Leo'd hoped he'd get a room to himself, ship seemed big enough to manage it really, but he was no stranger to military accomodations and there really was no reason to give him one yet anyway. Something else he'd have to learn, he figured as he was escorted to his new quarters by one of his roommates, who then proceeded to prod him about his beliefs. Why were people in this ship so verbose? Leo wasn't one to keep things to himself, at all, but these people were seriously talkative. "...why do you call me Gundam like that? It's not like Gundam units are rare or have any kind of meaning anymore. To answer your question, I fight to stay alive and hopefully retire with enough funds to have a good shot at enjoying the rest of my life. I'm good, but 36 is pushing it already and I don't plan on dodging gunfire until I actually get shot down".

"So ORB may very well be involved in this? Interesting...or are they also pawns in this little scenario just like we are?" Jason asked to no one in particular as he tried to recall a member of the ORB Families that held the name of Rondo. None came up. It was chilling to say the very least. "Well the golden astray unit you referred to was likely not made or is still being made in our own home. I can't recall a man named Rondo being apart of the ORB Families and whatever the case may be it seems that we'll need to look out in the near future. If we can track down whoever we can and convince them to help then we should be able to get through this ordeal faster....however if the conflicts escalate like this more and more then we'll be here for awhile. We aren't equipped to find out what is happening on our own. As I informed you before Miss Donna we came here with the intent of finding a signel. What we got was this...and there was another group that was sent here before us. I wonder if they're still here? Hmmm so Miss Donna what do you think we should do? You've been silent for the utmost time for your stay with us this week. I'd like to hear what you have to say on this matter and place. Any thoughts come to mind?" Jason asked inquisitively as SIGMA Leader sat still and waited for Donna to speak. He had nothing to say himself that would be of interest to the good captain.
===
"Because that's what you are aren't you? You live through your machine and you fight with all your strength through it. It is one of the reasons I call myself a flag fighter. Because my flag is special to me like your gundam is undoubtedly special to you. I refer to you as gundam because you and it are one in the same. Until you quit fighting you're going to be piloting that thing or something similar to it I'm going to guess. But hey to each their own I guess. I just thought you'd have more passion. Maybe I was just wrong in assuming. Maybe I was considering you too similar to myself. But my goal is to surpass the gundams I have known in life. For the friends I have fought for and the pride of being who I am I will succeed or I will die. But I guess talk like this isn't much your style. I'll just leave you be unless you got questions." Graham said as he stopped talking to Leo until they reached the bed room and he opened the door after a soldier nearby gave him a card for the room. It wasn't a small room but not large either. Just large enough to hold four men in comfortably. It had a shower room and a small closet as well. Any previous inhabitants of this room have had their objects cleared out. Except for a three OMNI Uniforms that held no stars or rankings on them. Two of them had the patch with 'conscript' on the side of it. By the looks of the suits they were older but they still looked wearable. Graham explained that those were extra clothes that Jason kept around for them. He and their other roommate Gabriel were both now in the service of OMNI Enforcer, this ship's crew, for better or worse and that Leo's spare set of clothes didn't have the conscript label on it probably because Jason didn't offer him an official spot in the group like he did to the other members of the ship. Graham sat down and yawned saying he was going to take a nap.

Before she could run out again, guards blocked her way, as the man called out for her to stay and listen to the room placements.

"Eh? You're boring." Reve sat back down with an annoyed expression on her face. She wanted to go running about the ship already, and not listen to boring people speeches. As soon as they finished, she bolted.

"You know I trust you as far as I could throw your mobile suit." Grant said quietly to Reve as they left the room. "I don't like people like you roaming around this ship it disrupts protocol. At least Puru will listen to us now where are we going exactly?"

"Eh~ You must be pretty strong then." She stopped for a moment, thinking about where she had wanted to go. It seems like she can't see Nena yet, going out in Exia was out of the question, and she was still stocked up from Angelo's ship so there wasn't any need to go to the kitchen. "A bath! I wanna take a bath! Take me to the bath now! Oh, and give me some clothes too."

Donna usually left the decision making to the Instructor but it looked like she had to make her own sometimes. "I was on the way to group with other Gundam pilots in Warsaw before the whole anomaly." She also summarised before appearing in this world. "Although I came here with my Gundam and shotels, I lost the rest of my equipment." She thought of the possibility of allies. "It is also likely that anyone from my time will be present, whether it is the Earth Sphere or the Falsons. And if there are people before my time then we have the original Gundam pilots from the Colonies, the Organisation of the Zodiac and White Fang to count in the equation. I can only say that it is unlikely that anyone is controlling this and it is clearly beyond our technology." The Gundam pilot thought of the next course of action. "I agree that we will have to continue looking for answers. If we are low on equipment we will have to salvage what is there and improvise, also exploiting the natural resources that may be available here. I believe the best course of action is to make much allies as possible but not all groups agree as we experienced, therefore we should keep our guard and defend our resources." Her thought may not be of use, but it was something for the Sundown's captain.

"You're serious aren't you?" Grant said after staring blankly after almost an entire minute. "Alright...we'll try to find a size that fits you...the only other person on this ship in your size is Chief Yuri Boris in engineering so I'm not sure you'll find a suit in your size little girl." grumbled Grant as he turned back and told her to follow him. He mumbled comments under his breath directed to a various assortment of things. Eventually Grant led her to the room where Alpha Team was meeting at. "Uh sir why is that little girl following you?" asked one of the members of his team as Grant told them what was going on. The male half of his team proceeded to look at him like he was insane and the female soldier under his command sighed, "Alright sir I see why you're here I'll go and with her to the baths. Freaking heck...Alright guys we'll be back just....chill." she said to the fellow members of Alpha Squad. After gathering up supplies the older woman led the young lady to the baths. On the way there the woman informed Reve that they didn't have baths but there was a woman's shower on the barracks level on the opposite side of the barracks section from where the men's side was for obvious reasons. She was more indifferent towards Reve than Grant however she did tell her that she didn't trust her either. The bath was plain and tiled up and it was rather roomy for a military ship. There were four rows of shower heads. However as the two arrived they were met by Puru and Miss Baker in the already steamy bathroom. They were in the corner and Puru had decided to go with Miss Baker to the bath apparently. They were in the left corner. Catherine Baker had a swim suit on apparently borrowed from Williams as the name was printed on the left shoulder and Puru was talking to Baker and stopped when Reve came in, "Oh great now you're here too? Whatever I promised Mr. Jason I would not bother you so that's what I'm gonna do!" Puru said as Baker blushed and looked over to the other two, "Oh don't worry I'm just washing her back I won't bother you...so are you new to the ship....miss...?" Baker said as she adjusted the towl on her head as the female Alpha informed her that the new comer's name was Reve. "Reve well I'm glad to meet you acquaintance. My name is Catherine nice to meet you." she said as she smiled at her, "Hey you're rubbing too hard!" Puru complained verbally as Baker blushed and apologized.

===

"I see well then I'll keep that in mind. I hope you and the instructor keep being productive members of this group. Without him Sandrock wouldn't be able to be fixed up as well as it could be and without you there would be one less well minded individual on this ship. SIGMA keep up your work. You made us proud." informed the Captain who grinned at Jason and nodded his head, "All a part of the job sir." he commented off handed as he asked for permission to leave and Jason dismissed both of them. Jason himself grabbed a water bottle he had asked one of his soldiers to get him as he exited the room and walked down the hall and down the steps. He said very little and walked as expected of the high ranking captain of this ship. So many problems to solve...so many people to talk to....so many orders to give...but first off...Jason walked into the medical bay after a long walk and found himself in the presence of Paul and Beta Leader. Paul was sitting next to the Stella girl asking her questions. Wilbur was in his usual spot...in the corner at his desk typing on a laptop he kept. "So everything is ok right?" Paul asked Stella whom nodded at him as he grinned, "Good I'm lookin' forward to you getting better. I've not had another gundam pilot from a place similar to my own to talk to in god knows how long. But don't rush it. You're no use to anyone hurt Stella." Paul said as he got up and left as Beta Leader walked over to Jason. "Everything working out as planned hm?" Beta Leader asked Jason as Jason grinned, "What would you mean by that?" Jason retorted sarcastically as Beta Leader grinned, "Alright then Cap just make sure it doesn't blow up in the lieutenant's face." Beta Leader said as he left the room. Jason merely said that he would never let that happen. Jason walked over to Stella, "Is the Lieutenant bothering you?" Jason asked her as she shook her head. She was covered with wires and various medical equipment that Wilbur had applied to her. "No Captain I'm glad to have someone to talk to. I...I was in a stranger's world not too long ago and now I'm in a place similar to my own home. I want to thank you very much Captain. Mycaptain wouldn't have taken a chance on me like you are..." She confided in Jason as he smiled and nodded. "Of course now relax." Jason stated as he got up and nodded to her. Yep this was going just as planned indeed. Jason just needed to check on one last thing. "Wilbur what are the readings so far?" Jason asked to Wilbur who looked at Jason and removed his glasses. "Sir...She's just as you expected. Extended sir. She's definitely a Bio CPU but...but she's...she's advanced or at least that what it seems. She isn't like the extended we know. She doesn't need the medicine that our boosted men used during the Extended Project. But she's going to need regular check ups...Sir I'm not positive completely yet so take this with a grain of salt." Wilbur said as he looked at Stella "But she is from a verse where the project not only existed but was improved." he said to Jason further as Jason's fist clenched, "I'd never hoped that I'd see this project's ugly head again. It's pathetic what some people are willing to do to get an edge. Can you maintain her sir?" Jason asked as Wilbur sighed, "Sir I can but it will be hard. She can fight but that will mean that we'll need to do more work on her physically. If it comes to it we can supplement treatment for the boosted man serum but..." Wilbur commented as Jason sighed. "Do what you need to do Wilbur we'll marginalize her battle efforts and thus her medical treatments. So how do you know all of this anyhow?" Jason asked noting how that the results were still reading in. "Sir it's not the first time we've worked with boosted men it's simply a matter of taking what we're receiving with how she acted in the battle and her own statements that she is a soldier. She doesn't know the specifics but by the end of the day we'll figure out everything." Wilbur commented as Jason nodded gravely. Jason knew all too well the horrors of the Extended Project." Jason said as he left Wilbur to his duties and bid Stella a good night before leaving the room. Paul would most likely be off to work on his mobile suit. His men were off doing what they were oft to do. And he was off duty while his XO took command of the ship. For now....Jason needed some shut eye. It was more than likely just about day break and they would need to sleep so they can take off coming next morning.
===
Meanwhile...

Rondo and Victor strutted into the small compound where the group of soldiers waited for their arrival. While Angelo fell back on the devastated remnants of his own military Victor had been met by Rondo as he fled the battlefield. Initially Victor had been outraged at the suggestion that they leave Angelo to the buzzards. But after closer inspection of the field...it was pathetically clear Rondo had a better idea on where they could go. "So how long were you spying on us?" Victor asked of Rondo as the entered a small hanger bay area. "We're not betraying anyone Victor we're just moving onto a different group. None of us had allied relations with Angelo and he was an ass with little vision outside of his own bubble. Even I could see that and I served with a bunch of pacifistic fools in ORB." commented Rondo as Victor grunted and exited his mobile armor. "This is insane. How did we not see these fools hiding so close to our own base?" commented Victor as Rondo giggled, "Oh you have no idea how well I've been hiding these men for the past few days? I originally landed with these ZAFT soldiers and I was sent out to Angelo to make sure he didn't find us. I did a rather good job didn't I?" Rondo commented to Victor whom said to the fool that it was pretty well done. They had only needed to travel out a couple miles. "So who's the head of this group?" Victor asked of his companion, not necessarily a trusted one at that, as a well dressed gentleman in a plain white uniform came out clapping and grinning like a mad man. In fact Victor indeed thought that this man was mad because he wore a mask unlike that of the Lightning Count's. A ballroom mask covered his face and his short cut blonde hair waved in the wind. "Oh hello hello Rondo I see that you're looking well! I'm surprised normally whoever fights that fleet ends up dead!" the man proclaimed loudly as Rondo nodded his head, "Of course Commander Lao I've come back as planned. As soon as Angelo was no longer a threat I vanished. Just don't make this a habit." Rondo complained to Lao whom kept grinning and promised it wouldn't. As Lao walked over to Victor he could see it plain. Madness on the eyes of the individual..it was as if he was staring into the eyes of a painting drawn hazardously in an attempt to make it look nice but instead came out looking creepier than it intended to be. And the worst part? There was a clever sentience behind that or at least that was what Victor could tell from looking at the man. "Welcome to our crew Mr. Victor." Lao said as he offered a hand to Victor whom took it and shook it. "I'm glad that you would have me...sir." Victor commented plainly.
===
Timeskip - Three days Later - Time: 3:30 PM - Twilight Citadel

Chapter 3: The Winter Princess

The past three days were a series of unexpected events that were beyond even the Captain's imagination. The most shocking of the events that transpired was the unexpected outburst by Saturnalia on the day after the battle against Angelo's Zeon forces. She refused to believe the girl named Reve was to be trusted and felt more passionate about the fact that she was now allowed to roam about the ship. Despite Graham insisting that she calm down she refused to do so. To prove that point Saturnalia was allowed to be present during the hearing to Nena Trinity's case. However much to no one's surprise she was angered by Nena's case that she had nothing to do about this and she cursed them out for threatening to hurt her for information she didn't have and or information about Celestial Being saying they had her Haro why didn't they just try to get info out of that. When Jason considered Nena's words seriously Saturnalia called Jason out on being a fool for trusting a terrorist group Jason replied she was using technology known for use by the other two and she, Saturnalia, could also be withholding information from them. At that time she took a pistol from one of the guards and tried to shoot Nena Trinity. Only to be gunned down by Paul Lyons with a quick gunshot. She was killed instantly by the shot much to Jason's regret. In turn Reve was called into the room and the two recognized each other with Nena eventually giving in and saying she'll work with the group despite their past transgressions against her.

Saturnalia was buried in an unmarked grave by the group and Chief Engineer Yuri Boris was given the task of re engineering Virtue by allowing Nena to pilot it instead of Saturnalia. The process was troublesome and it would take the whole three days to get the process done but with Nena's help, albeit while being heavily watched by armed soldiers. He would eventually get it done by transferring data from the damaged Drei Gundam and the Haro unit used by Nena also helped despite the machine's own disgust at working with military officials. With Nena taking Saturnalia's room it seemed that things would be more interesting from now on. Puru vehemently detested and disliked both Reve and Nena but kept her complaining to a minimum as she was often around the Bridge or Baker whom watched her as a guide. However this was simply the tip of the iceberg.

Stella Loussier wasn't the only OMNI Gundam Pilot to show themselves to the Sundown. A rather young adult pilot named James Jameson appeared after apparently having his entire group disbanded by infighting between the group. Much to Paul's surprise and wonder he piloted the Duel Gundam. Paul noted that the Duel Gundam had been out of commission for months prior to their involvement in this multiverse crisis. Regardless James was welcomed aboard and was allowed the rank of Lieutenant to be kept but was not allowed any authority on the ship's crew due to the fact that he was an unknown essentially making him a lieutenant in name only. To address the fact that this new gundam was aboard the ship placed him in a bunk with Alpha Team. After settling in Paul grew to feel uneasy about the fact that this man had a suit he knew but was not piloted by the pilot selected for it. Stella Loussier welcomed the man to the ship as well but was unsure about how to react to him since a man in ZAFT piloted the Gundam instead of an OMNI Soldier. Jason kept close watch on the younger gentleman hoping that he wouldn't prove a problem. Leo left the ship shortly after this however uneasy about the crew's apparent vocal nature of their beliefs.

In terms of enemies the ship faced in the time they were occasionally haggled by Gaza units no undoubtedly sent against them by Glemy but they were minor annoyances at best and they stopped on the third day for whatever reason. Jason started to harbor doubts about the situation as Glemy didn't seem like the type of man to hassle them unless he had to. In stark opposite to Glemy however came a group of enemies in suits similar to the GM's recognized by Puru as Federation suits and some of the units Gabriel had seen during his time in battle before. Regardless it was clear they were being hassled by a larger group once more for whatever reason the Sundown Crew didn't know. They refused to talk and each time they raided they retreated just as quick. And they were not working in conjuncture with Glemy it seemed as the two engaged each other according to Donna whom caught the two exchanging shots at one point. Jason knew that they would need to deal with this and he was intending on seeking retribution for the pain these raiders were inflicting on their patrols. Daggers needed to be fixed and Gundams needed to be charged and it made them more worn out by having to chase them throughout the country side.

===

Paul sat on the outside of the ship looking out onto hills that were now where the Sundown chose to lay down and relax at. He had not seen Graham today as he was out on patrol and Puru was off with that new girl Baker doing whatever. This left him with the choices of being a pain to Wilbur as he attempted to get the Extended girl Stella to relax and not overwork herself for fear of working up her enhancements, the status quo was that Stella's condition not be made out to the crew as the doctors and the head staff worried it may make them uneasy. The only ones who knew were Paul, Jason, Wilbur, and the Squad Leaders. The reason given that Stella receive less work was that she was suffering from a mild case of PTSD and she was stressed about lack of familiar faces around them. "So what now genius? Are you just going to sir here and feel sorry for yourself or are you going to go and do something productive? Hmph like I could do something if I wanted to. I'm a glorified pilot in a giant machine who received his rank by killing other people like himself. What the hell do I have to contribute to maintenance? And I just got off patrol duties no use going back out there." Paul grumbled to himself as he tapped the metal part of the ship. Jason had decided to let the Sundown's core cool down and had shut down most systems for maintenance. Paul could only wonder if the others were as bored as he was. A gust of wind caused Paul to cover his eyes. This reminded him so much of his early days in Washington before London before...before everything in his life went to hell.

Baker's eyes were tired and almost baggy as working with Puru was much worse than working with any crew she had worked with in the past being it a stage crew, a military crew, or a props crew. She had worked in many places in her short life and this was by far the most tiring. The girl talked and ran around so much she wondered if she was a robot with a nuclear core. "Come on Miss Baker I want to play catch!" Puru said loudly as Calhone looked over at the girl with annoyance at her. Of all the places he signed up for...of all the places that he expected he'd need to deal with a little girl at he least expected it to be on a military ship meant to carry giant fucking robots. "Keep it down!" he grunted as Jason looked down at the small tablet in his hands. It was keeping track of the messages sent to him by the various crews on the ship. The ones regulating the guns, the ones regulating the exhaust ports, the ones in the engine room, the ones in the mobile suits...just suffice to say it was a long and boring process. "I'd say it's a welcome break from just sitting here Calhone. We've been here for a week now I'd assume you'd have adjusted slightly to Puru being up here. She doesn't cause any problems and I'd frankly like to keep her away from Nena and Reve." Jason commented bluntly as he looked over to Baker with an intense stare, "Uh sir you're making me uncomfortable what's wrong?" she asked Jason as he moaned out, "Nothing Miss Baker nothing at all...I apologize stress is a killer." Jason said but he clearly wasn't just under stress. That stare was the stare of a man wanting to say something but refused to. Miss Baker adjusted her cap and apologized to Jason for the trouble. "Hey we're not being any trouble Miss Baker we're just waiting around doing nothing come on come on let's do SOMETHING!" Puru said boredly as she laid on the floor kicking her feet on the floor repeated as Williams looked about ready to go crazy at the lack of anything happening. "Ugh..." she complained. "Second that." commented the helmswoman as she smacked her head against the disabled controls. "Stop that." James Axer growled at her as she listened to officer but gave him a baleful stare. James at this point was too bored to care.

Jack sat in the Duel's cockpit, running calibration checks and making sure that all the systems were still running as close to 100% as possible with all the raids on this ship that had been happening. As he sat in the cockpit, eyes closed and listening to some of the songs he'd downloaded to his MP6 to help kill the maintenance time. He was still trying to figure out what exactly had happened when he had arrived at the location that command had picked up that signal from. It had seemed normal enough on scanners and the location had looked like empty space. But then he got to the location, everything went dark and when he woke up, it was on an unfamiliar Earth with Gundam units both old and new, and plenty that he hadn't seen before. It was almost too much for him to take at first. The actual process of how he'd been transported was beyond him, As he'd gotten closer to the strange signal, he'd lost communication with the transport that had delivered him to the location. As he neared the signal itself, his control systems went nuts and then he blacked out. Afterwords, he woke up on the Earth with no idea how he got there.

Then he'd met Jerid Messa, Lunamaria Hawke, and Jamil, the others who'd made up his group and for a time, he felt safe and secure, and they didn't even have to worry about fights all that often, what with avoiding the main fights between larger factions and the smaller groups like their own trying to avoid trouble as well. Then there was the philosophical debate, specifically over the different ideologies that the group had, over what was right and wrong while we were all here. It had caused rifts between everyone, big ones that almost resulted in all of them turning on each other, so they split. Then there was-Stop, just stop. Not all that helpful to think that way. At least you're with Earth Alliance forces...I think. Opening his eyes, Jack sighs and checks the diagnosis, noting that it was still going to be a few minutes before it finished. Nodding to himself and leaning back, he settles in for a power nap after looking around to see who else was in the hangar still.

Gabriel spent most of the past three days working in the hanger. He spent the first day salvaging the parts to make a few adjustments to his suit. After incorporating and installing a storage system for a second beam saber out of scrap from the previous battle he caught the eye of some of the engineers of the sundown. The years of self maintaining his suit had given his quite a gift for making repairs and alterations from scrap. After showing off a bit of his work Gabriel was quickly brought into the hanger's repair team when not on patrols or attending to other business. With Yuri busy reformatting the Virtue Gabriel was able to help with the repairs needed on the Daggers and other suits that needed it.

He had heard about the ordeal with Saturnalia but hadn't exactly been there when everything went down. It felt like such a loss for the young girl to die, but he had to admit that she hadn't really fit in with the crew and seemed a bit on the aggressive side.

Gabriel was working in the hanger helping with a few of the repairs needed on one of the Dagger units. "Hey Yuri, if we use some of that scrap from the Geara Zulu's we fought a few days ago we could fix up the leg good as new. Might not be the prettiest, but it will sure get the job done." he commented while looking at the damaged part. His repairs weren't regulation they were more than enough to keep suits going out in the field cut off from supplies.

The small blue haired man turned around and looked at the machine. "It's a risk you know. We don't need to go all the way back there to get more scrap to fix everything. The stuff we scavenged wasn't much so we got to be careful what we use to fix these things. We focused on getting weapons more than scraps of metal on the last scavenge route. At least we don't need to take care of that F91 thing that one guy had. That machine had so much stuff that needed to be calibrated it wasn't funny. Better to try and fit that damnable armor those doll things used to fix our daggers. Speaking of which is that hunk of junk you call a mobile suit working fine?" Yuri commented as he directed the repair team to get their act together and not be reckless. They were tired and overworked. This entire week was just one big conga line of unfortunate activity. "Yo new guy, Lieutenant James, is that Duel Gundam going alright? That extra armor you got on it isn't the protocol we were briefed on once upon a time. It's impressive but it screams overcompensating." Yuri said as he examined the machines specs. "Glad that we got another Gundam but it's a bit weird not just having Raigo to work with you know what I mean?" Yuri said wiping oil off his forehead with a rag. It was the voice that followed Yuri's that got on most people's nerves, "Would you hurry up already this machine feels like a god damn oven! Freaking military types I thought you were professionals!" growled Nena Trinity as she sat in Virtue tapping the console with her hand repeatedly. "We're moving as fast as we can it's not our fault the data transfer to a foreign machine was clunky." Yuri said in a composed manner but everyone whom had seen Yuri in the cafeteria could testify that the man was quickly getting fed up with Nena's childish attitude and her insults. Nena had proved to been a cooperative but grouchy person to work with. She was so used to her Gundam Throne Drei that Virtue proved to be a big challenge to adjust to. However she did like the fact that she had a big gun she could shoot at whomever she wanted to shoot at. Really the only reason Nena had stayed was the fact that Jason was watching her every move and that she was so clunky with Virtue any sort of attempt at escape would be worthless. The whole ordeal strained the Sundown Crew's motivations for dealing with other people if they were all as gun happy as Glemy, Trinity, and Angelo or were as apathetic towards being pilots like Leo was before he left the ship for good.

Again.... She was floating again, in a sea of darkness. It was far from frightening as one might expect from utter nothingness. It was, instead, comfortable, familiar.... and safe. But as it often did in her dreams, the sea turned bright red, blinking on and off as she started to suffocate. The sea turned from warm and inviting to cold and deadly, each breath she tried to take filling her mouth with tasteless liquid. With small hands, she started to beat on the invisible wall, screaming silently. Her small fists did nothing against it, until at the height of desperation, something clicked in her mind, and her scream started to echo in her head. The wall cracked, giving slightly everytime she beat on it, until it finally broke, bringing her out of the sea and onto a solid metallic floor. She raised her head to a gun barrel and a grinning face, as fear took over.

***

"..fweh...?"

She woke up Exia's cockpit, bundled up in blankets. Reve looked around at the hangar from the open cockpit, before leaning back again, and closing her eyes. The raids on them had gotten a bit frequent, thus her taking up old habits again and sleeping in Exia's cockpit whenever she could. Still wrapped up in her blankets, she pulled out a can of soda and popped it open. Quite a lot had happened in just a few days, she can't even keep up with them all. Saturnalia, for one, went berserk or something and tried to kill Nena. Wasn't she an Innovator like she was? Reve can't even imagine an Innovator killing other Innovators, regardless of where they came from. That old man had made plans for everything after all. Nena seemed to remember her, though not her at the same time.

At least Grant the stalker wasn't here. Damned guy can't leave her alone for long.

"Would you hurry up already this machine feels like a god damn oven! Freaking military types I thought you were professionals!"

Yawning, she brought over her soda, walking towards Virtue with her clothes askew. Not that she had anything to show off even if someone took the time to gawk at her.

"Nena?" Reve waved at her, wondering how it felt to have that sort of body. "They still haven't finished making that machine recognize you?"

"Barely! It's at least not shocking me anymore but I can't fight and kill people if this thing doesn't let me shoot the guns!" Nena said kicking the side of her cockpit with a deep frown set in here face. "If you think you can do better then you do it then!" grumbled Yuri as he whistled to his men in the corner of the room and told them to check Exia for them. "Thanks to your machine Virtue has unlocked this Trans-Am system but it won't do much if Nena can't actually fight with it. How is Exia does it function well enough?" Yuri asked as he looked through the data on a small tablet. "It looks like everything's green for me."

Gabriel listened as Yuri explained the difficulties of the repair. "Right, forgot we used the last of that scrap yesterday. Well, what do you think we should use to fix this guy up then?" he questioned trying to think of something that could work. "The X? ya its still going fine. Was able to incorporate that second beam saber nicely. And it wasn't damaged to much in the last fight so its still running fine." He answered looking up at his suit, as old and busted as it was, it still functioned and would carry him to many more victories, or at least Gabriel hopped.

"Heh no problem it was a simple matter of replacing the one we took with the weapons we have salvaged. All in all these sabers are pretty plentiful so far. That and beam weapons. Odd having them around so few of these suits actually are used to having beam weapons they're normally exclusive to Raigo." Yuri said as he took a drink of water. "Anything else you need done with this thing? Graham Aker could use some help out there doing his thing. You know he was complaining about not going and trying to find those suits that have been attacking us. Problem with that being the good Captain doesn't want to walk into an ambush if I know him. Graham seems like a guy who will follow orders I have confidence he won't go against the big man's orders for the time being. But have you heard anything from him revolving around Saturnalia dying? Puru was a bit upset about it but she got over it pretty quickly sad to know little girls are so used to death right?" Yuri said to Gabriel as he called off the mechanics noting that X was now good.

"Yo new guy, Lieutenant James, is that Duel Gundam going alright? That extra armor you got on it isn't the protocol we were briefed on once upon a time. It's impressive but it screams overcompensating." Jack opened an eye to look at the diagnostic screen, confirming another three minutes, before leaning out of the cockpit to address the engineer. And the constant mess up on his name, while understandable, was getting just a little tiresome.

"It's Jameson and the Duel reads good so far. It's another three mikes before the diagnostic finishes running though, so ask again then. As for the Shroud, the EA considers it a parting gift from ZAFT since we took it back rather...forcefully. They didn't have time to detach the Assault Shroud before we retook our unit." Too bad we couldn't get the Blitz too... The Blitz had been destroyed earlier in the Bloody Valentine War by the Strike, which was piloted by Kira Yamato at the time. It had been an unfortunate waste, but it simply couldn't be helped. Then something clicked in Jack's mind. "Hey Yuri, if I'm from the past for you, doesn't that mean there's the possibility of running into a suit like the Blitz? Or even the Buster and Aegis?"

"..mm... yeah.. Exia's fine. I'm not a Gundam Meister just because of my good looks after all. I know how to maintain it myself."

In fact, she had some ideas on how to boost Exia's performance. It would be something like Virtue's configuration, but less bulky and a lot more towards getting speed and acceleration. Like a suit of armor Exia can wear.

Tieria would probably laugh at her having these weird ideas right about now.

"Hey Nena, lets go get something to eat while they do their stuff." Maybe she can rope in Graham as well, if they meet on the way to lunch or breakfast or whatever it was at this time.

Gabriel grinned as Yuri said not many suits used beam weapons. In his own time it was quite the opposite, with all the space combat most mobile suits had to be outfitted with beam weaponry in order to be effective. "Well, I have some ideas to upgrade the rifle's firepower, but that can wait for now. Your men are overworked as is and don't need to be upgrading my suit over repairing others. I'll just keep my eye out for things I think will help and create my own little scrap pile of my own to work on my upgrades." Gabriel answered Yuri after he questioned the X. "As for Graham the guy is a fighter, I'm sure he is just itching for the next fight, and our patrols running into hostiles only makes him want to fight more. But the man is smart from what I can tell, he will keep it all pent up until he can go full force in our next battle. As for the Saturnalia girl it is quite a shame, but she was willing to protect her secrets no matter the cost. Even though we haven't cracked that Haro yet I'm willing to bet she was really a member of that Celestial Being group and didn't trust us with her true identity. But then again you can't ever know if what someone is saying here is true or lie its all just part of the fun here isn't it" Gabriel said cracking a smile at the last bit. "And before you get all defensive I haven't lied about my past. Don't see a need to my government was destroyed so giving me a court martial would be quite hard. And if you don't believe that then take my oath to the captain and that should be all you need. Not many were willing to take the conscription route." Gabriel said again looking over his X a bit more enjoying the break from work to chat for a bit.

"Good fucking god the Lieutenant would be pissed if he heard that story. He has a personal connections to the Gundam and if ZAFT got a hold of any of them he'd rip them a new one as soon as he could." commented one of the engineers to James as he powered the Duel's Phase Shift on to run tests with it as it was. "Careful not to move that thing is hooked up to the reactor if you pull the plug while it's charging power that's big news for fucking everyone down here." the man told James as he jumped down. Before Yuri could continue on with his talk with Gabriel he acknowledged Jameson's question. He had to think about it for a couple of seconds though, "Well sir we don't know what the fuck is up with your story. Our events correspond with the three/four month war. ZAFT Schism prevented them from going all out and any attempts to take the gundams were foiled by former Alliance Staff Lieutenant Leo. His last name is classified but the man known as Leo foiled the entire attempt to bring ORB into the war. Captain Jason was actually a big player in the war he fought in multiple PLANT assaults and led the Gundams. Don't know who piloted them during the battles though all info is classified and Lieutenant Lyons's info is classified up the butt. This Bloody Valentine War you're talking about was most likely an extended version of the three/four month war. Our own gundams count as the following: Raigo, Blitz, Duel, Buster, and The Atlantic Federation's gundams Raider, Calamity, and Forbidden. Strike, and Aegis are KIA, and defected respectively. It happened during the Fractured Earth War were ZAFT sympathizers in Africa, and South America collectively rebelled along with a rekindled ZAFT group. Staff Lieutenant Leo was among the defectors but was apparently KIA. Shit got real man I can't say what we will run into from our time. There could be past versions of us, different versions of the current us, or alternate versions of either of us. This Kira Yamato guy could very well show up too who knows. So far we've only seen those Zeon punk asses if you pardon my language. Chasing little girls, attacking us for salvaging, and mentally fucking with that Stella girl are all things that really seem to collectively piss us all off. Not sure if that's too much info or too little info or not the info you're looking for but I'd rather just throw it all out there. It's not like it's uncommon knowledge anyway." Yuri commented to James as he spit in a small bucket on the floor.

Turning his attention back to Gabriel he chugged down a bottle of water as he breathed in deeply, "Fuck me man I don't think we're equipped with upgrades. We could try to rip apart some of those other captured weapons and stuff but you know I'd rather not screw around with our own tech if I can help it. If it ain't broke don't fix it is a good case here. We don't know how long we're going to be here and if we're getting any more supplies so let's just work with what we have as we have it and if we get spare shit then let's make something new. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't be in this ship if I didn't love suits but I'm already stretching my knowledge of how these damn things works. None of these suits besides Duel and the already on ship mobile suits like the slaughter daggers are in my handbook. I'm winging it Gabriel but Jason is trusting me to do this and my work is the difference between a soldier getting killed or not. However as Gabriel brought up the last part about trust and conscription and trust he was fixated on a strange mixture of confusion and disappointment. "Fuck man I don't need to question you and you don't owe me any answers. I'm a greasy monkey that's all. I'll let the soldiers and the rest of these guys worry about all of that. I trust the Captain and I trust my allies. I mean look at me. I'm a dwarf with blue hair working on giant metal robots I don't got much room to judge people. If you ever do betray me the best I could do is try to sabotage your suit my man. You're a part of the crew now as per right of that outdated protocol. You know it was only activated when the Fractured Earth War started and we didn't have enough people to defend Mexico and it's Capital City. It was also made in Africa when Libya was nearly destroyed. Not sure if those places exist where you live Gabriel suffice to say you'd have fit right in regardless. Mexico City at the end of the Fractured Earth War was under siege and eighty percent of it's infrastructure was damaged or destroyed. Still not fixed today man. It was all too hold the line the battle was only held due to the efforts of Buster Gundam's daring counter offensive that destroyed most of their artillery early in the battle. Still didn't do much in the end. Whatever man we'll get the rest of the data later would you go with bitch twins and make sure they don't cause trouble? Grant's out with Graham so we don't got anyone watching them otherwise." Yuri commented as he looked over at the two Celestial Being Suits.
===
"Can't already had food for lunch. Remember you can't have more than one standard MRE per breakfast, lunch, or dinner. That's what that Captain dude told me anyway. I'll go with you if you haven't eaten lunch Reve but don't expect much small talk. There's not much we can talk about around these jerkasses." Nena said as she grumbled and tapped her seat, "I miss haro...fuckers won't let me have him back! Thinks it would be a security risk." commented Nena angrily as a engineer told her to watch her god damn mouth at which Nena spewed off a flow of comments ranging from how dumb the engineer was, too how she didn't like being here anyway and how she hated these people just as much as they hated her.

Jack ponders over what he'd learned about Yuri and Lieutenant Paul. They didn't experience all the same fights he had during the Bloody Valentine war, didn't even know who Kira Yamato was. That last one was kinda disappointing, since the young Coordinator had pulled off some incredible feats without any kind of formal mobile suit training. "The ZAFT you know and the ZAFT I know seem worlds apart. My ZAFT was cruel merciless and managed to capture all of the G Program gundams except the Strike. Kira Yamato managed to keep that one in Earth Alliance hands. And actually, the rest of your explanation only makes me wonder one thing; if you managed to keep a hold of the G program gundams in your version of events, then what exactly happened to the ORB facility they were on? Cause it kind of exploded for me."

Jack himself hadn't been present during the attack on the ORB facility, and he sure as hell hadn't been considered for piloting one of the gundams before they retook the Duel while blitzing the ship carrying it. "As for the rest, it's good enough. I at least have a better grip on the situation now." He listened to the rest of the conversation and all he got from it was that in terms of upgrades, they lacked the materials and in terms of repairs, everything was scrap metal. Well, we'll make it work. The Strike's repairs were mostly done with scrap metal from what I've heard and the PS armor worked fine. Here's hoping the Duel's as adaptable. With a loud beep, the diagnostic informed him it was done. With a sigh, Jack leans back and looks it over. "Diagnostic reads green across the board, Yuri."

"That's out of my jurisdiction boss man. The Gundams I mean. I know these things like the backside of my hand but I don't know where they came from. You want more info ask Captain Jason or our Lieutenant. Lieutenant Paul was first introduced to me as he was. Apparently on the parts that aren't classified have him as some sort of prodigal ace pilot. He's fought in Africa, South America, London, North America, and in space and he's only twenty one. The kid has more experience than half the people his age and has one hell of a secretive past. I wouldn't bring it up. After Aegis's defection shit got real. Suffice to say Strike isn't around anymore because of Aegis. It isn't my place to say anymore than that and keep in mind this is all just official stuff Mr. Jameson. I think the main difference is the lack of support from other PLANTS in our verse and the unity your ZAFT apparently have under this sleeve. Our ZAFT is a mixture of militia, and military factions who want an independent nation. They commit coordinated and well planned out military strikes through sympathizers and mercenaries rather than full on military invasions like it seems your implying your group is. Our Gundams were not jacked as yours were probably because of bad planning or simply the groups not being as well funded as yours were. ZAFT commands a sizable military force but a good third of the PLANTS are allied with ORB or OMNI respectively. Some are just flat out neutral. We've been on pirate duties more than not as of late." Yuri explained to the kid as he yawned. "Alright then we're done with the testing boss if you want to go out with Graham or go talk with someone I'd recommend doing so. Hanging out with a group of guys like us get's old quick believe me." Yuri was boo'd by the crew as a result of his comment and the Duel's PS Armor was turned off and it was re-connected to the usual energy cables that were attached to the machines while idle unless Jameson opted for going out with Graham Aker instead.

Jack grimaces at the mention of the PLANTS, for him, memories of Bloody Valentine's day, the cause of the war from his timeline from what he could think to call it, rushing to the surface. Of course, his hometown had always been small and fairly unimportant in the eyes of the townsfolk, at least until ZAFT attacked all across Earth in retaliation on top of dropping Neutron Jammers all over the planet, nullifying the EA's only effective means of supplying power to the planet. A lot of Naturals died that winter, as well as Coordinators who didn't live on PLANTS. It had only furthered Jack's personal reasons for joining the EA military.

"Well, the Bloody Valentine War was initiated by the EA. They launched a nuclear strike against the PLANT Junius Seven, wiped out the whole thing. They retaliated quickly and viciously, with coordinated strikes against numerous towns and cities and the dispersion of N-Jammers to kill our nuclear power plants. The following winter of CE 70-71 had a lot of Naturals dead because of a lack of proper power." Shaking his head, Jack grabs his helmet and puts it on. "Get me set up to head out. I'll find Aker."

"God damn man why are you even asking about all of this stuff to a mechanic. My job is to fix your stuff in the cockpit, no homo, not decode your past or whatever else is going on. I know that those events sound freaking ugly but I don't got squat to say something like that. Hey Jerry go and get Williams to get the launcher prepared." Yuri shouted over to one of his men who gave him a thumbs up. Moments later Williams was on the screen of Duel Gundam. "Alright Lieutenant Jameson you're going on? Proceed to leave the ship through the entrance/exit. We can't launch you on the catapult just yet. I apologize for the inconvience but we're sitll. We're disconnecting all major systems to your suit. Beware of the raiders if they should appear don't engage them unless you are positive you're able to fight them. We don't need another body to bury." Williams commented dourly. Most of it was because of the boredom, the other half was the fact that Puru was still kicking the floor again.

===

Paul entered the cafeteria finally getting back onto the ship. He was slightly dirty from sitting on the ground but he felt better after getting some air and sitting on something not made of metal or leather. But at the end of the day he had to be ready in case Jason needed him. If he owed anyone, he owed Jason and he'd be there for him. However as he got into the room he was met by Stella whom was sitting by herself. "Hey you doing ok? Why aren't you in med bay?" Paul asked inquisitively as he sat next to her. Stella shrugged, "Doctor Wilbur let me out and said that the cafeteria was a good place to meet with anyone who was off duty maybe I'd make some friends he said." Stella said as Paul nodded. Stella looked at him with pursed lips and shook her head, "Sir I'd like to apologize for attacking you. I could have killed you if I just listened to you..." Stella said as she was interrupted by Paul, "Hey no hard feelings you got a chance to make things right just don't screw up. I heard that you're...not like most pilots." Paul said to Stella as she shrugged, "I'm just a girl sir nothing more nothing less but I'll do all I can to make it through this ordeal and help the crew...I hope we can find my own commander...he's harsh but he's led us through so many conflicts." Stella commented to Paul who nodded at her. He'd feel the same way if this situation was reversed. Jason would hold all the answers and if Paul could just find him then things would improve maybe it was the same for Stella.