"How the hell should I know? I don't work with them and I don't know where they have their base. Could be a few minutes, could be an hour, could be half a day. I wouldn't think it would be too far away though. Who'd hike all the way over here and go past these hills to spy on us if they were far away. Besides Duel doesn't have much in the way of flight if I'm correct. I'd say it shouldn't take too long." Grant said more or less indifferent. "You really in that much of a rush to kill more people dude? I've already been here for a week and I'm sick of it. There should be rest between this stuff. Not just constant war. It feels like I'm fighting one of those old wars back in the day where there used to be two armies just constantly chasing each other till one breaks."

Jack doesn't reply at first, opting instead to scan the horizon. "I've got my own reasons for wanting to get back into the fray as fast as I can. But you're right, a break now and then doesn't hurt."

"Look...just so long as you know we got your back and you don't betray that trust that's good enough for me. We all got a reason to live. I'll trust you with mine: My squad. I don't have much family my friend. Hell I don't even remember the last time I saw a blood related kin. But blood doesn't matter. My squad...Alpha...it means the world to me. And if something happened to them I wouldn't know what to do. Hell even Lieutenant Blackstar for all of his pomp and weirdness has a reason to live. I hear he's got some sort of girl back home. Maybe he has family. He used too have family here...but I don't think that's my story to tell. Look i'm heading back to base now. Alpha is going to be suiting up and I'll be in the hanger bay fixing the scratches on my dagger. So yeah I'll see you on the ship." Grant said as he pushed himself into the air the slaughter dagger wasn't as graceful as Raigo but it was sufficient in all regards to it's purpose. Grant hoped Jameson would lighten up a bit. He'd only known him for a couple of days but he knew a chip on someone's shoulder when he saw it. He had plenty of experiences with those. Life was constant struggle and this world would test them and it would make them work to get out of it if these experiences in the past few days had shown him anything.

Jack watched Grant head back to the Sundown and sighed, powering up his own boosters and heading back to the ship as well. I've got nothing left to fight for, not now. Not after how long our wars gone on... Still, Jack knew he couldn't just get himself killed for no reason. Even if it didn't want him, he would continue to fight for Earth so long as he drew breath. Landing and reboarding the Sundown, Jack disembarked from the Duel after initiating the lockdown and heading to the locker room, where he promptly got in the shower.

"Eh..." She closed her eyes, trying to remember. "Nena said something about a base or something somewhere. Lets go there and uh... investigate. Shall we go there?"

Best place to go for now, and avoiding those stick in the mud people. Stella can just stay somewhere safe if she didn't want to fight. No one would complain if those people were killed she was sure. With a burst from Exia's propulsion system, she headed towards where Nena said the base was.

"Yeah alright I'll lead the way then. It'll take a bit longer too get there though since this damn this is slower than I'd like." grumbled Nena as she took the lead putting her thrusters to a higher setting and pushed past Exia as Stella flew behind the two of them without saying much. "So what happens if we run into Setsuna or any of the others later?" Nena asked too her friend Reve as Stella looked around looking for possible enemies. "We could join up with them. It'd probably be better than these punks, no offense Stella. We at least know what they really are about. Who says OMNI is any different than the Union? Heck I bet both them and that ZAFT group would've been targets for us if we were in our time line." Nena said casually as Stella remained silent not voicing any complaints or retorts or even queries.

Mask headed back towards the Sundown. He landed in the hangar, and shut down his machine momentarily. He was sure that more problems would be headed there way soon, so it would be more wise to wait in his MS.

Paul landed heavily in the hanger bay and he couldn't help but wonder who was exactly going to be their enemy when they fought their next force. The fact that Grant brought up Lao made him remember...remember a time when things were simpler than they were now. When he could actually tell if he could trust a man just because he was a fellow soldier. Before that incident in London...was there ever a time when his life where he had a constant rock he could rest on? Not really...Lacus she was always there now but the thing is Paul wasn't there in return. He was always on patrol and he often wondered if being married to a soldier bugged her. Of course the fact that they had an arranged marriage didn't help and they never officially swore their vows. "Lieutenant Lyons sir the Captain wants to speak with you. He'll meet you in the meeting room sir. I'm going to go get Jack but it looked like he was packing it in for a bit so I didn't want to bug the newbie." SIGMA Leader said suddenly as he appeared in front of the young lieutenant. It would seem SIGMA was actually willing to acknowledge the younger man as a superior officer in terms of rank without sneering now. Or maybe it's because he just didn't feel like mustering the energy to scoff at him. "Thank you SIGMA do as you will." Paul said nodding at the officer and moved past him.

===
Paul could remember that day when George and he had first encountered Lao. Paul had been piloting the Raigo for a couple years now. Unfortunately due to circumstances technology related to the Gundam project had stopped and he had only been able to use his flight pack during that time with his others coming in later. George had been piloting Aegis at the time having entered into the military and scored records higher than anyone else of the time period. George no doubt acquired his skills by his father, when the bastard actually stuck around, who was an ace pilot but not in the way you'd think of it he used to pilot fighter planes and jets before even the Mobius was out. He wasn't a career soldier but the story wasn't about that pathetic excuse for a father that George had this was the story of Paul Lyons and George Kyleson.

It was a wet day in the middle of the rocky mountains and rain was coming down...George and Paul had been out on a patrol having heard reports of the enemy forces of ZAFT intending to make a base in the mountains as a spot to attack DC and the eastern coast of the USA. Gundams were the best choice to wipe out any suits that may be there but people were confused on how GINN's of all things could've gotten into OMNI's central hub. George was as usual not one to judge a book by it's cover and was not all to excited over the news of possible ZAFT agents. "Hey dude don't worry we got this even if there are ZAFT 'insurgences' here we can handle them. I mean come on we're the two best pilots in OMNI!" George said snickering as Paul rolled his eyes. His long time friend had still never lost his god damn sense of humor. "We're on duty you freaking idiot we got to take this seriously if we find anyone or anything we got to be ready!" Paul told off his friend as the red haired pilot scoffed and laughed harder, "Paul-Oh I'm sorry Corporal Lyons I'll get right back to being a good soldier like you are." George said as Paul ground his teeth together and was tempted to push Aegis into the mud below.

Paul landed heavily in the ground as he looked around. The forest was annoying and made it hard to see things but it did make the area beautiful. The Rockies were the pride of America back in the day and he could see why. He knew he would never be able to claim to well...that was a subject that Paul didn't like to think about. "I can't believe that the guy we're after is a former OMNI Officer. Scum bag should feel like garbage for betraying his own." George grumbled as he landed next to Paul as the two of them moved forward and decided to conserve energy by moving on without their heavy equipment. "I knew Lao he was always a nut. I don't know how far he goes back with my Captain but he does go quite a ways back. And he's good. One of the former top ranked pilots in OMNI. Period. The man has a shit ton of confirmed kills under his belt." Paul muttered as George whistled. "Sounds like we got a badass over here. Alright don't worry the brothers duo of the gundams Raigo and Aegis will prove together that we can overcome anyone!" George said smiling as Paul broke his serious attitude and chuckled him. "God damn it dude we're not a part of a kindergarten class stop acting like a dumbass." Paul said to George as the two moved forward...

Of course the story went as Paul and Lao were ambushed by Lao La Lugara Commander of the New ZAFT Coalition after the Four Month War ended and The Fractured Earth War started. Lao was in a new prototype gundam unit produced by ZAFT and was modified to work on Earth by his own hands. Lao...Lao was good. Paul and George fought a machine made to fight in space and still couldn't handle him. The machine was slow while they were fast but Lao predicted the moves of both the boys and parried and dodged. "Do you children really think you got ANYTHING on me!? Jason should've known better than to pick children to fight me!" Lao laughed as George futilely tried to get around him only to get shot back at by those modified dragoons. They couldn't work in atmosphere so Lao had set them up so that they could pivot up, down, left, right and forward. Lucky they couldn't hit from behind but Lao was keeping his opponents from getting anywhere near him. Paul in the past was experienced but he was not as good as he was today. He lacked his 'newtype' abilities and his mind set was still that of an upstart pilot looking to prove his worth. George was aggressive pushing hard on Lao but he could only do so much. "Who the hell do you think you are you punk ass bastard!" George said parrying a beam slash and then moving in for a kill shot with his additional beam weapons but was shut down as Lao smashed him away with the flick of his beam rifle smashing Aegis with it knocking it off course and missing. He then shot at Paul who was aiming up a shot. It missed and Lao coutinued to play them for fools. In the end Paul would get separated from George but they'd find each other later. George apparently having fought Lao to a standstill...but Paul should've known by the look on his friend's face what had really happened.

====

Puru landed in the hanger bay next to Mask and docked on the bay and when her suit open she burst out of the cockpit and ran over to Mask (be it he was in the cockpit or not). "Hey Mr. Mask wanna go somewhere and talk or get something to eat? You seem like a nice guy I'd like to get to talk to you a bit more." Puru shouted as one of the crew members told her to keep an inside voice despite the fact that people were working with heavy machinery. Behind her was Beta Leader who patted her on the back as he passed by on the way to his own Dagger. Puru's smile was lit up on her face as she waited eagerly for Mask to reply. Hopefully he wouldn't say no...who'd she hang out with then? Donna? She was nice but having to bug her for something to do wasn't appealing to the young newtype unless she had too.

That face. That look of joy, and eagerness. Just like Manny and the rest of the other cheer leaders. He just couldn't resist that face.
"Alright then Puru, I'll join you for some food. But we can't be too relaxed. It'd be a great dishonor to my pride if the enemy got the jump on us." He said hopping out of the cockpit and making his way back towards the cafeteria.

"Heck yeah! If only Judau was here you'd like him I'd think. Oh Judau where are you...I know you're here but where...?" Puru grumbled as she dreamed on about her 'friend' Judau. But she snapped out of it and came back at the task at hand. "I'm not sure if they'll let us eat but I'm sure they'll let us get something to drink. It sucks not being able to eat whenever but I've gotten used to it...it's just what happens on ship life. Besides Mr. Graham and Jason have been really nice to me. Have you met anyone cool here Mr. Mask?" Puru asked as she took Mask's hand smiling and tugged on him to follow her along. A few of the pilots in the hanger, including Grant's team, gave snickering comments and funny looks at the duo as they left the hanger and went towards the elevator.

Finishing in the shower, Jack climbed out and got his pilot suit back on, heading towards the Duel. There wasn't much point in going anywhere else with a battle on the horizon. Stopping outside the cockpit, he looks around as people go about their business and wait near their mobile suits for the heads up to go to battle. Heh, just like home...

"Hey Jack dude Captain is looking for you. I heard SIGMA telling me you were supposed to go there. Lieutenant Blackstar is on his way there too. I don't know what's up but if the Captain wants you something must be up. Don't bother asking me to fix up Duel I'm already on it. There's not much to fix but you gotta take it easy I need to keep parts in spare." Yuri shouted up to Jack as he went back to work on taking the kinks out of some stuff. He was also running checks on the large strange metal box like thing that was in the corner. Though the crew had mentioned little about it the thing was there to be some sort of back-up unit or something. It wasn't anything special but the machine was useful according to Yuri though he refused to give info on what was inside of it.

Jack stops and turns to Yuri. "Oh, thanks Yuri." Turning, he left the hangar and rode the elevator up to the briefing room floor, not thinking about much but bringing down the other Duel when they finally tracked it down. When it stopped, he stepped out and looked around and spotted Paul. "Lieutenant Lyons," he said with a nod.

"Hmm..." He began, "I suppose Graham. He has a good sense of honor." He said. Then silently laughed to himself as he caught glimpses of the people snickering. He was aware of the silliness, not to mention it reminded him of some files he read about the UC. So, Puru, you're mobile suit is an antique in my time. Does that mean you're from the Universal Century?"

"Well if it isn't the only other lieutenant but me on the ship. How are you doing Jack?" Paul asked as he was suddenly snapped out of his train of thought as he turned to Jack. He was an alright dude from what Paul could tell. Jack was a decent guy but he still couldn't say for definite he knew the real Jack. "I suppose you know Jason is looking for us right? Do you know why?" Paul asked as he looked up at Jack. He was sitting down in a chair in his usual spot. His pilot suit was still on and he had his helmet on top of the table.

===

"It's old? My Qubeley isn't old! I'll have you know it's not even a couple years old! But yeah I think we're from the same time period, place, whatever. But if you think that my suit is old than does that make me older than you?" Puru asked as she looked at Mask as the elevator started to move. Puru thought about it but then grabbed her head and groaned. "Ugh time travel is so confusing. This world is a mess and it feels funny like it's distorted. Why does it feel this way...ugh." Puru grumbled clutching her head as a headache started to form. she decided to change the subject. "Yeah I like Mr. Graham too. He's like a big kid and he reminds me of a more mature Judau but a more fun Mr. Bright. Like he's a kid at heart but still knows that he's an adult and acts like it. He saved me and another girl named Saturnalia. She's dead now though. Paul had to shoot her in order to stop her from killing Nena. In fact Nena was an enemy at first and she was kept in prison. She's not a nice girl but Jason said we need all the help we could get so we put her in Virtue. I don't think I can trust Nena all to much. I'd much prefer to trust Paul or Jack or Graham to be honest.

Jack took a seat across from Paul and shook his head. "No idea. I suppose we'll find out when he arrives. As for how I've been...Seeing another Yzak, the man who's charred corpse was pulled out of the cockpit of the suit I pilot, it's a haunting experience, and one I'd not wish on anyone."

"I called you both here for a simple reason: To tell you about the facilities. Donna is busy with Baker otherwise she'd be here too but I have words I need to say. To put it simply I have no desire to hold information from anyone unless need be." Jason said as he walked in as Paul saluted him he nodded at his second but rubbed his brow his face contorted in discomfort but he moved to the end of the table and sat down. "We have no knowledge of this pilot you seem to know Mr. Jack." Jason said as he turned around and activated the screen behind him as he pulled out a small pad and looked over the notes he had taken on the matter. "Really? So it really is an completely different universe if Jack is telling the truth. Our Duel's Pilot is a man named Johan Renalds and he is a very blunt man. I doubt we'll be seeing him here because he was in a mission in South Africa on guard duty when we left. Or at least that's what we were told." Paul said explaining to Jack the situation about the difference between their two realities. It was so bizarre talking to a 'OMNI' Officer who didn't know who the Gundam pilots were in his universe despite being a gundam pilot himself.

"Yes well regarding the facilities we have been researching the Citadel that we've been camping out nearby. It admits a signal similar to the one we, Paul and I, were sent to look over which brought us here. We believe these signals are a part of a collective. We had one of our foot soldiers trace signals while we were at Mariemaia's and that base of theirs also admits a similar signal. We believe whatever chance we have to get home is linked to these. We have not taken further action though we are considering destroying them. But in doing so it may end up trapping us here forever so we need further investigations into the matter." Jason said as he coughed and patted his chest and then coughed a couple more times. "Sorry it's just work has been tiring me out. I'll be fine." Jason said as Paul looked at him with concern.

"Here's the following points we have made:

1. Present location: Nothing in the data we have gives us any indication. I don’t even know if we’re near the earth or the colonies.
2. Persons encountered: We’ve encountered some people we know by appearance or affiliation, and others who belong to organizations we never heard of.
3. Mobile suits encountered: As with item 2, we’ve encountered mobile suits we have full data on, as well as some that are completely unknown to us.
4. Regarding the signal: Everyone we’ve encountered has had contact with the signal. For each of them, this was their last memory before appearing here.
5. More on the signal: The signal is being sent by strange facilities scattered about the area. We have not confirmed if destroying a facility will hinder or help us.
6. Regarding the facilities: The facilities emit the signal, which we have determined that it resonates a disturbance signal that does something. We've discovered various signals across the landscapes. It's possible that they’re self-replicating, so their numbers may be increasing.
7. Current objective: We have confirmed that the farther we are from the facilities we are the better our coms are. We’ll keeping that in mind for the time being. However we will defend them until we have gathered information from them. If they are destroyed abandoning the area is recommended if there is nothing left to defend.
8. Impediments to completing the objective: enemy forces with unknown goals are protecting the facilities.
Facilities: Causing a distortion of sorts in the space time.

Theory relating to the facilities:

The signal comes from all these facilities, and could be resonating to create a vast distortion in space. This place was produced by that distortion possibly. Basically we are in another world in the literal sense. The facilities may be self-replicating. However the replication is not very fast more than likely. The goal is to block the resonance between them for the moment.

1. This world exists in a different space-time
2. The facilities emit a certain signal which we have confirmed already
3. This signal causes the distortions.

Plan: We need to take the facilities and hold them until sufficient data is collected then destroy them if it fits the plans we make in the future.

Jack listened to the briefing and found that for every question answered, he could think of at least three others. When the captain finished, Jack leaned back and tapped his chin. "So if we just block the signals, we could go home? That's nice, but what about all the pilots who died? Like Gabriel?" Of all the new questions he had, that was the one that ate at him the most.

"Gabriel is MIA not KIA but he is assumed dead. There's a difference Jack." Paul said feeling ashamed on the matter if he didn't leave Gabriel would still be with them. Paul tried to not show it but he felt a bit worse after Gabriel was mentioned. He had blood on his hands and not just Gabriel but Saturnalia as well. "I don't know I'm not god. If they died here they'll probably stay dead. Or maybe they'll come back. I can't say yay or nay on the matter Lieutenant. I'm sorry. The signals, according to our limited team we have working on the matter, are the key to all of this or at the very least are a clue. We need to know what makes them do what they do and what purpose they have other than to create the distortion. Puru has repeatedly said the world feels funny. It could be that newtypes of power like her can sense the real nature of this place. I only have theories and speculation. Mariemaia didn't give us information though I have reason to believe she may know stuff as well. I don't suspect she's behind this but she has her own motives. The Ice Princess is too self absorbed to not have a plan of her own." Jason said gravely as he looked at Jack unsure if his reports were just making things worse.

Jack nodded and sat back in his chair. "WEll, I guess that clarifies what the facilities are for me. My question is why in the hell someone would do this. What purpose does it serve other than some kind of sick entertainment?"