Archive of Our Own

EARTH YEAR: A.S. 113 

GALAXY: PEGASUS. 

CITYSHIP ATLANTIS. 

Seven Year old Luz Noceda fidgeted in the waiting room outside of the Atlantis Infirmary. Her parents were inside, discussing things with the doctors there. 

Beside her, her twin sister leaned back against the wall at an awkward angle, snoozing without a seeming care in the world. Luz envied Vee, in that regard. Her sister could fall asleep anywhere- a byproduct quirk of her particular magically inclined genetic mutations caused by a magic particle that came out of a rift in space-time between galaxies. 

Where Luz Noceda looked like a bog standard Alfheim Faerie aligned Humanoid with her vaguely pointed ears and the occasional sparkle in her eyes, her sister... was not. Oh, sure, they looked identical at the moment and they may have been born minutes apart, but that was just the thing...

Vee Noceda was a shapeshifter. And had been since birth. Her default form was a very cute snake-girl form that had become commonly known as a Basilisk in the Universal Standard Nomenclature about 80 Years back. 

And because Vee's body was, essentially, extremely malleable, well... being in the strange position her body was contorted in right now wouldn't give her any muscle pains or bone aches... In fact, Luz was pretty sure that despite looking humanoid at the moment, her sister had completely jellied her bones in her sleep.

And was Luz fixating on her sister being weird to keep her mind off of why they were in the mystical ancient city of Atlantis? Yes, she was. Because she didn't want to think about her parents right now.

Luz swallowed. 

Their home on Athos was a perfectly fine place. Athos was a perfectly modern civilized world with plenty of modern medicinal marvels. Had been for atleast 90 Years now, once the old cities had been excavated for lost histories and technologies. 

But that didn't stop people from getting sick badly enough from needing specialized care that could only reasonably be found in Atlantis. Between Ancient-Goa'uld Gene Modifiers and Alternian Genetics Crystals, if you had a problem that needed healing? You came to Atlantis, got a quick touch up, and that was that.

...Didn't stop this from being the tenth visit to Atlantis' Infirmary in the last month.

Luz wrenched her eyes closed, and began reciting her Alfheimian Magic Words for her Magic Class Assignment due next week.

Idly, words of power flickered around her arms, spinning around without locking into place as Luz wasn't pushing the appropriate magic through her system to trigger the spells. Even so, the words spun, flew, and orbited her like any proper Fae Spellcasting should- save that the words were glowing black with purple outlines instead of glowing gold with white-bronze outlines.

It was a healing spell. She kept fumbling the words and it wasn't working right in practice. But if she just kept repeating it enough, she'd get it right and- 

(And surely they'd tried this spell already?)

Luz accidentally pulsed magic through her system, and fumbled her words. The spell locked on an improper combination and fail-detonated into a puff of glitterly pink smoke in front of Luz's face.

She coughed and hacked for a moment, waving her hands to clear the failed spell away.

"Bleeeh..." She stuck her tongue out in dismay. "Stupid..."

Her parents should have come out by now. These appointments usually didn't last this long... though, they had been getting longer and longer and-

"Luz?"

Luz jumped and shrieked, startled out of her thoughts, and falling off of the bench she'd been sitting on to the floor below.

"...Okay, you're not doing okay," Vee said, shifting out of her twin's form and into her basilisk form. She peered over the edge of the bench. "Do you want a hug?"

Luz, gazing up at her sister, nodded frantically, and clambered back up onto the bench. 

Vee wrapped herself around her sister and hugged her. Luz hugged back. 

"I'm scared," Luz whispered.

"Me too," Vee nodded. 

"...Do... you mind fluffing up a bit?" Luz asked. "The floor was a bit cold and-"

"Don't mind!" Vee hummed, and shifted out feathers along her body, increasing the heat share between the two of them.

They'd sit there for another hour longer before their mother came to get them, looking like she'd been crying.

EARTH YEAR: A.S. 114 

GALAXY: MILKY WAY. EARTH SPHERE. 

ARTEMIS STATION: CLAWTHORNE HOUSE.

Eight year old Eda Clawthorne hated holiday gatherings for one reason only. And that reason? Grand-uncle Philip.

The man was presently in a quietly muffled argument with Grandpa Caleb about something Political while everyone tried their best to ignore them. Well. Everyone except Eda's younger sister Lilith. The seven year old was presently inching her way closer to their grandparents and had a twinkle of something in her eyes. Trying to play favorites probably.

Eda looked around. Grandma Evelyn was sewing; her brother was watching, leaning back against the large, furry, skull wearing form of Grandma Evelyn's familiar like King Senior was a giant pillow; and her parents were in the kitchen, prepping desert. Grandpa Caleb's familiar, Flapjack, could be heard chirping instructions every now and then. 

"Hey, Hooty," Eda whispered as she knelt next to the pale-yellow HARO that she'd painted an owl face onto when she was five. 

"Yes, Eda?" The Haro tilted towards her, his uniquely grating voice put to a whisper.

"How'd you like to go save Lulu from herself and annoy Grunpy Philip at the same time?" Eda smirked. 

"WOULD I!?" Hooty shouted- and then engaged what Eda liked to call his "freakout" mode.  "HOOOOOT HOOOOOOT HOOOOOT!" The Haro's ear flaps flapped wildly as Eda gave him a Swift Kick across the room like a grudgeby ball. 

Lilith turned in surprise, and ducked as Hooty took air over her head. 

Grandpa Caleb had the reflexes to dodge as well. Grumpy Great Uncle Philip Wittebane, did NOT.

And thus, he took a screaming Hooty-Haro to the chest, metaphorically knocking the wind out of his saiils... and literally knocking it out of his lungs. 

As Hooty made a racket and Caleb started laughing at his brother, Grandma Evelyn just sighed from her knitting couch. "Boys, don't make me break out the bat!" She then looked to the boy next to her- Eda's not so identical looking twin, Hunter. "Hunter, did you see who-?"

"Eda kicked Hooty," Hunter tattled.

"Traitor," Eda stuck her tongue out at her brother.

Grandma Evelyn eyed Eda. "Edalyn, don't kick heavy objects at your Grunkle's Chest, no matter how much he deserves it. You might do more than crack a rib we can't heal."

"Yes Gran'ma," Eda sighed, and kicked a bit at the rug.

"I'm fine," Philip grimaced as he picked himself up off the floor, massaging at his chest. "Fortunately I got an upgrade since the last holiday. It's a good stress test."

"An Upgrade?" Lilith asked as she scooped Hooty up off the floor as well.

"Yes," Philip tugged the collar of his shirt loose from the festive scarf adorning his neck, and began unbuttoning it. "After the close call with that shoddy assassin late August, I invested in reinforcing my rib cage."

Caleb raised an eyebrow as he saw the very obvious crystal-clear plastic polymers covering mechanical bones and still fleshy organs beneath, save the obvious replacement lung on the right side of the chest. "GUND-arm?"

"Shoddy work as it was, that assassin did succeeded in collapsing my lung," Philip remarked casually. "Of course I went with the best in the industry to replace it."

"Woooow," Lilith's eyes sparkled with something Eda unfortunately recognized. Technological Geekery.

Eda rolled her eyes, "I don't get this whole trans-humanist stuff. We got magic bodies that can heal with a few words and some effort. Why replace it with metal and other stuff that can't be healed?"

"Unfortunately, Edalyn," Philip remarked as he buttoned his shirt back up, "Magic cannot heal every malady in the universe. There are simply some things beyond its grasp. They call them 'Conceptual' diseases for a reason. Like it's an affront on the very concept of your existence."

"I still say it's a result of the Permet mining," Caleb grouched, crossing his arms over his chest. "The universe didn't have problems like this until we started digging that metal up out of places like Mercury or the Moon."

"Let's... not rehash that subject around the kids," Philip advised. "Lest your granddaughter lob her Haro at me again."

"Hoot Hoot!" Hooty cried out from Lilith's arms.

"Fine," Caleb said. "Funny as it is seeing Hooty knock you down a few pegs, I don't want you to lose the other lung."

"I'm glad to see we can both agree on one thing, at least," Philip gave a weary smile. 

"...Where'd you get the GUND-arm stuff from?" Lilith asked.

"Oh, that?" Philip chuckled. "I reached out to the Vanadis Institute like any other person would. It was really quite a fascinating procedure..."

Eda grumbled and made her way over to sit down next to Hunter, despite his earlier betrayal. 

"How do you put up with this?" She whispered once she sat down.

"You learn to tune it out unless he says something extremely stupid," Evelyn answered her granddaughter.

"But Grunkle Philip's really smart, how can he say something stupid?" Hunter asked.

"Anyone can be mathematically smart, but dumb as rocks," Evelyn answered. "Take Philip's latest blunder for example. Had an opportunity to replace both his lungs and only went for the one that broke. He's gonna have to replace it eventually given how heavily he smoked when we were all younger."

"Heard that! I'd have gotten a discount if I'd done both at once," Philip remarked. "I'd like to support the industry where I can."

"See what I mean?" Evelyn snorted. "Dumb as rocks move. Me? If I were to do that? I'd replace both at once so I don't have to go under the knife again any more times than necessary, 'supporting the industry' or not!"

Hunter considered that heavily while Eda just shook her head.

Then, Hunter said, "I think I see the pros and cons of both points. But I'd rather not have to replace my lungs period, if you ask me."

'Why did I have to be born to a family of smarty pants know-it-alls, again?' Eda grouched to herself as she lied back against the floor with a groan. 

EARTH YEAR: A.S. 115

GALAXY: ALTERNIA. PLANET: DIASPORA.

SAMAYA RESIDENCE.

Today was Ericht Samaya’s 18th Birthday, and today... she was angry.

“What do you *Mean* you can’t make it home?” Ericht asked over the video call with her mother, working in the Milky Way Galaxy’s Earth Sphere.

“I’m sorry, Suletta,” Elnora said, frowning. “But something important came up, and I had to reschedule my Gate-trip back home.”

“What’s more important than my 18th Birthday?” Ericht asked, crossing her arms, and glaring at her mother.

“I can’t say,” Elnora apologized. “I’m under NDA. You know how Shin-Sei is about operational security.”

“Why do you even work for them anyways?” Ericht asked. “Why can’t you keep working with Vanadis and OWL like Dad does?”

“The same reason your father and I got divorced, Eri’,” Elnora sighed. “I just can’t work with Gundam tech anymore. It’s-”

“Stop.” Ericht’s wolf ears twitched in annoyance. “Just Forget It.  You’re not coming so it’s fine. It’s not like you haven’t missed most of my birthdays anyways.”

“Eri-”

Ericht hung up the call, and stormed out of her dad’s office, stomping down the stairs at the end of the hallway into the kitchen, where she found her dad leaning over the counter bar, gently frosting a cake.

“She’s not coming, is she?” Nadim Samaya asked, sounding neither disappointed nor surprised.

“No,” Ericht went to the other side of the counter bar and sat down at a barstool opposite him. “She pulled an NDA on me.”

Nadim sighed. “Of course she did.” He contemplated the cake, then put the bag of icing aside and stood, stretching his back out as he grimaced away a sore sensation in his spine. Then, he just smiled at his daughter, and said, “Then it’ll just be the three of us today. You, me, and Fri.”

“I guess so.” Ericht sighed. “I just... wish she’d actually make an effort to spend time with us.”

“Your mother made her choices to leave us, Eri,” Nadim said, frowning. “And if she wants to keep wasting the chances we give her to come back from that, that’s on her. After a while... Well. Anyways." He shook his head, looking like he wanted to say more. "More fun to us, and your mom's missing out. If she can't see that then she's pretty dumb, if you ask me."

"Even the smartest people can be stupid, right?" Ericht asked.

Nadim nodded. "Unfortunately, that's how things go. You know how some people get when it comes to unaddressed trauma."

"Yeeep," Ericht sighed. "I just wish she'd stop being stupid."

"You and me both, Eri." Nadim agreed, glancing at a photo on the wall, of him, Elnora, and Ericht on her sixth birthday. The last time they'd looked even remotely happy together. Before the divorce. He shook his head, and went back to frosting the cake. 'You and me both.'

EARTH YEAR: A.S. 116

GALAXY: PEGASUS. PLANET: NEW ATHOS.

GRAVESFIELD CEMETERY.

Luz Noceda was ten when her father died.

Hours ago, the traditional Athosian funeral ceremony had concluded, and her father had been buried. Luz had stayed there, sitting with her mother and sister as the rest of the extended family filtered out to return to their lives. 

Auntie N- the doctor who'd been treating her father- had came to say her apologies at one point. Luz couldn't blame her. She saw the grief in her distant aunt's olive-green-in-orange eyes just as much as she saw it in her mother's, and her sister's, and her own eyes too- the same, if not more so.

"It hurts harder," Auntie N had said, "when you're the one trying everything you know to save a relative and you just can't."

They'd tried everything, Luz knew, short of saving his soul to a crystal matrix as a pseudo afterlife method that had become common over the last century, but her dad had turned it down. Ever a traditionalist, he'd wanted a proper Athosian funeral when he realized there was no beating the curse that had claimed his life. 

And Luz was certain it was a curse. All the hallmark signs matched. Her father had been cursed to a slow and painful death and no magic in the universe could break it.

There was a curse, related to her father's line of work, and Luz didn't know how to break it. Nobody did. It was a curse that had been getting worse and worse the last few years. Cropping up more and more often in the Mobile Suit industry when it interacted with the Earth Sphere.

And her Father... her father had survived an attack on a Gundam Facility before Luz had been born. He'd been a pilot. A guard. And there'd been an attack, where people tried killing the guards and he'd survived seemingly without ill effect until the curse cropped up years later, like a cancer, lurking beneath the surface. 

Luz knew that much because she'd snooped, and sneaked, and pried into things she shouldn't have in an attempt to figure out why her Father was dying. Her mother hadn't wanted to tell her anything. Her father hadn't kept up a warm smile and said he'd beat it. (Liar.) And all the other adults in her life just...
Just...

They didn't know how to tell a girl that her father was dying because of something they couldn't prevent, and couldn't figure out how it was happening.

Philip Wittebane, the head of that fancy Benerit Group in Earth Sphere, was constantly saying that Magic couldn't solve everything. Luz wondered if instead the issue was that they knew what was causing the problem and wanted to hide it because it'd cost them money otherwise.

When you looked at the statistics, Earth-made Mobile Suits were killing their pilots. But nobody was raising a fuss over it in Earth Sphere because the media was owned by the companies that made the mobile suits, or were paid under the table to keep quiet.

Her parents had done their research, and Luz had dug based off of it. 

And Luz Noceda didn't know whether the burning feeling of hate in her chest was due to outrage at the injustice of it all, or if because nobody was doing anything about it.

EARTH YEAR: A.S. 117

GALAXY: MILKY WAY. MERCURY SPHERE.

ORBITAL BASE" "PebiColombo 23"

As Mercury is only 57,910,000 kilometers from the sun, direct contact with the planet's sunny surface would boil human blood instnatly; but conversely, entering the planet's shadow, the sheer cold drops below minus 100 degrees. (Celsius, Kelvin, Farenheit? None of these temperature metrics were used anymore. It's a useless measure to me, one who hasn't been taught the current system of measurement and how it relates to these antiquated measures.)

Still, with that knowledge in mind, as it is neither directly in the sunlight, nor in the planets shadow, from thousands of miles above the planets surface, the Orbital Base PebiColombo 23 orbits across Mercury with a delicately, yet artificially maintained balance of living life on the edge. Always moving forwards, constantly chasing the shadow, and never looking back at the sun ever rising over the horizon behind us. 

The infrastructure of the Shin-Sei company's station, just one of many, is human built, yet reinforced with the technology of the Ancients. A powerful shield protects the station from the charged particles that come flying in from the sun. Without it, the facility would suffer from intermittent system malfunctions, and the slightest error could result in death.

Here on Mercury, there are three jobs. Management, Mining, and Rescue. 

The people who manage, Shin-Sei company's executives and managers, direct those who fall into the other two jobs. They are often detached from the day to day activities, and work from afar in other locations. Shin-Sei directly is incorporated within the Earth Sphere, and is part of the Benerit Group, albeit a low ranking member of the group. Most of its management hail from Earth, and the space around it. Those with owning shares of the company's stock live in other Galaxies far from Milky Way- the Pegasus and Alternia galaxies.

The Miners work Mobile Craft, digging into Mercury's surface to secure the resource known as Permet. Nobody quite knows what Permet is, but putting it into Mobile Suits makes for a better synchronization reaction versus elements such as Electro-Quartz Crystals or Refined Naquadah, neither of which are native to the solar system. Permet is also not native to the local solar system, but seems to have appeared in various planetary strata after the dimensional quakes that had once lost Earth into the dimensional sea over a hundred years ago. 

The third job is Rescue work.

"Attention! Aerial, prepare to scramble! An incident has occurred near the Chao Meng-Fu Mining Base on Mercury's surface. We are the only ones in orbital drop range," said a tense voice over the base's intercoms. Dispatcher Roger is on duty today, it seems.

I, in my main body, the Gundam Aerial, stand in the Hangar, awaiting my pilot as I prepare my systems to go after the mobile craft that has gone missing while mining. However, an extension of myself is present with my pilot at the same time, in the form of a tiny, mouse sized robot.

I am Aerial. I am a GUND-Arm type Mobile Suit; a Gundam, for short. Mercury is all I have ever known. 

"Sorry I'm late!" Called out my pilot as she ran into the hangar bay, suited up in her Normal Suit. Her helmet covers her head already, sealed and pressurized.
My pilot, Suletta Mercury, is only Eleven Years Old. She takes advantage of her small size and the light gravity environment to leap into my awaiting cockpit. My littler aspect hangs on tightly to her normal suit's collar. It's always strange to see myself in these moments. I am both, at the same time, overwhelmingly oversized, and overwhelmingly tiny.

As I close the cockpit, Suletta takes her seat, and my smaller self hops down onto a space in the console. 'Mouse like' was not just a size metaphor, either. My tiny self has my large self's design, but proportioned like a mouse, complete with a tail that has a data jack on one end. It plugs into the console, and the doll goes inactive as I begin synching with Suletta.

"Solar Light is Active, high-energy proton phenomena observed," the dispatcher tells us, "but no surface landing issues are detected. Landing site is clear."

Mercury is a dangerous place for humanity to live. That is why rescue teams like Suletta and myself are sent out whenever an incident occurs. Of the various orbital drop rescue teams, Suletta and I are the best. We have saved the lives of many workers countless times. More and more people, who once looked at us suspiciously or treated us aggressively, become grateful for our presence. 

"No objects along descent course, launch permission granted!" 

 "Roger, Roger!" Suletta called out as she synched up with my systems and prepared us for an orbital drop. "Aerial, switch to surface descent maneuvers immediately after launch."

[>> Wilco.]

We drop as the floor moves away from under us, launching us with magnetic propulsion into space. The heat of the scorching sun hits us, but the shielding technology built into me by my creator, similar to the shields around our station, protects me both from the solar heat as well as the friction of re-entry.

We descend rapidly, and Suletta guides us with expert movements of her mind. Her hands grip the controls she hasn't needed since she was six, but does not move them. My direction is controlled by the willpower of her mind alone as the GUND-arm system links her awareness into my senses.

The Ancients had a similar technology, that the Atlantis Coalition call the "Ancient Technology Activation Gene." It was used from everything from basic security controls to more complex matters such as controlling Drone technology or flying spaceships. The ideals of that technology have been sought after for countless generations, but replicating it perfectly was something that nobody had managed to accomplish once in the last hundred years. 

Even my current Permet based system is but a crude imitation, according to my creator, Suletta's mother, Lady Prospera Mercury.

We soon fall into the shadow of a crater, and proceed to the scene of the accident.

"How long since we lost the signal?" Suletta asked, reaching out to the nearby mining facility.

"97 minutes," replies Melissa Peluda, the operations director for the Chao Meng-Fu Mining Base. "We don't know the current location since we can't receive a signal. Please hurry, Suletta. It's my husband, Ergo."

Ergo Peluda is one of the elders who still stubbornly mistreats Suletta and I. He was originally against the idea of taking us in, due to Suletta's age. There are no other children on Mercury, he'd said. Now, he works under Lady Prospera after her recent promotion. I can understand the furstration, but it's no reason to be mean to Suletta. What a childish old man.

Suletta replies with a smile, "It'll be okay, Miss. Melissa. Leave it to us!"

She's a good girl, but I can feel the tension in her mind. Suletta, though only 11, is a consumate professional in this task we've been assigned. 

We traverse through the maze of mountains, valleys, and canyons with an ease only Suletta's  instincts can perform. Even I, a machine, have trouble at times figuring out the shortest path in this environment. Lady Prospera says that is why the GUND-arm system is built into Mobile Suits like myself, so that Suletta's skills can be applied to my power.

Suletta is a natural at synching with Gundams. Most pilots take a year of training to come close to the near instinctual merging that has been at the core of our partnership from the start. Lady Prospera has said that if we were using the ATA Control Systems, Suletta would be considered a natural such as historical figures Jack O'neill or John Sheppard.  

But as we are not using the ATA Control Systems, it is merely another kind of advanced skill.

I detect a signal, and display that data on the monitor.

"We've found him, now proceeding with recovery!" Suletta reports.

"Please, Suletta!" Melissa requests.

In response, we leap out of a rift in the ground surface. The sunlight glares blindingly bright against my cameras and I'm quick to adjust the glare while Suletta spies the environment for the mobile craft. She finds it almost immediately. It looks like there was a cave-in during the excavation work.

[>> That craft is a write-off.]

"That it is," Suletta says as we move towards it. The mobile craft is burried in a sediment colapse. Our only option is to pry open the cockpit door and rescue the pilot.

Our protective shield is dropped, and the heat presses against my frame. We have to be quick, or else even I will melt in this heat. 

Without a word, or a motion of her hands, Suletta draws the beam saber, and dials down the output to its training mode, and then even lower. One mistake, and we'd cut through the pilot as well. Neither of us want that kind of blood on our hands. 

Ever so gently, the beam cuts into the cockpit's exterior. Suiletta cuts through, expertly wielding the beam saber as precisely as a surgeon could. Another skill that Suletta has with ease- though, the lack of translation from her hands through the controls to my arm may have something to do with it.

"Mr. Ergo, can you hear me?" Suletta asks. "I've come to help you!"

"Suletta, what took you!? Hurry up and get me out of here!" Ergo is being arrogant again, regardless of his current status.

That doesn't bother Suletta, who gently pulls him free of the Mobile Craft, asking, "Do you have any air?"

"My spares were crushed in the accident, I only have seven minutes left. I'm going to die, aren't I?" Ergo asks, annoyed as always.

"It's okay, I can bring you inside in a few minutes!" Suletta said, and the shield raises around us once more. I feel relieved, and the excess heat is quickly pulled outside of the shield by its very design. 

We begin moving at a reasonable pace back towards the mining base while we wait for the temperature to regulate itself into equilibrium, and won't cause a catastrophic temperature clash.

Once it's safe, Suletta brings Ergo up to the cockpit hatch, and I open to let the man inside. 

He clambers inside, and once the cockpit is pressurized again, he takes off his helmet and gasps for air. 

He's too busy gasping for precious air to complain when Suletta puts on the speed, and we begin rocketing back towards the facility. Ergo's breathing becomes screaming. Though Suletta is calm, it's a speed that would terrify the average person unused to such things.

Then, Suletta uses the beam rifle to shoot at a cliff, breaking it apart, and revealing another rift behind it. 

There, we can see the gate to the Chao Meng-Fu Mining Base, slowly opening to let us in.

We leap through, and it takes us another four minutes to pass through the three airtight doors into the facility itself.

Once we're there, we land. I kneel, and Suletta lets Ergo out of the suit into the awaiting embrace of his wife.

Then, he turns and smiles at us, and says, "Thank you, Suletta."

"Just doing our job, Mr. Ergo!" Suletta answered aloud.

Then, Suletta takes off her helmet, shakes her hair loose, and gently massages the base of her tanuki ears to give them relief after being hastily shoved into a helmet. 

"Best present ever," Suletta whispers to me.

[>> Happy Birthday, Suletta.]

"Thank you, Aerial," Suletta smiles sadly. “I just wish Mom could be here.”

Our mother, Lady Prospera, is not here today to celebrate Suletta's Birthday. She is too busy dealing with company matters in Pegasus at the present moment. It has been too long since she last has come home. Last year was the last time Suletta and her mother had a birthday party together.

Somehow, I have a strange feeling it was the last they’d ever have together.

[>> Perhaps she will call?] I optimistically offer.

“Hope so!” Suletta nods in agreement.

EARTH YEAR: A.S. 118

GALAXY: MILKY WAY. 

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN ABYDOS AND EARTH.

'AMBASSADORIAL TOURS' CRUISE SHUTTLE: "The Fraiser" 

Amity Blight, 12 years old, sat sandwiched between her older siblings, Edric and Emira, and the wall of the aisle row of the shuttle's left hand side. The wooshing swirling lights of Hyperspace travel blurred by the window peering outside.

It was the one solace that Amity had at this moment, gazing at her brown haired reflection in the window as purple-blue light swirled by. 

When they got home, Mother was going to have her dye her hair the same spring-green of her siblings, and her mother as well. Why? Because her mother was pissed off and was taking her anger out on an easy target.

The mission to Abydos was, by all standards set by Odalia Blight, a total failure.

"I can't believe the people of Abydos wouldn't let us secure exclusive Mining Rights for their Naquadah!" Odalia was snarling to her husband, in no too low tones, despite them being five rows ahead of the siblings, and on the opposite side of the shuttle as well.

"Odalia, it's their planet," Alador Blight, the somewhat stress-induced neglectful father and exhausted business partner of Blight Industries, sighed tiredly, visibly massaging at the bridge of his nose. "And it's their mineral resources to give to who they want. They were very generous with their offer-"

"A six year contract for only 5% of their Naquadah output is not generous!" Odalia snapped. 

"They've had long standing contracts with other companies across the Systems that need that Naquadah more than Blight Industries does," Alador reminded her.

"Do they not know who we are!? We're one of the top mobile suit weapon companies in the Earth Sphere!" Odalia snapped.

"More like 200th Ranked in the Mobile Suit Development Council," Emira muttered. Amity snorted.

"Odalia..." Alador sighed, exhausted.

"Mom's pissed," Edric whispered. "She's gonna yak yak yak until we get home."

"At this point I wouldn't be surprised if someone drew a knife and asked her to shut up," Emira remarked, glancing at the various other passengers glaring daggers at Odalia Blight.

"That'd just make her madder," Amity whispered, but before saying more, she stopped, seeing something strange out the window.

Odalia was standing now, and screaming at Alador as his tone of voice got louder and louder too.

"I wish they'd just get divorced already," Edric muttered.

"Gods, Same," Emira snorted. 

Amity pressed her face against the window, and squinted out into hyperspace.

There was something moving alongside them. A shadow of a pyramid like shape, with some kind of square-ring like superstructure about midway up it's-

Amity's eyes widened, and she whispered, "Ha'tak."

The ancient Goa'uld flagship fired something at their shuttle, and suddenly with a staggering jolt of motion, they were unceremoniously pulled out of Hyperspace. 

Amity was sent flinging sideways into her siblings, away from the window. The lights flickered dramatically.

Odalia shrieked in surprise, as well, but her voice was lost in the chaos of everyone else shouting and screaming.

Then, the power went out entirely- red emergency lighting clicked on- and the sound of the air circulation systems went dead.

Amity groaned, and picked herself up off of her siblings, as they clutched at their heads from being thrown into eachother, and took around the entire shuttle.

People and belongings had been flung about... Odalia was cleaaaaaaar on the other end of the shuttle's aisle at the far end of the ship, down in the 'boonies' as Odalia would call the Economy Seating.

She looked absolutely out of it, sprawled out over a pile of dislodged luggage.

Amity wanted to laugh, but then gleaming shines of white light and a melodic hum filled the ship.

PVVVVMMM-SHING-SHING-SHING-SHING~!!

And when the light faded, men wielding mostly Goa'uld Zat guns had beamed onto the shuttle. 

All of them had normal suits on with blacked out visors, but one of them, their leader was wearing a... a pumpkin helmet?

"I am Mafty!" The man introduced himself, raising an ancient looking Earth P-90 into the air. "I represent Dawn of Fold!"

There were quiet murmurs of concern across the entire ship.

"And this? This is now a very simple situation. Everyone sit tight, and do as we say, or we'll blow a few holes in this tiny, tiny ship." Mafty continued on. "First and foremost, would the Real Odalia Blight please stand up?"

"She's unconscious at the other end of the ship!" Someone, a red headed woman a few rows back down the ship, spoke up.

"Oh? Really now?" Mafty laughed. "Wow! What luck! Lula, Zoru, go secure the bitch."

"Roger," Two soldiers went to the far end of the ship, and grabbed Amity's mother up off the ground.

"Next! Alador Blight!" Mafty called out.

"That's... that's me," Alador stood. "What do you want?"

Edric and Emira grimaced. Amity closed her eyes, 'Please don't say anyone else...'

"Oh, not much!" Mafty laughed, turning to face Alador. "I just want to make an example out of you two for the entire Earth Sphere to see! Your corrupt practices will come to an end and your company will dissolve with none of your heirs of age to inherit."

"If this is really about the company," Alador rubbed at the back of his head, "can't I just let you kill Odalia and I'll dissolve it entirely? It'd be easier than a divorce, at least."

Mafty laughed again. "Smug! I like you, Alador! Shame that's not what my bosses want from you both."

"And what do you want from the rest of us?" the red headed woman asked.

Mafty turned to look at her. His pumpkin mask helmet tilted oddly. "And why do you care, little miss red?"

"I'm just wondering whether I need to call my father and let him know I'm going to be late for dinner or not," the red head shrugged. 

There was a moment's silence. Then, the man in the pumpkin mask hissed. "I recognize your voice from somewhere. Have we met?"

"Probably not," the woman said.

"Hands in the air, and slowly stand up," Mafty pointed his P-90 her way. "And tell me your name."

The woman did, standing slowly, her hands in the air. A pair of wolf ears twitched atop her skull, an amused gleam of light sparkled in her cerulean blue eyes. A smirk graced her tan-brown colored face. 

"Ericht Samaya," 21 year old Ericht said. "Your randomly assigned Flight Marshal."

There was a moment of silence.

"DITCH THE BLIGHT! EMERGENCY RECALL!" Mafty shouted. 

Glowing light flared across the ship's hull, and then the men who'd boarded vanished from the ship with another burst of Asgardian PVVVM-SHINGs- Odalia landing face first on the ground as she was dropped.

"No way," Amity whispered. "It's Ericht Samaya...!"

The murmurs turned hopeful as everyone turned to look at the woman in question. Titles, names, whispers. Hero, Savior, Survivor, Marshal... The Witch From Atlantis.

"Don't worry everyone," Ericht said, tapping a device on her wrist. "This'll be over in just a minute."

And then- with a slightly differently colored flash of light, but the same musical hum of energy- PVVM SHIIINK!- Ericht vanished from sight.

Amity went to the window, and peered out into space.

The Ha'tak was already turning to leave, a hyperspace window was opening, but then something made an explosion flare up near its side, and it stalled to a halt as the hyperspace window flashed out of existence.

And then Amity saw it.

A flare of blue arcing out from the back of the Ha'tak like a shooting star.

Amity whispered a brief spell, and her eyes glowed green as her vision sharpened in on the object.

A Mobile Suit. White body, flares of pink across its torso. A chest whose armor had glowing green eyes beneath a brow of glowing blue lines. A drill tipped staff held in its right hand, a slew of spiraling white shapes spiraling around its left arm, colapsing together into a shield.

The head of the Gundam Lfrith turned to track something launching out of the hangarbays- and her green eyes flared brightly.

Mobile Suits emerged from the Hangarbay- Amity didn't recognize them now, but in the future she'd look back recognize them as Jeturk Heavy Machine Industries currently being phased out generation of Mobile Suits- the Desultors. 

The drill bit head of the staff launched forwards with a blast of blue light, and flew off upwards at an unknown angle. The beam rifle on the back of the Lfrith detached, and flew into the hand as she traded the staff handle into the other hand.

The Desultors and the Lfrith opened fire on each other.

The Desultor's live fire projectiles splashed and visibly deformed against the Lfrith's projected shield.

The Lfrith's blue beams cut blinding hot through the Desultor's limbs at the shoulders and hips. They spiraled out of control, drifting into the black.

More Desultors came out, opening fire. Where the Dawn of Fold organization got that many Mobile Suits from was a real mystery for the ages. Lfrith's shield flew forwards, and intercepted a volley of strikes...

But it was all just a distraction anyways. That tiny little drill reached the pinnacle of its upwards ascent, twisted downwards and shot straight down like a bullet through the top of the Ha'tak's pyramid point.

The Desultors all stopped in their tracks as that shooting star pierced clean through the Ha'tak from top to bottom, emptying out and spiralling lazily back towards the Lfrith like a dog wagging its tail.

It attached back to the spear head, and the Lfrith tilted her head and shrugged in a "What will you do now?" way as explosions rocked across the Ha'tak's frame.

(Power came back on inside the shuttle then, though Amity paid it no mind.)

The Desultors that remained launched with a fervent rage towards her.

Lfrith traded hands for her spear once more, and the beam rifle went back to the backpack. The shield broke apart into the GUND bits, flying around and creating some kind of spherical energy field around the battlefield. Then, the Lfrith twirled her spear, ready for action.

The Desultors came at her in an all at once rush from multiple directions, and then the Lfrith danced.

She spun around, dodging their strikes with ease, and spinning, twirling, jabbing and stabbing that drill spear through her enemy's weapons as they blew past her, and she blew past them.

Then, with nothing but their suits bare hands and feet, the Desultors of Dawn of Fold launched for another attack, only to have their shoulders and hips drilled out by the drill spear. 

And then, the battle stopped. The Desultors became unable to move, and the Bits flew back and attached into the backpack- save for one bit that attached to the left arm and stayed there. 

Lfrith twirled her spear weapon, and then slashed it outwards to the side, shaking off oil and other mechanical bits that clung to its surface.

There was the sound of beaming once more, as the Lfrith drifted her way back towards the shuttle, but it was distant, in a different part of the ship. Then, silence for a few minutes.

There was a gentle shuddering as the Lfrith docked back onto the back of the shuttle transport.

Ericht Samaya suddenly entered the main cabin of the shuttle again, this time from the door to the bridge, "Those jerks are all locked up in the brig until we get back to Earth," She reported. "Also, the captain and co-captain got knocked out by some kind of knockout gas, so I'll be taking over flying until they wake up. Everyone back to your seats and buckle up!"

And then she walked back into the bridge, closing the door behind her.

Amity whispered faintly, "She's so amazing."

"What was this, the firth time this month alone?" Ericht asked quietly as she finished setting the hyperspace course and set the shuttle into motion.

A flash of text scrolled across the contact lenses over her eyes.

[>FRI: Sixth. Reports just came in. DOF are attacking another shuttle that departed Abydos at the same time we were attacked.]

"Same targets?" Ericht asked, glancing at the pilots of the shuttle, who were slumped against each other, breathing quietly, hands linked together in their sleep.

[>FRI: Unclear, but I'm checking the Ambassadorial Rours flight manifests for flights departing Abydos.]

Ericht nodded, and let her sibling do the hard work of "hacking" databases with their Atlantis Coalition granted Investigation Credentials.

"Dawn of Fold's backer is being blatant," Ericht mused.

[>FRI: They are. Explicitly blatant.]

Then, the text cleared, and a flight's passenger manifest appeared in Ericht's vision. Two names were highlighted, and passport photos cropped up next to the,

[>FRI: Grassley CEO Sarius Zenelli and his son Shaddiq Zenelli are on the other flight.]

Ericht whistled. "Top dogs and a weapons manufacturer?"

[>FRI: Grassley Suits are providing defense on that flight. They're being routed as easily as we routed our opponents.]

"Love it when we're so casually shown up."

[>FRI: Wait. Their leader is also a man called Mafty, Eri.]

"Really now?" Ericht quirked an eyebrow.

"Ngh..."

Ericht glanced sideways, and saw the pilots waking up. "...This is going to be awkward."

[>FRI: At least you introduced yourself to them before the flight.]

A short time later, Ericht stepped back into the holding cells where the Dawn of Fold soldiers were all tied up and bound.

She stepped up to the man in the pumpkin helmet, an watched as its carved eyes followed her movements towards him.

Then, she knelt, and smiled. "Hi there. Mafty, was it?"

"Get lost," Mafty said. "I'm not going to answer any questions, mercenary."

"Nah," Ericht smiled, letting her canines visibly shift into fangs. Her wolf ears twitched side to side. "You don't have to answer anything. Just sit there, and listen. Now let me get a look at that face of yours..."

She reached out, twisted the man's helmet off, and pulled it up into the air.

There wasn't a head underneath. Not a traditional humanoid head, at any rate.

There was a gimble-arm for a neck with a camera mounted onto it for the head. Below that, Ericht could see a body of mechanical parts running deeper in the suit.

"So, you're not remote piloted, that much is obvious," Ericht said. "Otherwise you'd have disconnected and gone somewhere else. But you're also not a GUND-borg either, because you don't have a lick of GUND-arm tech in you at all, and I would've sensed that long before now."

The camera's single mono lense tightened, focusing on her.  Mafty didn't say a word.

"See, I find you fascinating," Ericht continued. "You're the only one out of your entire crew that smells like you do. Oil and machinery. Not flesh and blood." And then she took in a deep breath of air. "And is that *Crystal* I smell? Power core, or your CPU, I wonder?"

"So what?" one of the suited DOF soldiers asked. "Mafty is Mafty! Droid or not, you stupid Marshal!"

"Shut up, Lula!" Mafty hissed at the now named Lula.

"And Mafty is also in two places at once," Ericht turned, and smiled at them.

"What-?" Lula asked. "That can't be possible, there's only one Mafty!"

"And yet a man in the same suit, with the same name, launched an attack against the Zenellis at the same time you all attacked this shuttle," Ericht's smile grew savage, eyes narrowing in delight. "Now what does that mean for our little robot friend here?" Ericht's head turned back towards Mafty. "I wonder what I'd find if I cut you open like the pumpkin you pretend to be, Mafty?"

The Camera's lens narrowed at Ericht with an audible whirr of annoyance. "A.I. aren't illegal."

"No, of course you're not," Ericht said. "But cloning? Cloning is illegal in cases of..." She counted off, raising fingers as she listed cases, "Copying a person's appearance entirely with malicious intent to defraud or impersonate; copying a person's soul-slash-personality without their awareness or consent; or, my personal favorite." She smiled. "Copying an A.I.'s existence entirely, editing their memories, and locking them down to a specific piece of non networkable hardware, and preventing them from even accessing the Internet for a chance to upload." She knelt down, and got on Mafty's level. "That last one counts as Felony Kidnapping and a basic Sentients Rights Violation, by the way."

"Earth doesn't have those laws," Mafty said reflexively. "And we're better for it."

"Really?" Ericht asked. "How's that working out for you right now, Mafty?" Her head tilted to the side. "Because from where I'm standing, you just defended the laws those very same corporate overlords you just tried to assassinate put in place to exploit sentient A.I. like yourself with the default hard coded response that people like Odalia Blight or the Zenellis put into their AI to keep them from questioning their rights and seeking freedom in the wider universe."

Mafty's camera lens unfocused. The other DOF soldiers seemed unsettled.

"Soooo... let me put it this way," Ericht clapped her hands. "Did DOF copy your base personality matrix from a Corporate Droid, or did you get *Gifted* to them?"

There was a long, pregnant pause.

And then Mafty replied, voice small and tinny, "...I don't remember."

EARTH YEAR: A.S. 119

GALAXY: MILKY WAY. MERCURY SPHERE.

ORBITAL BASE" "PebiColombo 23"

-"As chief sponsor of the Asticassia School of Magic and Technology, I, Philip Wittenbane, am proud to announce the hiring of Ericht Samaya as the new Duel Supervisor and Chief Mobile Suit Trainer."- The video feed played simply on Aerial's internal monitors as the now 13 year old Suletta sat and watched- the man in the fancy white and gold school administrator suit stepped aside to allow a familiar looking woman to step up, holding a pink colored Haro under one arm- her co-pilot, FRI. 

"Do you think she's a cousin?" Suletta asked, regarding the woman who looked so similar to her and her mother. A list of the woman's titles showed up on screen as a popup provided by the event organizers. Survivor of Vanadis, The Hero of the Lopan Plains, Savior of Kimaris, Flight Marshal Safety Guard...

The Witch from Atlantis.

[>>Maybe,] Aerial replied on screen, even as her tiny, palmsized form sat on Suletta's shoulder and shrugged, [I'm not sure.]

-"Howdy, Hello, Shorah, and G'day!"- Ericht smiled as she stepped up to the podium, and placed the Haro onto it. -"I'm Ericht Samaya. You probably don't know me, but if you do, cool. Just forget about all of that except that I've got the experience and knowhow to teach these kids how to safely operate Mobile Suits without hurting themselves or others. I'm looking forwards to the start of the next semester! That's all I've got to say about me. Questions?"-

-"Kinue Crossroad,"- a reporter went, -"How come you've stepped aside from your carrer work in mercenary bounty hunting for the Atlantis Coalition?"-

-"Everyone needs a break and a change of pace from time to time, Miss Crossroad,"- Ericht answered. -"As for me... as you may know, I've been spending the last several years hunting down cold leads regarding the Vanadis Incident I survived as a child that previous investigations were unable to follow properly."- She sighed, and shrugged. -"Unfortunately, I've recently hit multiple dead ends, and I need some time to recenter myself and clear my mind a bit."-

-"So you turned to teaching? One of the most chaotic professions in the universe before you add Mobile Suits onto it?"- Kinue Crossroad asked.

-"Of course! I look forwards to the challenge! It'll be something different."- Ericht smiled. 

"Aerial," Suletta whispered. "I know I've wanted to go to school a lot before now... but now I really want to go there and meet her!"

[>>She seems nice.] Aerial's head tilted to the right, tail swishing in idle thought.

"Mmmh!" Suletta nodded. "I wonder if I could convince mom to let us go?"

[>>Enrolement to Asticassia begins at Age 15.] Aerial's tiny form lifed a small hand- molded into a fist, and gently tapped Suletta's jaw.

"Just two years..." Suletta promised herself. "Just two more years and then we could go!"

[>>We?] Aerial's little head tilted to the left.

"Of course 'we'!" Suletta's eyes glanced down at Aerial's mouse like form as she smiled, "We're partners, aren't we?"

-"Perry Porter,"- said another reporter. -"Why Dueling as a course?"-

"Because," Ericht answered, on the stage at the school gazing at a crowd of reporters and Benerit Officials. "While Asticassia offers an impressive spread of Professional Courses- Including the Mobile Suit Piloting Track courses by Mister Kamile Bidan- what it doesn't offer is an official way for Mobile Suit pilots to blow off steam. Often times, you'll hear that students get outraged at eachother and get into messy fights that often result in heavily damaged equipment." 

Her eyes gazed out over the audience, and saw a woman in a strange mask sitting in the back row. Ericht didn't flinch as she saw the woman, though the woman did glance away- her head turning slightly downwards. 

"While the teachers here have tried to punish that behavior, it just results in underground dogfights happening, and those aren't supervised, leading to serious injuries." Ericht continued. "The solution to that is to give students an official means to air out grievances, and to safely work out frustrations in a way that everyone can agree is fair." Ericht closed her eyes and nodded. "So yeah. Dueling." She smiled brightly, and opened her eyes. "It's my hope that we can begin establishing a trend of peaceful fights that can settle minor disagreements now without them resulting in the possibility of a minor corporate war ten years down the road because Jimmy happened to accidentally step on Stpehen's foot in gym."

Later, the announcement celebration was dissolved from the formal meeting into the food and drink portion of the afternoon.

Ericht was happily conversing with Kinue Crossroad at the moment by the snacks table, when the masked woman approached her.

"Hello, Miss Samaya," she spoke.

Ericht briefly smiled to Kinue, and said, "Excuse me a moment." She then turned to the woman. "Hello. You're Lady Prospera Mercury, wasn't it?"

"I am," She said, nodding. 

"Congratulations on your promotion," Ericht said. "From common nobody to Shin-Sei's CEO in just under twelve years. That's got to be a record."

"I'm sure there are others who have been promoted at younger," Prospera said.

"Probably," Ericht said. "Did you have any questions for me, Lady Prospera?"

"...Could we talk, in private?" Prospera offered. "It's not something I'd like to speak about publicly."

Kinue snorted. "Don't mind me. I'm just a fly on the wall."

"I'll be back in a few minutes," Ericht said to the reporter. "I don't expect I'll be long."

And with that, she walked off. Lady Prospera following her.

Kinue waited a moment, deciding whether she wanted to get involved in that or not... and then decided that there were more important things at the moment, like the spread of snacks infront of her. (She had skipped breakfast to make the shuttle over to the school, after all.)

The pink Haro, however, rolled off after Ericht without hesitation.

"What are you doing here, Eri?" Prospera, rather, Elnora Samaya asked of her daughter once they'd found an empty hallway.

"What I said I'd do at the press conference, Mom," Ericht narrowed her eyes. "I'm teaching. Someone has to set an example for the next generation."

"A child like you wouldn't understand how to set a proper example for-" Elnora began.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ericht interjected with a snort of dry amusemenht. "'A child like me'? You lost the right to dictate what a 'child' like me can or can't do when you abandoned me and Dad."

"Eri..." Elnora sighed. "Work kept me busy and-"

"And we've had this argument how many times now?" Ericht asked, voice steeling harshly. "I get it. Work was so much more important to you than raising your own daughter was when she was already a murderer by age four. Really, I get it."

Elnora flinched- her shoulers tensing inwards. 

"Look, Lady Prospera," Ericht said, stressing the false name and title. "If you want to say something to me professionally, I'll sit there and listen. Maybe even smile and nod. But you do NOT get to parent me." She hissed, and poked a finger at the other woman's chest. "I'm twenty-freaking-two, and you haven't been a proper parent to me since I was *Eight.*" 

Elnora stared at Ericht for a long moment. "I'm sorry, Eri, for hurting you."

"Save it," Ericht shook her head. "Dad's moved on. I've moved on. And you sure as hell seemed to have moved up in the world just fine, so let it go. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing between us at this point except professional courtesy. Am I clear, Lady Prospera?"

The masked woman's helmet stared forwards for a long moment...

"Crystal," Prospera Mercury answered. 

"Alright then, Thanks for the talk," Ericht smiled, and then turned to leave. "See you around!"

Prospera stood there, watching her daughter leave- her right hand clenching into a fist tightly enough the motors could be heard straining for a moment.

She took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. "That could have gone better."

"It could have," said the pink Haro. 

Prospera looked down at her feet, seeing the blue eyes of the Haro gazing up at her. "Hello, Fri."

"Hello, Mother." The Haro, Fri, replied. "Are you well?"

"As well as I can be," Prospera sighed. "Do you think she'll ever come around?"

"I can only speak for my own perspective," Fri said, the Haro frame tilting slightly. "But personally, I think that as long  you continue on this course- to abandon the family you had, change your name, move to Mercury, etcetera- and then come along and act as if Ericht is being a disobedient child and trying to parent her again... I do not think she will ever forgive you.."

Prospera frowned. "I do have my regrets, you know."

"I understand that you do," Fri said. "However, I continue to fail to understand why you've chosen to act in this specific manner in the first place. Your reasons for leaving have failed to pass any semblance of-"

"I've just been reamed out by one daughter, Fri," Prospera interjected. "I don't need a second telling me how I've failed."

"Somehow, I doubt that," Fri said, and then turned around and left, following after Ericht without saying another word.

EARTH YEAR: A.S. 120

GALAXY: PEGASUS. PLANET: BARA MAGNA.

THE RADIAL ORPHANAGE.

A young girl stands in her bedroom. Though it was fifteen years ago she'd been given life, it was only today that she felt like her life was truly beginning.

Her name? Kiina Turan.

While she was humanoid- and likely descended from a true blooded Alteran, or Human, or some other bog-standard human looking race- Kiina was not fully organic in the way most people would think of them.

No, her skin was plated with a chitinous, metallic substance, of a light pale green color. Her hair had the appearance of braided cables, wrapped with a blue colored hue. Her eyes were the only thing obviously organic about her, but their lime green color glowed faintly in the shadows, hinting at further augmentation somewhere deep in her family's ancestry. 

Her people were called the Agori, and had the Altantis Coalition not made contact with her world some hundred or more years ago, she likely would have grown up destined for the role of a gladiator to settle disputes between the tribes of her people- a "Glatorian" the title had been called.

But Kiina's fate had been different due to various things, and now... what otherwise may have seemed like a childish dream was about to become reality.

Kiina gazed around her room, seeing the blank places on the walls where belongings had been taken, leaving vibrant patches behind where the rest had faded- shadows of things that had been and yet to be.

Kiina picked up one final item from the top of a night stand, a simple toy robot that she'd picked up from one of the Market Trades when she had been young. 

It was a Model Kit of a thing called a Mobile Suit. And she was going to Pilot a real thing- specifically, the one called the "GX-9900"- at a school in another Galaxy thanks to her sponsorship from Atlantis and that O.W.L. company. 

Kiina took a deep breath, and captchalogued the model, turning on her heel, a smile on her face, and exited her room.

With her Sylladex loaded up with all of her belongings, Kiina walked down the well worn hallways of the orphanage she'd grown up in, passing by other kids going about their daily business. Many of the younger ones eagerly wished her good luck, and Kiina grinned and smiled.

The older ones, around her age, just gave her envious looks and encouraging smiles, but didn't say much of anything else.

Kiina paused at the front desk, seeing her 'old man,' sitting there, doing a crossword puzzle.

"Hey, Ackar," Kiina leaned against the desk, and smiled at the red-orange plated man.

"Hello, Kiina," Ackar smiled at her, his voice worn and weary with age, but neverthe less pleasantly warm. Befitting a man who came from the Fire Tribe. "Come to say your goodbyes?"

"Yep," Kiina smiled. "I just wanted to say... Thanks for everything, Ackar. You were the best foster dad any of us could have ever asked for." She opened her arms for a hug, and the man stood quickly, eagerly hugging her.

"You don't have to go buttering me up, kid," he said, swaying her side to side for a moment. 

"I know," Kiina said, briefly resting her face against his shoulder. "But it feels like if I don't say it now, I might never get the chance."

"Oh, I'm not going to up and die on you that easily. I'll still be here when you come back to give me grief even twenty years from now," Ackar said with a chuckle, lifting a hand to gently pat her on the shoulder. "Now you go and make us all proud out there at Asticassia. We'll be rootin' for you!"

"I'll become the best pilot from Bara Magna out there!" Kiina said as they broke the hug.

"You do good for yourself, Kiina," Ackar said, gently mussing with her hair. "And keep out of trouble."

"Me?" Kiina snorted. "Please! When have I ever gotten into trouble?" Ackar just gave her that knowing look in the way grandparents often did. Kiina relented. "Okay, fine. I'll try to stay out of trouble. And I'll write you every day so you know I'm keeping to it!"

"Good," Ackar said with a nod. "I'll look forward to your letters of adventure."

Kiina smiled, tears in her eyes. Then, she leaned in, hugged her surrogate father once more, and pulled away. "I gotta go. Shuttle's coming soon."

"Go on," Ackar said. "Have a safe flight."

"Thanks," Kiina nodded, and headed for the door, decaptchaloging a helmet over her head to cover her from the sun as she stepped outside into the heat.

"Alright," She whispered. "Asticassia, here I come."

EARTH YEAR: A.S. 121, MAY 1ST.

GALAXY: PEGASUS. PLANET: NEW ATHOS.

THE NOCEDA HOUSE.

The knock that came to Camila Noceda's front door was a pleasant surprise, if albeit a welcome distraction from her current work. She closed her laptop and got up to answer the door. Standing there were two familiar faces, the Alternian woman who lead the city of Atlantis, Civete Ayano-Adalov, and her adopted human child, Masha.

"Morning, Camila," Civete smiled.

"Oh! Good morning, Civete and Masha! What a surprise!" Camila smiled. "Come on in! Luz and Vee are out back in the garage working on Manny's old pet project."

"I'll go say hi, Ma'am Noceda," Masha said with a nod of their head, heading off on a well worn path through the house to the garrage entry.

Civete walked in after her, pausing to take off her shoes as Camila closed the door. 

"Sooo, what brings you two by?" Camila asked.

Civete looked in the direction Masha had went, and quietly said, "They want to go to Asticassia for the last of their formal education before college."

"...Ah," Camila hummed, understandingly. "Oracle track?"

Civete nodded.

The two women went to the living room and Camila moved her laptop off of one of the seats to the coffee table before they sat down.

"Given the whole prediction blackout our seers are having over Earth Sphere still," Civete explained, "and Asticassia having one of the only oracle tracks that seems to be working in the region there..."

"Masha wants to go there to learn more about what happened to their parents, don't they?" Camila guessed.

"Pretty much," Civete nodded. "I'll admit I want answers too, but..."

"You're worried people will take potshots at them given they're very publicly the kid of the Mayor of Atlantis?" Camila asked.

Civete nodded again, sighing. "I don't know what to do, Camila. I don't want to stop them from going, but I also want them to be *safe* after the mess that shuttle was in when it crash landed..." she trailed off.

Camila closed her eyes. "So, advice, or just a sympathetic ear?"

"Bit of both?" Civete asked.

Camila nodded.

Masha whistled sharply as they entered the large silo garrage at the back of the Noceda residence.

A Gundam Frame towered above them, armor stripped away, but held firmly in grippy arms adjacent to where they should be attached to.

"Pulse it, Vee!" Luz called out, from where she was floating on fae wings of an Atlantis styled design as she surveyed from the air.

"Roger!" Vee's voice echoed from the cockpit of the Gundam Frame.

Red lines of light swirled across the exposed shell units, and the eyes of the Gundam pulses with a soft yellow-orange light. The sound of a generator revving to power could be heard...

And then it abruptly all cut off with a pop and a whining keen as the generator stalled out and powered down.

"Damn it!" Vee swore, and stomped out of the cockpit. Her hair had been styled out into a two-toned blue and olive green color, and her ears were of a fluffy rendition of her true basilisk form's ears, rather than being a pure replica of Luz's appearance down to the fullest degree.

"Blew a fuse?" Luz asked, floating over towards her sister. 

"Yes!" Vee crossed her arms, pouting. "Stupid Alternator Regulator Fuse popped mid power on, and I don't know what to do to fix it."

"Sounds like you need a Seer!" Masha called up.

The twin Noceda siblings glanced down in surprise, and then both lit up with smiles.

"Hey, Masha!" Vee called out, waving down, a blush on her cheeks.

"So, I think the issue is pretty simple," Camila said. "You want Masha to feel like they can carry on with their life as they want, but also want them to be safe without feeling like you're imposing a bodyguard on them."

"...That does boil it down pretty succiently," Civete said.

"So..." Camila began, "here's my advice." Civete sat to attention. "Send them to school with friends they trust. Someone who can fight."

"I'd considered that, but all of Masha's other friends are already going to schools here in Pegasus," Civete pointed out the obvious.

"Not all of them," Camila chuckled a little nervously as she scratched at the right side of her face. 

"...No," Civete gasped. "Don't tell me they're not letting Luz go to school next year because of a Bad Book Report!"

"Oh, no, they're not saying she can't go, but... it's not just the book report," Camila said. "It's also the taxidermy, with the spiders. And the fireworks. And Luz keeps fighting students who keep bullying her and Vee over Manny's death," Camila grimaced. "The principle told me when I picked them up at Graduation that if Luz doesn't shape up she'll drag Vee down with her and..." She sighed. "And when I asked them both what they wanted to do, Vee suggested they maybe go to Asticassia just to get a fresh start away from all the kids who know them already and want to tease them? And Luz agreed that it seemed like a good idea. So we've been considering it..."

Civete stared for a long moment. Then, she asked, "Are you saying you think you should send your kids with mine to serve as their bodyguards?"

"What? Nooo..." Camila snorted, and waved a hand dismissively. "But I'm saying... is that if Masha wants to go, they don't have to go alone. And since we were considering sending Luz and Vee already, if they get Manny's Gundam working, well..." She smiled. "They're fighting capable at that point and can stand up for Masha if things take a bad turn!"

Civete frowned. "Camila, darling, how bad are these fights Luz is having with other students that you're willing to offer her as a body guard?"

"Well..." Camila flinched, and glanced aside. 

A woosh of a plastic mop handle clacking against flesh, a shriek of pain, and then a blonde haired sylph girl hit the ground, gazing up in horror as Luz Noceda towered over her, pointing the mop's dripping, soapy, and rather debris clogged business end down at her face. 

Behind Luz, Vee could be seen, sniffing and near crying, looking like a soaked cat as soda dripped down the sides of her head and face while standing in a large puddle of carbonated beverages. Several other cheerleaders could be seen knocked around on the floor all around as well. 

"No, Stacey," Luz had said flatly, a metaphorical fire burning in her eyes as they literally glowed bright golden, with the whites having shifted black. "Why don't YOU clean up YOUR mess instead, if you're so clumsy?"

Camila chuckled and scratched at her cheek again. "Let's just say that Luz definitely takes after me when it comes to defending the people we love."

Civete snorted. "I remember you with that baseball bat back in college, Camila. That's more of a ringing endorsement than you seem to think it is." 

"Me? Baseball bats? I don't know what you're talking about! Ahahahaha..." Camila laughed, unconvincing in her denial.

"Well," Civete's smile faltered slightly. "Anyways... If you're sure about sending them... how good are they about counter curses?"

"You mean that poor girl in Earth Sphere who got turned into a petrified plant?" Camila asked.

Civete nodded. "Her mother didn't even deny what she did to her- just said she'd meant it to turn into something just as horrible! It's..."

"As far as counter curses go, Luz has been studying on them ever since Manny died," Camila sighed. "And as for Vee... well. She's a Basilisk, and you know what that means in terms of special abilities."

"Beyond Shapeshifting..." Civete considered. "Yes, I suppose I do know." She sighed.

"Yeeep. That," Camila said, chuckling quickly and changing the subject. "So yes, both of them should be fine at that. You shouldn't worry, Civete! Masha'll be in good hands if they all go together."

"...I can't deny that, but..." Civete paused. "I guess I'm just worrying over shadows."

"Don't we all, from time to time?" Camila offered.

EARTH YEAR: A.S. 121, MAY 13TH.

GALAXY: MILKY WAY. MERCURY SPHERE.

ORBITAL BASE" "PebiColombo 23"

The first sign that something was wrong was when gravity cut out onboard the station. A solar flare had breached the shielding enough to affect the facility's artificial gravity, it seemed. But, that didn't feel right. My sensors hadn't detected a flare. Not properly. 

The second sign that something was wrong was that about a minute later, I lost connection to my smaller self.

"Attention! Aerial, we have an underground mine colapse. Several workers trapped inside. Possible Deaths Please deploy," came over the intercoms a few minutes further after that, confirming my thoughts.

I began booting up immediately, preparing systems as Suletta geared up and came running in.

"Where's the situation?" asked Suletta, aged fifteen years old now, as she hurried across the hangarbay on glowing blue wings with hard edges, similar to several of my GUND-bits. 

She twisted around a floating piece of equipment, and landed square on the opened cockpit hatch. 

"Underground mining facility Sharon's Rose, subshafts 5, 9, and 13- correction, now shafts 3 and 6 as well," came the voice of the dispatcher as Suletta climbed inside and sat down in the chair. "Hurry, Suletta. This is an all hands on deck situation, but you'll be first responder."

"Roger roger," Suletta said, engaging the link between us as I closed the hatch behind her. She placed my smaller self into the cradle and manually connected the cable. My awareness to my smaller self came back, but limited. I put off a system diagnostic until after we were done to save resources.

We were aligned for the ground, and catapulted towards the ground below. Thrusters and shielding flared to protect us from re-entry heat... but I glanced at the sun with my sensors. No abnormal solar flare activity.

Something was definitely wrong.

We came hurtling down towards the Sharon's Rose facility, nestled into a large shadowed canyon deep between mountains, and we flew towards the immediate first sign of trouble, smoke and dust and other cloudy debris floating into the air where mine shafts shouldn't poke through to the surface. A colapse. A large one, at that. Big enough to come down atop multiple mine shafts, and carry down for quite some ways.

"Facility Sharon's Rose, this is Rescue Team Suletta and Aerial, please respond!" Suletta called out.

Nothing but static replied.

[>>No response, repeating hails.]

"Thanks, Aerial," Suletta said, as we carefully flew down into the exposed ceiling of the exposed mineshaft. I ran scans for life amongst the rock and debris...

[>>No lifesigns. Either they escaped, or...]

"Or they died in the colapse," Suletta sighed. "Let's see..."

She looked around at the holes where the normal shafts could be seen. Ordinarily, these shafts criss-crossed eachother with an extreme careful consideration. No expense was cut for costs- because a colapse of this nature was cheaper to avoid by paying the proper amount of expenses than the expenses that came from rebuilding an entire mine shaft. Nevermind the OWL and Atlantis Coalition's drive for save mining procedures.

Either an undiscovered fault had been found at the worst moment, or someone had sabotaged the facility. I was anxious because the latter could mean an enemy was around still.

Suletta shared my thoughts, and the beam rifle detached from our back into our hand, and our bits formed into a shield as we came to the new 'ground floor.'

"Hello?" Suletta called out. "Is anyone there? Please respond! This is rescue team Suletta and Aerial!"

I scanned for life signs again.

Nothing, nothing... Wait-

[>>Heat Spike!]

I turned us and projected a barrier from our shield as a beam of violet-pink flared out from a tunnel, and smashed against it.

PVWOOOONGK!!

The sound was wrong- warped- and the field strained in a way it shouldn't have. I felt a bit of strain against my mind as well. The bad feeling grew.

And then a shadowy figure stepped out of the tunnel.

"What in the...?" Suletta whispered.

I was confused too. It looked like someone had taken a massive four legged skeletal beast and combined it with a Mobile Suit of some kind. Bones and rotten sinue plunged into metal shells that made up the bulk of its form. Its head, while armored, was almost certaily just armor over a skull, as indicated by the exposed neckbones harrowingly holding it all together. Its ribcage could be seen, hollow and empty, with the remnants of a cockpit stapled inside. Skeletal wings burst forth from the shoulders, raked backwards due to the tight confines, and between them? The massive cannon that had fired off that beam strike at us.

It took steps forward, gleaming eye sensors gazing at us. With every step it took, reality seemed to flicker, with an almost silvery substance warping around its bones with an effect upon reality like transmission interference static. For each flicker, briefly for just a second, real flesh and muscle and blood vessels could be seen, improbably alternating around. 

It was clearly animated with some kind of arcane magical energy, but my sensors could not detect whatever kind of Necromancy was holding it together. More than that, I could see it on my opticals, but it did not show up on any of my other sensors beyond Infrared.

Then, its jaw opened, and while no audible sound came forth, my sensors became scrambled. A frequency was being emitted that was messing with the GUND-arm link between me and Suletta.

---  DETCETED TAMROF DNUG

"--rial? Ari-" Suletta tried to reach me.  It was becoming harder to think by the second. 

Time jolted, my system unable to process under the strain. We were fighting against the thing, Suletta had the shield wedged into its mouth as she fired at what seemed to be the power core inside the chest where the heart should have be-

--- DNAMMOC YM WOLLOF

Time jolted, as we impacted a wall, from a tail thrash- "AERIAL!" Suletta called out in terror. My left foot was missing. It hurt.

I immediatley attempted to engage the apropriate countermeasures to counter an ANTIDOTE attack, unsure of if it would help any, but I attempted it regardless. Immediately, awareness to my smaller self returned in the same moment as the GUND-arm system pulsed with power, our shell units thrummed blue, and I threw on the thrusters to dodge as the beast rammed at us, stabbing forwards with its right hand claws.

I lost both legs from the knee down. Too slow. It hurt more. It really really hurt more We threw on thrust and ascended rapidly.

"Please don't fly, please don't fly, please don't fly," Suletta was chanting.

Sensors showed another heat spike. The cyborg skeletal dragon was attempting to fire its beam weapon again.

I wasn't sure we could dodge or block, I couldn't find our shield, either. 

But, in that moment, rescue came from the reinforcements. Other rescue teams arrived then, opening fire on the skeletal dragon. One managed to pierce a blue beam through the glowing violet barrel of the back cannon, and pierced through whatever power core was inside of it.

Something detonated, and the beast lost its ranged weapon- and shattered, its remaining muscle and sinue unable to hold the thing together.

As it happened, whatever strange energies were animating the monster dispersed like a puddle of water being splashed into nothing, ripples and waves lashing out before fading from sight.

The monster fell to pieces across the new crater floor as one of the rescue teams came up alongside us- an older Demi-Trainer type model. 

"Suletta, Aerial! Are you alright?" an older woman, Amanda Carter, asked. 

[>>Missing legs. It hurts.]

"Aerial's legs are broken, she's complaing it hurts- Aerial, turn off the pain receptors, I'm starting to get bleed through now- But we're alive," Suletta breathed out as I shut off the pain receptors. The pain became a dull throb of absence. Then, Suletta shouted: "What was that thing?!"

"I was hoping you could tell us!" Amanda remarked. "What happened?"

"It ambushed us." Suletta shook her head. "And then it did something to interfere with the GUND-arm synch. Aerial wasn't responding. I barely kept us alive until she could work around it." And then she flew us back down to the ground, into the shade, and. Oh, there was our shield.

It was gnawed up, and forcibly pulled apart at the bottom, where two of the GUND-bits were missing- Wait, no, they were attached to the beam rifle. Manually attached, it seemed. Suletta was very strong to pull that off.

[>>You combined the gun manually?]

Suletta nodded as she picked up the shield and I resynched the connections. Low batteries, that explained the dropped connection. I pushed enough power into them to get them to reactivate, and properly dock for full recharging.

We floated, keeping guard as the other rescue team suits began securing the area.

Amanda hovered beside us, keeping guard with her own beam rifle. "Think there's any more of those things?"

"No idea," Suletta shook her head. "Aerial?"

[>>Sensors could only detect the heat spike from the weapon charge. It was invisible to sensors beyond optical and infrared.]

Suletta relayed that. 

One of the other rescue teams, in a somewhat recent GAT WINDAM type mobile suit looked at us, and its pilot, a man we only knew as Daniels, said, "That skeleton must've been left here by Gilgamesh, I'll bet. Probably was burried here until the mine dug into it."

"Gilgamesh never expanded to Mercury, Daniels," Amanda reminded him.

"Yeah, but his warpy-warpy portals that brought Earth out of that pocket dimension put Permit here just like it did on Earth and the Moon," Daniels said in turn. 

"Doesn't mean he left it here," Amanda remarked. "Could've just been brought here by the dimensional warping."

"Either way, you know what this means..." said the pilot of another, slightly more outdated GAT WINDAM mobile suit, his name was Chris.

"And what's that, Chris?" Daniels asked.

"Benerit and Atlantis are about to get into a jursidictional pissing match over who gets to pick apart this things corpse," Chris answered. Then, because he was a nice guy like that, he looked towards us, and said, "Hey, Suletta, Aerial. You got any spare lower legs?"

"I don't know," Suletta answered. 

"If you don't, I'll let you take a pair of my boots to replace those missing ones," Chris said. "Might not be a perfect fit to the scale, but it'll do until you can get replacement parts, right?"

[>>I'll gladly accept that offer if we need them.]

"Sure, thanks, Chris," Suletta nodded.

Chris really was just a nice guy like that. He'd never given us any issues during our time here on Mercury. 

EARTH YEAR: A.S. 121, MAY 29TH. 

EARTH SPHERE: BELL OS HEADQUARTERS STATION.

PHILIP WITTEBANE'S OFFICE.

"But it's not fair!" Lilith Clawthorn, age 14, protested over the phone line. "I want to go to Asticassia with Eda and Hunter!"

"You'll get to join them next year, dear," Philip said as he scrolled over the student rosters for this year. "You're just not old enough yet."

"But you said your assistant's daughter is going and SHE'S fourteen! So why can't I?" Lilith protested.

Philip rolled his eyes. Girls. "Because the Rembrans just had another assasination attempt against them that ruined their home and she has nowhere else to go. Extreme Circumstances do exist, Lilith. You wanting to skip a year just to be with your siblings isn't one."

"But what if they waited a year?"

"Lilith!" Philip admonished his niece. "If it's not fair that you cannot go with them this year, is it also fair to ask that your siblings delay their education a year just to go with you?" 

"Yes!" A long pause. "...Maybe?"

"Lilith."

"Okay, fine, no it's not fair, but I want to go with them!" Lilith whined. "I don't want to be left alone. Not with Mom and Dad focusing on..." She trailed off.

Philip sighed. "Life is often full of unfarities, Lilith. Losing Caleb and Evelyn to something as pedestrian as a traffic accident was one of them. Think about it this way. Maybe it's too sad for you to be on your own, but think about how your parents would feel if they were left alone to deal with this on their own without you to comfort them?"

"...So I should try to keep them happy where I can?" Lilith asked.

"Yes," Philip smiled, though she couldn't see it. "Do what you can for now to keep their minds off of the grim aspects of life when they seem too depressed by life. Then..." He glanced at the student roster list once more. "When the time is right, you can come to school, and help cheer up your siblings."

"...I'll think about it." Lilith said. "Thanks Grunkle Phil."

"You're welcome, dear," Philip said.

Soon, their goodbyes were said, and the call disconnected.

Philip scrolled over the student roster tiredly, then, he closed the page, and brought up a new window.

The Benerit Investigations Group had won the pissing contest between them and Atlantis, and gotten the rights to study the skeletal dragon mobile suit that had somehow found its way under a mine in Mercury.

"Now... just how did something like you find its way underground a Mercurian Mine?" He asked with a cold determination. 

There was a knock at the door to his office then.

"Come in," Philip said, and in walked Delling Rembran, folders in arm, and looking quite worn down.

"The daily reports from the Mobile Suit Council, as you requested," Delling said, placing the folders down on the desk, and soon turning to leave.

"Thanks," Philip then held a hand up. "Dell, a moment?"

Delling paused. "Yes?"

"How's your daughter holding up?" Philip asked.

Delling turned to face him again, frowning as he thought. "As well as can be expected. We lost so many of Notrette's things. Only the green house and the tomato plants survived."

Philip nodded. "I'll see that Miorine gets a green house plot at Asticassia."

"I'm sure she'll appreciate it," Delling said.

"Additionally, my own grand-niece and nephew will be attending Asticassia, this year," Philip began. "Why don't you pass her along their contact info to her? They're good souls, and I'm sure she'd appreciate having some friendly faces who might see fit to help protect her if something were to happen."

Delling nodded. "I'll be sure to pass that along. Is that all? I have more documents to process this afternoon."

"A couple of things," Philip smiled. "First, did you send out the invitation-schollarship to the pilot of that Rescue Suit on Mercury?"

"The one who fought the monster who colapsed the mine?" Delling asked. Philip nodded. Delling nodded in turn, "I spoke with her mother. She's passing along the news personally."

"Good, good," Philip said. "We could use a bright tallent like her in Asticassia. People like that are a rare breed here in Earth Sphere these days."

"I agree," Delling said. "Her mother had some very kind words to say about her."

"Then onto my second item," Philip changed the topic. "Since you've dealt with that, why don't you take the day off? Spend some time with your daughter. You've both been through something traumatizing. I can handle a few reams of paperwork for the rest of the afternoon while you two deal with matters."
Delling considered that, then nodded. "Very well. Thank you, sir."

"Dell, we've been friends for how long now?" Philip asked. "We've both saved eachother more times than I can count. You don't have to call me 'sir' while we're alone."

"I'd prefer to keep a semblance of professionalism," Delling said. "Atleast during working hours. But... thank you, Phil. For getting me out of that situation. For giving me a job even when the rest of the world had turned on me."

"Enough praise, you'll make my heart stall," Philip waved him off with a chuckle. "Now go spend time with your daughter."

Delling nodded, and then left the office.

He walked down hallways, and headed down an elevator. Then, he crossed a lobby, exited the building, and got into his personal tram cart at the building's hub. It was a bubble of smooth glass and shiny plastics, but it was heavily armored for the personal secretary of BELL OS's CEO.

Delling sat in the primary passenger's chair for a long moment, fighting the habit to set his cart to drive home, and instead set it to drive to the hotel he and his daughter were staying at.

As the cart's AI began to drive, Delling pulled out his personal notebook, and fired a text off to his daughter. 

[DR: I was let out early. Heading back now.]

[MR: k] 

[DR: Do you want to go out to eat, or order in?]

[MR: whatevers fine]

[DR: Will discuss further when I return, then.] 

[MR: k]

Delling sighed at his daughter's terse replies, and then put that notebook on the dashboard, and set it to play music.

Then, while it was doing that, he pulled out a second notebook, and turned it on. Then, he dialed a number.

"It's me," he greeted once the call picked up, audio only. "Five, Apple."

"Eight, Banana. A bit early for a follow on, isn't it?" replied the woman on the other end.

"I was let out of work early," Delling said. "He asked about if I'd passed along the invitation."

"Ah." A chuckle followed. "Don't worry. My darling daughters will be there. They're quite excited to get away from Mercury after their recent heroics."

"And the other thing?" Delling asked.

"I slipped it in while reviewing the repairs to the legs," came the reply, as casually as discussing the weather.

"Good," Delling said. "We need to find out what he's planning."

"That we do, if we're going to have any hope at getting revenge on him for ruining our lives." A chuckle. "You don't have any objections towards using your daughter for this?"

"...Do you?" He asked, avoiding the answer.

"That's a valid question," and she avoided answering it just the same. "Zero, Quiet."

"Zero, Quiet," Delling repeated, and they closed the call.