capable of destruction on an unimaginable scale. Weapons these so-called Zeon "liberators" were all too ready to use against an unsuspecting populace in the name of their cause. And now, as the year starts, the fearful ramifications of those events would finally be seen...
Humanity's greatest bloodbath, was about to begin...
------------------------
Chapter 1: The First Day
Jan 3, UC 0079. Colony Cluster Side 2
2nd Lt. Sylvie Gressier, chief communications officer, EFSFS Battleship Amerigo, looked impassively as a flight of four Sabrefish space fighters flew pass her ship. A young, bright officer, a mere twenty-three, her petite frame and kind, warm face denoted a certain sensitivity and kindness that seemed wholly unsuited to the military profession. Unfortunately for her, fate was about to change that forever, and in the most tragic of ways.
The four SabreFish fighters were a reconnaissance flight sent out by Colonel Alexander Dolvich to patrol the areas around the colony cluster of Side 2. Intel had reported increased Zeon fleet movements for the past several days, although intel believed that the Zeon fleet was just flexing its muscles and was not gunning for an all-out war. The Colonel didn't think so though, Sylvie thought, and the Colonel was usually right. That was why he'd managed to convince fleet command to station the Amerigo and the Salamis class cruisers La Spezia and Cherbourg just outside Side 2 to patrol and act as a deterrent force. Unfortunately, if a shooting war DID start, they'd be pretty much be alone for the first few minutes. Worse, they only had 2 more battleships and 8 cruisers on standby since the rest of the fleet was still tied up in port under orders from high command. "Provocative" they say. Sure. Her train of thoughts interrupted by a transmission from the recon flight.
"Sir Alpha 1 here, Alpha 4 is seeing lights bearing 312. We're not sure what it is, it's not appearing in radar."
"Hold position. Signal the fleet Lt. Gressier, we may have company," the Colonel ordered, as he picked up a pair of binoculars and stared towards the direction of the lights.
Sylvie nodded. She had just started to send the message to fleet command when she started to heard some sort of static. She quickly forwarded the message, since it might very well be some sort of jamming. After confirming that HQ had received it, she started to isolate the source of the static. What she found worried her... It was a general broadcast type transmission, emanating form Side 3..."Sir, I have a broadcast coming from Side 3. Oh my God... They're..."
"And so..." the voice on the radio concluded, "A state of war exists between..."
"SH*T! It's war!" the Colonel announced as he put down the binoculars, "All hands to battlestations! Seal your normal suits! I see five ships, four Musais and a Tibe, bearing 312. Warn Alpha flight! It's war people! Zeon is going to war!"
Just to confirm the Captain's last statement a volley of beams suddenly struck the cruiser Cherbourg. The Salamis cruiser was well armored, but her reactor was already breached. She lingered for a moment, before exploding in a giant white fireball that rocked the Amerigo. It was exactly three seconds after the Zeon declaration of war. Nothing could now stop what would happen next.
------------------------
The pilot of Alpha 1 saw the beams come, and had already ordered his men to evade. It was only partially effective. Alpha 2 and 3 were both taken down by beams fired by the lead Musai. Alpha 1 and Alpha 4 reformed their formation to try to fight back, only to see four humanoid machines start heading towards them. They were Zeon's trump card. Giant humanoid fighting machines known as Mobile Suits whose speed and firepower far exceeded those of any conventional space fighter. And the four they saw were the latest workhorse of the Zeon armed forces. The MS-06C Zaku II.
Alpha 1 and 4 both tried to evade as the four enemy units fired their machine guns, but Alpha 4 was hit and exploded by a 120mm shell. Alpha 1 managed to evade their fire for a few seconds more, but eventually a shot from the enemy squadron leader found its mark, and Alpha 1 went down in flames...
-------------------------
Sylvie watched all four of them go down. She tried to stop her hands from shaking, as the fear began to replace the initial shock. She still had a job to do, "Fleet Command!!! We are engaging a superior force, we need help now!"
"You must be insane!" a shaky voice replied, "That broadcast couldn't have..."
"Everybody on the Cherbourg is dead and you're still believing that sh*t intel feeds us?!" Sylvie asked angrily as her voice shook uncontrollably from the fear, "We need to... we need to..."
"We'll be ready in five minutes," a calmer voice responded over the radio, "Hold them."
"We may not be here in TWO minutes! Can't you..."
"We'll hold, but in 5 minutes there won't be much left of us," the Colonel interjected coolly, "Gunnery! Do you have the lead Musai in your sights?"
"YES SIR!" the Gunnery officer Len Roberts replied confidently. Outside, all five forward turrets had already trained out their twin mega particle cannons at the lead Musai.
"Then fire!"
Len nodded as he relayed the command. A total of ten mega particle beams lanced out into darkness, searching for Zeon steel. The Musai tried to avoid, but it was by then too late. Six shots hit the Musai, wrecking the bridge and all her gun turrets. For a moment it seemed that the ship might actually survive the hits, but with no bridge to direct immediate damage control, she was doomed. A succession of secondary explosions ripped the Musai in half...
"That's a kill!" Len remarked loudly enough for all to hear. Besides the Musai they had killed, another Musai was damaged and left burning by the La Spezia. But any elation they had was soon extinguished as the black space turned yellow again from the beam fire of the Zeon ships, and several more explosions rocked the ship.
"Damage Report!" the Colonel demanded.
"Two turrets are out, engine 3 is dead, but the La Spezia is..." Sylvie reported as she looked at the Colonel, the fear in her eyes apparent...
Another huge explosion shook the ship violently to the left. The Colonel looked to his right. The La Spezia was gone, save a few charred pieces of wreckage. And the Amerigo was alone.
"Colonel, four humanoid types heading for us!" the executive officer reported, concern in his voice growing with each word he spoke.
Sylvie checked to see if her normal suit was fully sealed. It was. Around her the bridge crew was doing the same thing. Unfortunately normal suits, though a lifesaver if the bridge was to decompress, would not stop 120mm shells from ripping the to pieces. They should have transferred to the secondary bridge, but there was no time. She could only cringe as she saw the four MS head for them, their machine guns already trained out, ready to fire...
------------------------------
By that time twenty additional Federation fighters of all types had managed to arrive at the scene. What they found was a horrible mess. The Amerigo, the only surviving ship, was adorned from bow to stern with flames, and her bridge already shattered by a volley of 120mm shells from a group of four MS. Yet, she was still firing her 2 surviving forward turrets, fighting back while the ship slowly tried to turn around to withdraw.
"What took you?" a scared female voice asked. It was Sylvie.
"Delta leader here, sorry. But I'm glad you're still in one piece. Get outta here, I'm assigning Echo squad to cover you. We'll take care of them for you. Out." He gave her a thumbs up sign as he passed by the shattered bridge.
Sylvie nodded as she put down the mike. She held her hand as it started shaking again. It was covered with blood. One piece huh? She looked around the bridge. It was a shambles. And there was blood. The blood of her friends and crewmates that she had just seen get blown to pieces right in front of her eyes. Only she and the Colonel were lucky enough to live. She'd be dead too if Len hadn't pushed her away, and it was his blood that was in her hands. She began to feel her stomach turn, but before she could vomit, merciful darkness enveloped her thoughts, as her brain finally shut down from the shock...
-----------------------------------
Nov. 4, UC 0079
Somewhere in Southern Ukraine
1st Lt. Sylvie Gressier woke up from her bunk, sweating. She had that nightmare again. That damn nightmare of the first day again. She shook her head. It wasn't time for that now. Today was going to be a big day, and possibly the turning point of the war.
She had been in every major battle, and defeat, of the Federation. From the One Week War, to Ruum, she had been on the Amerigo as radio officer to witness the virtual annihilation of the entire Federation space fleet. After the space force was decimated she had been sent to Earth as a radio techie for a Type 74 hover truck, just in time to see Odessa fall, which was one of the most mineral-rich areas on Earth and was even now feeding the Zeon war machine.
But all was not lost, yet. One of Zeon's greatest advantages was the giant humanoid machines known as Mobile Suits, and the Federation's hitherto lack of it. But now, though most of the Federation had yet to know, the EF had managed to crash develop its own highly advanced Mobile Suits. One of which, the Gundam, had killed Garma Zabi, one of the members of Zeon's ruling family a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, she had also illicitly read a few intel reports regarding Zeon fielding a succession of new prototypes to counter the Federation's new MObile Suits. But the question was, whether they would have resources to build them. That question would be answered tomorrow, in the Ukrainian city of Odessa.
----------------------
Note: Usually, I post a few items of trivia and consistency in the bottom of each chapter, as is the case here.
OH! BTW, Expect lots of flashbacks!
Also, note that for consistency and prevent mix ups, ALL character will use _army_ ranks, even ship captains.
----------------------
Notice:
This story and all related material is copyrighted by Thomas E. "Zinegata" Ting, no part of this story may be taken by any other person. If you wish to use any material, please contact me first. Gundam and all related trademarks are owned by their respective companies.
---------------------
This fanfic is also hosted in the Newtype Asylum at http://www.newtype-asylum.com . A premiere site on the One Year War era of UC Gundam.