The jungle never slept. Even in the depths of night, the air clung heavy and wet, thick with the scent of soil and the drone of insects. For two weeks the GED squad had endured this endless mire, stationed on the fringe of Zeon's most secret research project. Somewhere behind the fortified walls of the base loomed the Apsalus—a weapon so vast and unorthodox that its silhouette alone could have unsettled lesser soldiers.
But no one outside high command knew its true potential. Not even Tanya von Zehrtfeld, who led the defense team. She only knew one thing: if the Federation sniffed out the project, blood would be spilled.
Inside her cockpit, Tanya's voice carried sharp over the intercom.
"Eyes sharp. Patrol rotation Delta. Keep comms clean."
A grunt of acknowledgement came from Richter, her second. "Two weeks in this swamp and not a single firework, Tanya. You think the Feddies even know we're here?"
"They know," Tanya answered coldly, scanning the humid tree line through her mono-eye display. "And they'll come when we're least ready."
Another pilot muttered, "Feels like we're guarding ghosts. All this effort for what? A hangar no one sees into…"
"Enough," Tanya cut him off. "You're not paid to question orders. We hold this ground. That's all that matters."
The squad fell quiet.
The hours dragged on, sweat beading down necks and brows inside stifling cockpits. The jungle outside whispered.
Then—alarms wailed.
The night shattered under the roar of explosions along the outer perimeter. Searchlights stabbed through the canopy, catching glimmers of armor in the darkness.
"They're here!" Richter's voice barked.
Federation mobile suits burst from the treeline—GM Variants, painted in mottled jungle camouflage, moving with a hunter's grace. Muzzle flashes lit the night as they raked Zeon defensive emplacements with gunfire.
"GED squad, on me!" Tanya snapped. Her Zaku surged forward, mono-eye flaring crimson. "Hold the line. The hangar must not fall!"
Engines howled as the GED squad launched into action. The base's anti-air turrets lit up, casting arcs of tracer fire into the night. Trees toppled under missile impacts, the jungle turning into a furnace of gunfire and smoke.
Tanya's blade flashed, severing the arm of a GM that strayed too close. "Richter, left flank! Duval, cover fire!"
"Aye, Commander!" came the crackling replies, interwoven with the screams of strained reactors and rattling cockpits.
But the Federation pressed hard, their pilots disciplined and fast. One GED Zaku went down in flames, its torso pierced clean through by a beam spray gun. Another was forced back, limping under heavy fire.
"Damn it, they're too coordinated!" Richter snarled, blasting a GM's leg out from under it before taking a beam across his own shoulder.
Tanya ground her teeth. Whoever led this raid knew what they were doing—this wasn't a blind strike. It was precision.
Through the chaos, a single GM moved differently. Faster, sharper, weaving through fire like it saw every move before it happened. In less than three minutes, it had downed six Zeon suits—two of them GED.
"There!" Tanya spotted it, her mono-eye locking onto the ace cutting his way toward the hangar. "With me. We can't let him through!"
The duel erupted like thunder. Tanya's Zaku swung its heat axe in a wide arc, only to meet a parry of beam saber that sent sparks into the night. The ace pressed forward, relentless, driving her back with a flurry of blows.
"You fight well," the Federation pilot's voice broke over open comms, strained but steady. "But I have no choice. This is the only way I can return."
Tanya gritted her teeth, forcing her Zaku's motors to scream as she shoved back. "Return? To what?"
The pilot didn't answer. His GM darted sideways, stabbing in again, almost desperate. Tanya countered, sparks dancing off their clashing weapons.
In the distance, she could hear her squad's frantic comms, the base command shouting evacuation orders, the engineers sealing the hangar doors. But here, locked blade to blade, all that existed was survival.
The Federation pilot's thoughts churned in silence, words unsaid over the comm. Only this. Only by completing this mission can I go back… back to my world.
Steel shrieked, engines burned, and the midnight jungle bore witness as destiny clashed under the shadow of the Apsalus.
The forest around the base had gone silent again, save for the occasional hiss of cooling engines and the groan of twisted metal. Tanya's squad regrouped for a brief moment, catching their breaths and scanning the treeline for any stragglers. Smoke and sparks hung heavy in the humid night, the smell of scorched earth and ozone sharp in her nose.
"Status check," Tanya snapped into the intercom, her voice cutting through the haze. "Every GED unit report. Are we intact?"
Richter's crackle came first, tension lacing his tone. "Two down, one damaged, the rest holding, Commander."
Tanya's eyes narrowed behind her visor, scanning the shadows. Something about the way the last GM moved, the precision of its strikes, set her instincts on edge. She had seen skilled pilots before, but this… this was different. Her muscles coiled as her Zaku thrummed beneath her; she knew the moment of reckoning was approaching.
"Good," she murmured, more to herself than the squad. "But the real fight… it's coming."
Engines screamed as she surged forward again, the dense foliage turning into a blur outside her cockpit. The remaining GED units fanned out, encircling the Federation force and creating kill zones between trees and jagged rocks. Tanya's tactical mind raced, calculating angles, escape routes, and choke points. Every second mattered.
A GM surged forward, blades flashing. Tanya's Zaku intercepted with brutal efficiency, striking in a calculated arc that sent it spinning across the jungle floor. Sparks lit the trees like fireflies, the smell of scorched metal sharp in the humid air.
"Keep them contained!" she barked over the intercom. "No one breaches the hangar!"
Mila's voice chimed in from the left flank. "Commander, they're regrouping! Two more GM Variants advancing!"
Tanya's mono-eye narrowed. "Then we give them a proper lesson." She surged ahead, cutting down another suit with precision, her movements eerily calm amid chaos. In her mind, she felt the weight of three lifetimes—the instinct to survive, to fight, to dominate. Each blow was measured, unhesitating. She thought, This is what it always comes down to… and I am still here.
The GM ace broke formation and charged. Tanya pivoted her Zaku, anticipating the thrust and parry with deadly precision. Every swing of her heat blade was choreographed with battlefield instinct. The night air sizzled with sparks and smoke.
"You have no idea who you're dealing with," she muttered under her breath. "This isn't luck. This is experience."
The pilot's GM darted in, sabers flashing, energy slicing through the canopy. Tanya deflected, countered, and maneuvered with an almost preternatural grace. The words he had spoken earlier—"I have no other choice"—echoed in her mind. It was a sound she knew, the echo of desperation that she had felt herself in another life.
Around them, the jungle became a crucible, trees splintered, and earth scorched. GED pilots scrambled to support, firing, weaving, and taking hits. Tanya's voice cut through the chaos like a blade: "Focus! Precision! Every move counts!"
The duel reached its apex, sparks flying, hulls smoldering. Tanya's Zaku slammed the ace's GM into the jungle floor, but he vanished behind a plume of smoke, escaping with agility born of desperation.
The squad was battered, but the base still stood. Tanya's chest heaved, but her mind was sharp, calculating the next move. If he's like me, then he knows something. Next time, I will capture him alive.
She looked out into the dark, sweat and rain mingling on her visor, and whispered to herself, "Hell follows me no matter what world I land in."
From the shadows, a Federation reconnaissance team had observed the entire engagement. Their commander's voice broke the silence, tension palpable. "Why do you know about the Apsalus Project?"
The man in the GM Variant simply smiled faintly. "Because I know." And in his mind, he thought only one thing: This is the only way I can come back to my world.
The jungle swallowed him as silently as it had swallowed the violence, leaving Zeon to rebuild, regroup, and prepare. The night remained unbroken, but the echoes of combat, desperation, and fate lingered like smoke over the Apsalus Project.