Jan 3, UC 0079. Colony Cluster Side 2

Lt. Sylvie Greisser, chief communications officer of EFSF's Megellan class battleship 'Amerigo' (right), 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.

The four Sabrefish fighters were a reconnaisance flight sent out by Colonel Alexander Dolvich to patrol the areas around Side 2. Intelligence had reported increased Zeon fleet movements for the past several days, although intelligence believed that Zeon 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 deterrant force. Unfortunately, if a shooting war DID start, they'd be pretty much be alone for the first few minutes. Worse, they only had two more battleships and eight 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 reconaissance 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, emanatting form Side 3... "Sir, I have a broadcast coming from Side 3..."

"Don't bother listening to it," the Colonel replied as he put down the binoculars, "All hands to battlestations! Seal your normal suits! We have four Musais and a Tibe, bearing 312. Warn Alpha flight! It's war, people! Zeon is going to war!" Just to confirm the Colonel's last statement a volley of beams suddenly struck the cruiser Cherbourg. The Salamis crusier was well armored, but her reactor was already breached. She lingered for a moment, before exploding in a giant white fireaball that rocked the Amerigo.
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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 to try to fight back, only to see four MS-06 Zakus heading towards them. They both tried to evade as all four 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 second more, but eventually a shot from the enemy squadron leader found its mark, and Alpha 1 went down in flames...
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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!"

"We'll be ready in five minutes, 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, five forward turrets had already trained out their twin mega particle cannons at the lead Musai.

"Then fire!"

Len nodded. 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 by the La Spezia. But any elation they had was soon extinguished as the black space turned yellow again from the laser 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 Captain, the fear in her eyes apparent...

Another huge explosion shook the ship violently to the left. The Coloenl 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.

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 would not stop 120mm shells. They should have transferred to the secondary bridge, but there was no time. She could only cringe as she saw the four MS heading for them, their machine guns already trained out, ready to fire...
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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 had been shattered by a volley of 120mm shells from a group of four MS. Yet, she was still firing her two 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...
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Nov. 6, UC 0079

Lt. Sylvie 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 space fleet. After the space fleet 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 is 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 advaced 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 intelligence reports regarding Zeon fielding a succession of new prototypes to counter the Federation's new MS. But the question was, wether they would have resources to build them. That question would be answered tomorrow, in the Russian city of Odessa.

*At the end of each chapter, there may be several comments like the one below. These are made for veteran UC fans. This is to iron out inconsistencies or liberties that the author has taken in this fiction, as well as conventions and sources followed. I have also occasionally included historical oddities, jokes, quotes and such as appropriate.
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I am mainly following the Gundam Project's ranking conventions, so even naval officers have army ranks.

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.