---

---

Ayame took lead as they left the Cafeteria, enjoying the fact that Sirius is such pure soul, if only he knew how poor she was in simulator combat against advanced people like him. Getting out of the Way for Sirius to speak with the scientist she has seen once or twice she let him do all the talking. The relationship these two seemed to be close and seemed to be a friend and mentor of his, which was great for Sirius as he seemed like he can make friends easily. What she wasn't expecting was Tessa eyeing her up like she was judging her before complementing her on her looks which she took with a smile, not something she heard every day and maybe was vain of her but she enjoyed it.

As she listened to there conversation she heard Tessa tease Sirius about a date,

'Date? Hah, what is this high school? Even if that's something the military allows, I'm too busy with my Machine, working on helping the colony survive.... and being A.I. Wait she's messing with me.'

"I'll meet you at the Simulators, it will allow me to warm up. Also, love your friend, got a good sense of humor" she said as she grabbed one of the handlebars taking her to her destination.

Once she arrived at the simulators she went to the first open one and loaded up a scenario and chose her mobile suit before launching the program.

---

Port Alec

Briefing

Interacting with:Skye@Crosswire

---

Amaya listened as she kept her soft smile placed on her face before allowing a light round of laughter escape from her lips before the fingertips of her left hand found their way to covering her mouth. She managed to regain her composure after a few seconds taking a deep breath. "It is very reassuring to see that some things have never changed. As for your assumption Skye, I came to explore and understand this era and the newfound place I awoke in."She said in a soft tone before she leaned forward, moving her hands behind her back. "I may not be on the battlefront, but if and when you do happen to get injured. about maybe 70% of the time, it might be me that will be the one to assist you in your recovery."She said, "So I hope I see this enthusiasm when and if that time ever comes. Plus, I enjoy the new patient you gave my colleague and I to treat, so thank you for that."She added before turning to the newest member of their party, who made a decent attempt at defusing a possible disaster. She straightened up as he calmed Skye down before introducing himself to Amaya, extending his hand. Amaya smiled, allowing her small, perfectly manicured fingers to allow themselves to wrap around his hand, shaking it lightly. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Carius Tadmoore. I am Amaya Yashia, a newly appointed Doctor here at the base." She explained before hearing the briefing continue as she decided to keep silent, listening to the presentation.

Most of the briefing went entirely over her head with actually knowing what they were talking about, model and information-wise, strategy, etc. However, Amaya did enjoy the briefing up till Skye spoke of an offense. She looked over at Skye, raising an eyebrow as the girl apparent want to fight in space, finding her want for a battle to be fascinating and a bit creepy at the same time. Amaya turned around, moving back towards the back of the room again. This briefing was not for her, nor was she needed for this briefing. However, such meetings always fascinated her as she watched the screen contently. Amaya watched the briefing images and documents on the screen moving as Tyn discussed what everyone was to do. She was amazed at the massive change of battle strategy. This whole situation was fantastic and it was clear on her face.

---

---

After letting his response rest for the men, there was light murmurs filling the room, ranging from concerns of Tyr's experience for command to the concern of a swift colony counter attack. Tyr looked to the remote in his hand and cutting out the display of the scene over to an image of the Empire's emblem. "You've all trained and fought for the empire, those who are new here will learn the dangers of space, while the rest of you remember the capability of the colonies in a drawn out fight. We will continue to lose if you let this be a war of attrition, while every mobile suit and vessel we bring back with us bolsters our side. There will be a time for us to charge straight on through the debris belt and consider retreat a last resort, not the next step. You have all been selected by the general not just for your skills but your capabilities, I will expect for none of you to let him down and step inside of that rocket today. Dismissed." He turned and most of the gathered personnel stood up and began to leave the room to the changing rooms for their pilot and EVA suits.

Tyr approached the general immediately, whose gaze was focused on the door as a couple of men in security gear were leaving the room. "Of course there is no great first briefing. It would have helped if I knew more about the status of our supplies." The centurion let out with a sigh, following the general's gaze with curiosity before the man spoke and gathered his attention. "There is no such thing as a great briefing, you're bringing these soldiers to battle expecting not all of them will return. It's best you remember and accept this when facing them all head on, before it is too late. Your own father wasn't very skilled at this either." At the mention of Tyr's father, the centurion tilted his head down in contemplation, thinking back on his current position compared to his father. He was sure his father would be proud of him.

"I will be in the command tower, you had best join your comrades." The general's voice broke Tyr from his reminisce, looking up into the blue eyes of his superior. "Of course sir. I will see you again for the debriefing." Tyr gave his salute to the general, who turned and walked down from the slightly elevated stage and along the path towards the command tower. Joining him were several attendees of the briefing, operators and mission coordinators following suit to man the bays of terminals to relay all information for each of the five shuttles. In the briefing room the soldiers of Team Delta stood up, with Deryk Orgs patting his chest with a big breath. "Let's get moving kiddos. I want to grab a good seat on the trucks before the rest." The older soldier patted his hand against Roose and Everin, leading them forward out of the room while giving a kindly smiled nod to the woman. "If you will excuse us young miss, we have a rocket to catch." It wasn't long before Tyr followed suite out to the trucks, five, one for each rocket with the team's name plastered on the side in graffiti.

As the soldiers switched into their suits, they began loading themselves onto the trucks with those lucky enough taking the padded seats while the rest sat in the open flooring of the truck bed as it filled up. Tyr had grabbed ahold of the side of the truck among others, near Deryk who gave him another humble smile which was reciprocated. When a truck collected its fill its engine was revved before the machine moved along the long path out to the towering metal containers. The trucks passed by a convoy occupied by a series of much larger, purely flatbed vehicles holding up the various mobile suits from the hangars. Carefully moved along since the beginning of the base announcement, the mobile weapons would be brought to each rocket and loaded by a crane attached to the launch tower. Tyr looked up as the long chassis of his own mobile armor came into view, the metal of its railgun gleaming as they passed it. Some of the soldiers hollered as they saw their own, or an ally's mobile weapon. A tradition since the very first mission, although it didn't prevent the occasional small brawl over some machines. Still, Tyr looked forward as the road stretched out to the five structures.

In the command tower, the personnel sat down swiftly and began their tasks, filling the room with chatter between the tower here and the crews at the launch pad. The general stood at the top ledge looking over the personnel. From behind he heard the sound of a cane against metal. Only one threat could create that sound, which made the hairs on the general's neck stand tall as a voice creeped out to him, like death itself lending its voice. At least to the general. "There you are young Eltzman. I was surprised when you had the young northerner give the briefing today, you haven't reached my age yet." The general turned to see the elderly man appearing from the doorway along with another, much younger collogue with white hair. "I hope you won't mind I invited miss Yashia to join me up here, I could need help getting down from here once all is said and done." The sarcastically older man gave a youthful smile as he held onto his cane. Of course he was still able to navigate but it was clear his age was beginning to affect his physique. "Of course doctor. I'm sure she would like to be aware of any immediate cases for our soldiers." His eyes turned to the woman and looked over over.

At the launch pad, the trucks separated along the circle of towers and disgorging their passengers. Tyr looked over to his fellow pilots, two he recognized as Everin and Otter with Gabriel Seth. Along with them were 8 support personnel who were tasked with piloting the rockets and maintaining them in missions, along with cargo manipulation. Each rocket had a pair of small mobile workers used for loading any recovered salvage into the empty compartment of the vessel, allowing for up to 8 mobile suits to return in total along with smaller salvage, if they were lucky. Tyr stepped into the elevator of the tower as the rest did, bracing as it rocked its way upwards. He fumbled with the older helmet in his hand out of boredom like others did.

---

Leaning on the wall, Gabriel opted to keep quiet as he partly listened to the briefing since he already knew the information the was being given to others. He would give a nod of acknowledgment to General Eltz and others when he heard his name being mentioned but still not saying anything. Currently Gabriel's focus was on the many pilots and personnel who would be apart of the operation. He would slightly glare at the female who seemed to be taking offense with new arrival as well as asking that they instead launch an attack on the colony forces; Such brazen actions against the colonies could potentially result in heavy consequences for the Empire as well as future operations. Gabriel would make a mental note to keep an eye on the female with the prosthetic legs as she may cause issues with the operation. Gabriel would then take a moment to regard the others in the room, most seemed pretty eager to start the operation which was a good thing. But Gabriel could tell that the gathered individuals here were wither young or inexperienced barring the few people who were in ranks of command.

When the briefing was complete Gabriel would head to a changing room and change into his Titan's pilot uniform before joining everyone else at the launchpads. Taking a moment to look around Gabriel would notice his PMX-002 Bolinoak Sammahn being loaded into a rocket, he would yell at the crews to be careful with it as it was basically a family heirloom. Entering the elevator with the others, Gabriel would make his way to the operation leader Tyr Fin, and introduce himself.

"A pleasure to make you're acquaintance Centurion Fin. I'm Gabriel Seth and like the general said in the briefing I'll be assisting with salvaging operations. I've done some reviewing of the salvaging operation as well as the targets for the operation and come up with a few detailed plans on how the operation should procced, and was hoping to run them through you and get your opinions and thoughts on them. If that is okay with you Centurion Fin?"

With a friendly but professional introduction given to Centurion Fin, as well as asking for the opinion of the operation leader on how the the salvaging operation should procced. Gabriel hoped that he could set up a professional relationship with the Centurion so that the operation could proceed smoothly without a clash of ideas, plans, or orders. As those could impede how smoothly the operation goes, as well as future ones that Gabriel and Centurion Fin may be apart of. This was something that was taught to Gabriel from his mother as she told him that friendly or at least cordial relations with others goes a long way when it comes to working contracts, cause sometimes you may work with individuals or groups on more than one occasions and not having any sort of conflict will result in smoother operations and an even higher pay in some occasions.

---

_{@CMDR Adamantium@Crosswire}

---

As the open elevator rose up, the girders around them fell down, exposing the outside for a clear view if one could ignore the red braces that would pass by. Tyr looked to the other tower in view, from its position he guessed it contained the second team, which he knew included Nathaniel, Ulesses, and Roose. The second tower he could see had an unusual pairing, with a newtype pilot recruited by the general and his assigned bodyguards as additional mobile suit pilots in a Genoace II and Blaze ZAKU Warrior. Poor Tear was left in rocket 5, assigned to guard duty over the rest of the giant cylinders. All the pilots who'd gone to space on combat ops could be distinguished by their lack of enthusiasm compared to the rest, expecting things to be as much fun as their training launches and simulations. Tyr's attention was taken as the most important civilian on base spoke to him.

"Ah, of course. A pleasure to make your acquaintance sir Seth." Tyr reached his hand out to shake, retracting it back to holding his helmet after the introduction. "Of course, although I'm aware this is your first salvaging job in space, so it will be more normal to us than to yourself. We're not going to be digging, but expect to be cracking open some doors since they rarely have the power running. And this all hedges on us not running into any dolls still detecting IFF signals." He sighed at the thought of one hollow mobile suit screwing up the operation. "Now then, what did you have in mind to streamline the operation?"

---

---

Hanson was grumbling to himself as he checked his suit over before floating off for a set of maintenance gear and returned to his suit for some minor adjustments. Some bolts here, a missed scratch from debris there. Fighting in the debris belt meant small dings and marks where bits of metal clashed against the suit or were tossed away from a collision somewhere inside the belt. Better than being hit by the occasional explosive left behind only to be discovered by a curious pilot. Hanson let out a sigh in how decimated the area around the Earth had become since the glory days of the Titans. Maybe they'll set in motion some kind of clean up gig after this pissing match with the ground. Do something useful for the Earth for once. He shook his head to the thought. In that shaking, he spotted the two pilots from the cafeteria floating through the catwalks towards the simulator pods. Most preferred to use the simulation program in their own suits, but the added effect of the simulator's servos and pistons helped hone the senses more.

---

---

Space. A vast and near empty frontier. Out by the colonies there was little between the cylinders while encroaching upon the Earth you might begin to see a glint of floating metal or a resting beacon. The debris belt which encircled the Earth held the majority of its content close but a few pieces could be flung out, making the progress towards the one reliable space port the colonies held at the belt very arduous and grueling for those those unaccustomed. All Marie had to occupy her time were the numerous reports to review and the occasional media from the past. Little was made in the way of their movies or music since everyone was busy working on the colonies. Everyone had a job, even the youngest had to learn to prepare for work. Any citizen acting defiant would be subjected to enlistment, or enforced labor which just brought the process full circle with corporal punishment.

Even so, Marie looked over when she heard music from one of the chair sections, an assistant who finished her work and began playing the tunes over a smaller tablet she had. Marie recognized the lyrics from an older song, but the voice was clearly someone new. Marie pulled herself from the chair and floated over to see the artist, the letters A and I being the only indication. Marie shook her head before pulling past her towards the bathroom. No use investing in some child whose obsession with the music lead to recasting her own voice over the original's. "Funny. I always thought Clyne's music was too optimistic compared to the ending."

---

---

NAthan had focused on the information given to him by Tyr, so far moral seemed low and the information Tyr gave wasn't helping. Those false flag operations the Gol would pull were effective against most Imperial units, for him he figured any machine in his path of destruction was not an ally... which had caused issues a few times accidently slicing off a limb of an actual ally, not his greatest moment.

While he did Agree with Skye about an assault against them, Tyr's rebuttal was better. If what Teras said was true then best to stay together so they were better situated to help cover each other which is what the planned deployment seemed to be. He mainly paid attention to the briefing of his sector of the operation, the ship he was assigned to look at just from first glance seemed promising for salvage, but other then that he would need a better look, but he figured the salvage crew would know more then him.

Once he left he made his way to the locker room as he changed into his red ZAFT pilot suit, one of the few things he's had for the longest time other then his personal short-sword and have seen it as a security blanket while in his suit, he couldn't see himself not wearing this while piloting. One thing he felt like doing later down the line if he survived this operation get his machine a new paint job, maybe a bright red or a rich red, but red none the less.

Once he left the building he loaded up onto a truck that would take him to his rocket where his GINN was being loaded into the rocket. He waited for the rest of crew and the other pilots to load up before the elevator went up to rocket, he noticed one of the Pilots with Teras was joining him, Troll was his code name? He heard Teras call him Troglodyte, which he guessed was a nickname she gave him. He is a veteran of space so best listen to his advice. Then there was Roose he meet back in the cafeteria, older then him and an Armen who were great fighters so he hoped he was a good pilot.

---

---

When Sirius arrived Ayame was sulking, she had taken longer then usual for her to finish the simulation. A recreation of a battle long past where she had to enter a large space station and destroy it while fighting through multiple waves of enemies. It has been modified from the base events that it barely represents what battle it was simulating. But it woke her up, after that run she was more alert with Adrenaline was coarsening through her, she was hoping this would keep her going for the rest of the day.

Ayame chuckled when he spoke, he still thought that she was some ace, she was good but not the level of any advanced or veteran pilot like Hanson,
"You'll be fine, I may have been a pilot for for years, but I'm no ace. If what your saying is true then I should be worried about getting my ass kicked, but I'm down none the less" Ayame said as she stretched her arms, "And as challenger you get to choose first."

---

---

Amaya enjoyed the rest of the briefing as nearly everything static-wise went right over her head, and it was visible on her face. However, she didn't mind understand a lick of the briefing as she wasn't there as a soldier ready to take to space and enjoy the thrill of battles for whatever reason. She was enjoying the atmosphere of the room. The small, subtle ticks of various feelings of those in the room, indeed it was a reassuring sight.

She looked at the commotion of the briefing ending, nodding to the one soldier from team delta, relieving her two personnel. "Do not mind me."She said, stepping out of the way to allow them to be on their way. What an exciting day it has been so far. She headed out of the briefing room and towards a side corridor. She sat her purple soccerball-size assistant down, turning it back on, getting a looped earful of its dismay, being turned off. "Sorry, Tama, you needed to remain silent during such things."She spoke apologetically to the ball before she began walking in a random direction to see what else was going on around the base.

Along the way, Amaya had run into Dr. Charles and found herself soon in the command tower following the older doctor to the general. Her wide blue eyes took in everything in excitement, much like a kid remaining calm in a candy store. Her fingers laced behind her back with Tama rolling quickly beside her taking in different words and sounds it heard. Amaya allowed her mind to stop wondering once they stopped to greet General Eltz. She moved her hands in front of her before bowing quickly. "Thank you for allowing me to explore and enjoy the briefing today. It was entertaining, even if I didn't get nearly any of it. I am happy to see some things have not changed after all these years." She spoke happily in response while listening to the little banter from the Doctor to Eltz. She smiled, listening to his response before nodding. "I enjoyed the quick assessments I have made just watching the various soldiers and personal with some of their everyday routines. I hope I can be of hope in future missions." She spoke with confidence while lifting her left hand to move some of her hair behind her left ear

---

Nodding his head in understanding about this being his first zero g mission, and the different approach to how the operation will go Gabriel would open up the folder he held that contained the various pictures of the ships and then speak to the centurion.

“Yeah, I’ve taken the zero g environment into account when coming up with a few ways on how the operation should proceed. That said, I believe it would be better to focus on the main objective which is the freighter, and then on the opened ended ship. Given its unique appearance and build suggest large sized salvage may be possible. It’s main entrance is also open allowing for ease of access and a good view of the interior of the ship before teams head inside. Another reason I’ve chosen this ship as a secondary target for salvaging is because I’m under the impression that I’m not the only pilot that will be experiencing a first ever zero g mission. This ship may offer an easier approach for the pilots.”

“Had we a more experienced group of pilots I would have suggested we split into a number of smaller teams to spread out and search around for valuable salvage but numbers may be to our advantage especially if one of these ships have some sort of leftover trap. Though these are just my suggestions for how this operation should go, if you have any issues or secondary opinions I would like to hear them.”

---

---

Ayame looked at the settings in front of her, she was expecting maybe a duel but this worked for her as well "Looks good to me, Zakus and GMs are a nice" she said as she pressed accept letting the simulation start up in her simulator.

Once it loaded she started by checking her machines status, energy green, ammo full, sensors online, she set thrusters to maximum as to get a head start on the AI, her main plan was to find a good vantage point within the debris field so she can find and eliminate the enemy MS. She looked around and found a fairly intact old warship and could serve as such.

"Found an old warship nearby, looking like a good vantage point for us, I'll hold back for a moment and see if I can spot any enemies from here." her machine was built for medium to short range but she wanted to at least locate the enemy from afar before going in for the kill and would let Sirius go in first, she would back him up when gets into contact with the enemy. But for now she was scanning the debris field looking for the enemy.

---

@BlackMaiden

---

The general's eyes examined the woman and then the ball running alongside her. It looked to be a haro, one of the most popular market items from finds that the empire could release to the populace. While computers and other tech was held onto by the military, they found no immediate use for the sphere aside from letting the soldiers claim them until merchants began to request the robot. Most were only seen in Beloth itself so one out here was rather rare, she most likely brought it along from the past in her pod. "Your assistance will always be appreciated, we need all the experienced pilots we can retain. Any lost or injured will need to be replaced, I don't wish to bring anymore to the base than necessary. I already have a number of unique cases at this time to worry about." George turned his attention as the staff began to call out the checking processes for confirmation. No issues thus far.

"Tell me miss Yashia, how many rocket launches have you witnessed or been a passenger of?" George took a minute's break to walk back over to the doctors to monologue with his hands folded behind him. "I know the past had a more flippant view of reaching the stars, and I'm sure you must understand the struggles we combat every day to maintain our equipment from the past, even with the help of Dr. Edwards here. Since we reclaimed this facility and began launching years ago, we have always been fighting the pull of gravity. Even the colonists wish to keep us down. This just shows you the fight we have ahead of us, and the intensity our pilots will be facing. You will have to help pull them back up afterwards."

---

@veenknight343@Renny

---

Hanson worked on adjusting his suit, bothered by the sight of more bodies floating towards the simulators. It wasn't abnormal for some to view the progress via the various screens outside the pods, but it looked to be more than usual. He thrust the last of his tools into the kit and strung it around a pipe before pushing off to see what the fuss was over. Reaching the open foyer before the pods everyone was looking at the various screens for the scene depicted in the simulator. On the screen was a familiar scene of the remains of a One Year War battlefield, destroyed Musais and Salamis ships floating against the background of space while the remnants of mobile suits littered the field between. The three teams showed up as a Zeon, EFSF and Independent. Hanson watched as the AI effortlessly moved both squads forward towards one another from afar, more perfect in formation than capable by human pilots. The two piloted suits were entered into the simulator as well, stationed near a wrecked Magellan for easy cover. "Bit unusual for a five man squad. Still let's see how you two do..." Hanson eyed one of the open pods inside the room before looking back to the screens.

The GMs split apart into a set of three and two individual units who began to drift away to each side. The Zeon mobile suits stayed together as they changed their course downwards, looking around the field for salvage. The three GMs accelerated forward while one of the lone GMs began to approach the wreckage of the Magellan hiding the pilots. As it encroached the Zakus located an open container and investigated while three of the zakus kept watch.

---

---

The elevator carrying everyone came to a sudden halt at the top, and the wire gate holding them back was lifted out of the way. Helped off of the lift the personnel on this level did final checks on the equipment for all, replacing filters and batteries where necessary. "It's funny how much of this all fits together. Even across time they keep to some standards." Tyr wiped off a bit of oil left on the rim of his helmet while his suit's battery was replaced with a fresh one after a weak response. "You're all clear, good luck." The prep team packed up their gear while guiding everyone into the entrance to the rocket, before closing the hatch and rolling onto the elevator to depart. Inside the large open space were the four mobile weapons, the Flag orbit package, Moebius Zero, Bolinoak and Nobusshi separated by the cross shaped catwalk the crew was walking along. Tyr took a few moments to look at the suits from their vantage point while the regular crew proceeded along to the top of the rocket for launch. "Alright each of you to your suits. No movement until after we break atmo and reach orbit." After clarifying with the other pilots Tyr followed the outstretched ramp towards his cockpit and climbed in, sliding into the suit unlike the others.

The same procedures happened in the other four rockets, checking of the EVA suits and loading. The two watching over Sagi made sure to load him into his dagger, reiterating the importance of non movement. "Any kind of wrong movement and you kill us all, no great epiphanies." After closing the door they proceeded to strap into their own cockpits. Once all the pilots were secured inside their mobile weapons the crews above began to communicate with the tower for final checks and confirmation. Then it was only a short wait until the optimal launch window. When it came to, a new siren began to blare along with a warning. "All personnel clear the launch platform. T-minus one minute til launch." After nearly a dozen previous messages this last call was it, and the count down began, each crew member preparing themselves for the rumble.



The great speech of Edward Beloth from the formation of the Empire was recalled as a tradition by the veterans of space flight, the open comm channel resounding as each repeated the lines. The final line was created at the launch of the first rocket by then Legate George Eltz. Sound on the base vanished as beneath the rockets burst an explosion, increasing in force as more mixture was propelled out. The deafening roar took over the natural sound of the ocean waves and birds as the metal structures rose up from the ground in concert.

The shaking inside the rockets was immense, and those accustomed to it held themselves together while those still familiarizing themselves with it held on tight like it was the first time they sat in a rocket. The ascent was slow, each rocket trudging along while the shaking began to stabilize relatively. As the rockets reached up through the mesosphere and into the thermosphere people could finally unclench their teeth. "We're through the most of it, once we reach orbit prepare to separate from the rocket." At this point the radio interference was minimum, and the distance between the rockets was clear enough for Tyr's transmission to get through to everyone.

Inside the command tower everyone was reciting checks as the numbers came flying in, ensuring everything was on track and any adjustments corrected immediately. George Eltz was entranced as always, tracking the first tube as it ascended from the ground. The older doctor glanced between the general and the rockets while letting out a sigh and speaking to the other. "So it begins again. Dear Amaya, tell me what the worst medical situation you have attended to in your career? I know you were before the collapse, although it is still the same cruel world when it comes to space we will always be fixing up the survivors. The first casualties were on our first manned trip. I remember helping the poor girl who lived through that. We may be drawn back to space and yet we will bring up war with us." As he said this, the doctor's eyes bore into the general as the memories of that night came back to him.