Earth Sphere | Near Artemis Fortress
The debris zone burned.
Wreckage from past wars—broken hulls, shattered Mobile Suit limbs, half-melted armor plates—drifted endlessly, illuminated by the violent flashes of battle. Earth Alliance and ZAFT forces collided amid the floating graveyard, beam fire slicing through darkness as alarms echoed across every channel.
"ZAFT unit breaking left—don't let them regroup!"
"Ballistic impact ineffective—Phase Shift confirmed!"
Explosions blossomed like artificial stars, scattering debris into new, deadlier orbits. This wasn't a battle for territory. It was a collision of momentum—two forces grinding against each other simply because neither could afford to retreat.
And neither noticed the predators slipping through the shadows.
---
Elsewhere — Edge of the Battlefield
Unregistered Vector
Space bent.
A deep crimson Mobile Suit emerged silently from the void, its armor absorbing light rather than reflecting it. The machine's silhouette was lean, aggressive, its presence radiating quiet menace.
LN-GAT-X207 — Nebula Blitz Gundam.
Inside the cockpit, Lily Thevalley watched the chaos with detached calm.
"So noisy," she said softly. "Wars are always like this."
Her sensors shifted away from the main battle, locking onto something far more vulnerable.
A convoy.
---
Near Artemis Fortress
Earth Alliance / OMNI Enforcer Convoy
The Drake-class escorts moved in tight formation, their engines burning steadily as they transported high-priority cargo toward Artemis. On paper, it was a routine run.
In reality, every pilot felt it.
"Something's wrong," an escort commander muttered. "Sensors keep spiking."
Then—
A beam of emerald light tore through space.
The lead escort ship vanished in a flash of plasma, its hull splitting apart before alarms could even sound.
"What the—?!"
From above, another Gundam descended like a judgment from orbit.
LH-GAT-X103 — Hail Buster Gundam.
Its massive long-range cannons roared, firing again and again with merciless precision. Shields collapsed. Armor vaporized. The convoy scattered, formations breaking instantly.
"This is an ambush!"
"Enemy Gundam—no, two of them!"
"Return fire—damn it, they're out of range!"
From the opposite vector, the Nebula Blitz appeared—deep red armor gleaming like dried blood.
It didn't fire immediately.
It observed.
Then Lily moved.
In a blur of acceleration, the Nebula Blitz slipped between escort ships, its movements impossibly smooth. Close-range beam blades flashed, carving through engines and weapon mounts with surgical restraint.
"Disable, don't destroy," Lily whispered. "Orders are orders."
Behind her, Finis Socius in the Hail Buster Gundam maintained relentless covering fire, pinning the convoy down, her targeting data flowing flawlessly.
"Targets panicking," Finis said calmly. "Their response times are suboptimal."
A missile detonated harmlessly against the Hail Buster's Phase Shift armor.
Finis didn't even flinch.
"Carbon efficiency remains within expected parameters."
The Drake-class flagship shuddered as systems failed one by one.
"Convoy command to all units—send an SOS! Priority emergency transmission!"
The signal burst outward, racing through the Earth Sphere.
---
Earth Orbit
Agamemnon-class Refit — BEOWULF
The bridge lights flickered amber.
"Emergency transmission detected," an operator called out. "OMNI Enforcer convoy under attack near Artemis Fortress!"
Captain Helena Brandt straightened. "Visual?"
The tactical display bloomed to life—two unknown Gundam signatures tearing through escort ships with frightening efficiency.
Hale's expression hardened.
"Those silhouettes…" he muttered. "Librarian Works."
Kyousuke Asagi stared at the screen.
The deep red Gundam moved like a living thing—fluid, deliberate, terrifyingly calm. The other stood back, dominating the battlespace with overwhelming firepower.
"They're not fighting like normal pilots," Kyousuke said quietly. "They're… executing."
Brandt's voice cut through the bridge. "All hands, battle stations. Alter course immediately."
She turned to Hale and Kyousuke.
"Captain Hale. Lieutenant Asagi. Scramble your unit."
Kyousuke felt his pulse spike.
"Yes, ma'am!"
As alarms rang throughout the Beowulf and Mobile Suits began launching from the hangar, the convoy's SOS continued to echo—weak, desperate, and running out of time.
Far away, near Artemis, Lily Thevalley tilted her head slightly as new contacts appeared on her sensors.
"…Reinforcements," she murmured.
Finis Socius smiled faintly from within the Hail Buster.
"Good," she said. "Let's see what the next data set looks like."
The stage was set once more.
And Kyousuke Asagi was about to fly straight into the jaws of Librarian Works.
Space near Artemis Fortress
Space trembled as five points of light tore out of subspace almost simultaneously.
"BEOWULF mobile suit team—deploy complete."
The debris field near Artemis Fortress unfolded before them like a shattered crown. Burning wreckage drifted lazily, escort ships venting atmosphere as emergency beacons screamed into the void. At the center of it all, two hostile Gundam signatures dominated the battlespace with chilling control.
Kyousuke's panoramic monitor snapped into focus.
There they were.
The deep red Nebula Blitz Gundam, gliding silently between crippled ships like a phantom.
And farther back—anchoring the entire ambush—the Hail Buster Gundam, its massive cannons already charging again.
Kyousuke felt his breath catch.
So these are Carbon Humans…
---
Formation — BEOWULF Team
"Listen up," Commander Isaac Rowan said, his voice steady as steel from the cockpit of his GAT-333 Raider Full Spec. "That convoy won't last another three minutes if this keeps up."
Rowan's Raider bristled with reinforced armor and expanded weapon racks, its presence alone pushing back the chaos.
"Lieutenant Feld," Rowan continued, "you have eyes."
"Already locked," Maya Feld replied calmly. Her Verde Buster Gundam [Eagle Eye] shifted position, long-range sensors blooming open like a predator's gaze. "Hail Buster is providing overwatch and suppressive fire. She's the lynchpin."
"Ensign Vargas," Rowan said.
"I-I've got the rear!" Leo Vargas answered, forcing confidence as his CAT1-XG Hyperion G deployed its energy barriers, covering the damaged Drake-class ships. "Barrier holding—for now!"
Rowan nodded. "Good enough."
Then—
"Hale. Asagi."
Marcus Hale's GAT-01D1 Duel Dagger w/ Fortestra slid forward, its heavier armor and reinforced blades catching the light.
"Kyousuke," Hale said quietly, "stay on my wing. No heroics."
Kyousuke swallowed, steadying his GAT-01 Strike Dagger.
"Yes, sir."
---
Contact
The Nebula Blitz Gundam turned first.
Lily Thevalley's voice came through an open, disturbingly calm channel.
> "New variables detected. Five units."
Her crimson Gundam shifted posture—not defensive, not aggressive.
Curious.
Finis Socius didn't even look away from her targeting reticle.
> "Hail Buster engaging reinforcements."
The cannons roared.
A storm of high-energy fire screamed toward the BEOWULF team.
"Break!" Rowan ordered.
The battlefield exploded into motion.
Maya's Verde Buster fired back instantly, twin beams slashing across space to intercept the barrage.
"Counter-sniping!" Maya said coolly. "She's good—really good."
Hale boosted hard, Fortestra blades igniting as he deflected debris and stray fire from Kyousuke's path.
"Stay tight!" Hale barked.
Kyousuke matched his movement, heart hammering as a beam grazed his shield, sending warning alerts screaming across his display.
If that hit cleanly…
---
Close Quarters — Nebula Blitz
The Nebula Blitz vanished.
"No—cloaking!" Kyousuke shouted.
Too late.
The red Gundam reappeared inside the convoy perimeter, beam blades flashing as it severed the engines of a Drake escort with frightening restraint.
"Why aren't they destroying everything?" Leo cried.
"They don't need to," Rowan answered grimly. "They're dissecting."
Kyousuke felt it then—the same pressure he'd felt in the Caribbean.
The sense of being watched.
The Nebula Blitz turned toward him.
For a heartbeat, their sensors locked.
Lily's voice came again, soft and almost kind.
> "You survived before."
Kyousuke's breath hitched.
She boosted.
"Hale!" Kyousuke cried.
"I see her!" Hale surged forward, interposing his Duel Dagger as Lily's blade struck, sparks scattering as PS armor hissed under stress.
Kyousuke fired, forcing the Nebula Blitz to disengage—but not retreat.
She drifted back, perfectly composed.
---
Long-Range Duel
Meanwhile, the battle between snipers escalated.
Maya narrowed her eyes. "She's predicting my firing intervals…"
Finis Socius adjusted calmly.
> "Opponent accuracy increasing. Compensating."
Two beams crossed space.
Both missed—by millimeters.
Maya exhaled slowly. "She's not human," she muttered. "No hesitation. No waste."
Rowan's Raider Full Spec powered forward, heavy weapons spinning up.
"All units," Rowan ordered, "we don't win by matching them. We win by interrupting."
---
Turning Point
As Rowan charged, the Hail Buster shifted fire to him—
—and in that instant, Kyousuke saw it.
A tiny delay. A fractional pause as the Hail Buster recalculated.
Data-driven… not instinctive.
"Hale!" Kyousuke shouted. "They prioritize efficiency over unpredictability!"
Hale's eyes widened. "You're saying—"
"—they don't expect mistakes," Kyousuke finished.
Hale grinned fiercely. "Then let's make some."
He cut his thrusters abruptly, spinning his Duel Dagger into an ugly, inefficient roll that no simulator would approve.
The Hail Buster's shot missed.
For the first time—
Finis Socius blinked.
The Nebula Blitz tilted its head, observing Kyousuke again.
> "Anomaly confirmed."
The convoy's surviving ships surged behind Hyperion G's barriers, buying precious seconds.
Seconds that mattered.
Captain Brandt's voice cut across all channels.
> "BEOWULF team, hold the line. Reinforcements inbound."
Kyousuke tightened his grip on the controls, eyes locked on the red Gundam ahead.
This wasn't just a rescue anymore.
It was a test.
And caught between OMNI steel and Librarian perfection, Kyousuke Asagi was beginning to realize something terrifying—
Carbon Humans might be built from the best data war could offer.
But war itself was still ruled by the unpredictable will of those who refused to be archived.
Kyousuke's world narrowed to crimson.
The Nebula Blitz Gundam danced around his Strike Dagger, every movement precise, measured, perfect. Her deep red armor flickered in and out of sensor lock, thrusters flaring just enough to stay always—always—one step ahead.
Kyousuke fired.
Miss.
He boosted left, cut right, dumped velocity—
She was already there.
"Too slow," Lily Thevalley's voice slipped into his cockpit, soft and amused, as if she were standing beside him rather than trying to kill him.
> "You hesitate before every correction."
Kyousuke grit his teeth. "Shut up!"
He rolled hard, narrowly avoiding a beam blade that shaved past his shoulder armor. Warning lights screamed as fragments spun away into space.
> "Emotion increases latency," Lily continued calmly.
"Your machine is inferior. Your reactions are acceptable—but inefficient."
She vanished.
Kyousuke's heart pounded.
Behind me—!
The Nebula Blitz reappeared at his six o'clock, beam rifle already aligned. Kyousuke threw up his shield, the impact detonating against it in a wash of light. His Strike Dagger was hurled backward, thrusters screaming as he fought to regain control.
> "You rely on instinct," Lily said.
"Instinct is noise."
Kyousuke's hands shook—but he didn't let go.
"My father flew on instinct," he snarled under his breath. "And he lived longer than your data ever will."
The Nebula Blitz paused—just slightly.
Enough for Kyousuke to boost straight at her, beam saber flaring.
It was a mistake.
Lily sidestepped with elegant ease, hooking Kyousuke's saber aside and kicking his Strike Dagger away with controlled force. Armor alarms howled as his suit tumbled helplessly.
> "Predictable," she said almost kindly.
"You are already archived."
A targeting reticle snapped into place.
Kyousuke braced for the end.
Then—
A thunderous crack tore through space.
A 115mm Linear Cannon round screamed past Kyousuke's cockpit and detonated against the Nebula Blitz's flank, staggering the red Gundam and forcing it off course.
"HANDS OFF MY PILOT!"
Captain Marcus Hale's voice roared across the channel as his Duel Dagger w/ Fortestra surged into view.
The Fortestra pack deployed fully.
"Missiles away!"
The 8-tube missile pod unleashed its payload, a swarm of warheads streaking toward the Nebula Blitz in a spiraling pattern.
Lily clicked her tongue softly.
> "External interference."
She boosted hard, weaving through the missile cloud. Explosions blossomed around her, shockwaves rattling Kyousuke's Strike Dagger even at a distance. One missile clipped her shoulder, tearing away armor plating and sending fragments spinning.
For the first time—
The Nebula Blitz bled.
Kyousuke stabilized his suit, breath ragged.
"Hale… thanks."
"Don't thank me yet," Hale snapped. "You're not done."
The Nebula Blitz turned back toward them, red armor scorched but movements still unnervingly smooth.
> "Captain Marcus Hale," Lily said, voice cool.
"Your interference has been noted."
Her sensors locked onto Kyousuke again.
> "And you," she added, a hint of mockery creeping in,
"are still alive only because someone else compensates for your errors."
Kyousuke felt anger flare—hot, focused.
"Maybe," he said, raising his rifle again. "But I don't fight alone."
Hale's Duel Dagger slid into position beside him, weapons hot, armor scarred.
"Two-on-one now," Hale growled. "Let's see how your data handles that."
The Nebula Blitz didn't retreat.
Instead, Lily smiled.
> "Excellent," she said.
"More data."
Thrusters flared.
Red and gray charged once more—instinct and experience pitted against cold perfection—as the battle near Artemis Fortress reached a dangerous crescendo.
Space ignited.
Kyousuke and Hale surged forward together, their machines moving in imperfect—but human—synchrony. Hale fired first, the 115mm Linear Cannon thundering again as the Duel Dagger w/ Fortestra anchored the engagement. Kyousuke followed a heartbeat later, beam rifle flashing in staggered timing rather than clean formation.
The Nebula Blitz Gundam slipped between the shots with inhuman grace.
> "Coordinated patterns detected," Lily said coolly.
"Suboptimal—yet adaptive."
She boosted straight at them.
Kyousuke's warning alarms screamed as red filled his display. He cut thrust too late, letting the Nebula Blitz graze past his shield—then did something no simulator would recommend.
He overcorrected.
The Strike Dagger skidded wildly, vectoring debris into Lily's approach path. Microfragments pinged off her armor, forcing her to adjust—just slightly.
That was all Hale needed.
"NOW!"
Hale's missiles detonated in a tight cluster, the shockwave slamming into the Nebula Blitz and forcing her to break off. Kyousuke rolled through the explosion's wake, armor shrieking but intact.
For the first time, Lily's voice carried irritation.
> "…Unexpected variance."
Kyousuke panted. "Yeah. That's me."
He boosted again—not toward her, but past her, cutting power mid-burn to vanish briefly from her predicted intercept window.
The Nebula Blitz hesitated.
> "Target lost—recalculating."
Hale laughed, sharp and fierce. "She doesn't like it when you stop making sense."
Kyousuke reappeared on Lily's flank and fired. The beam tore across her shoulder, chewing into already-damaged armor. Red plating sheared away, venting sparks.
> "Damage threshold exceeded," Lily intoned.
"Adjusting aggression parameters."
The Nebula Blitz flared, pushing its systems harder. Its movements grew faster—too fast—energy bleeding away in glowing trails.
Kyousuke felt it again.
She's burning power.
"No Phase Shift," he realized aloud. "She's trading efficiency for speed!"
Hale snarled. "Then make her keep paying!"
They pressed in, not to land perfect hits—but to force movement. Every dodge drained power. Every feint demanded recalculation.
Lily's voice returned, cooler than before, but tighter.
> "You persist despite statistical inevitability."
Kyousuke answered through clenched teeth. "Because I'm not a statistic!"
He charged—then deliberately missed, letting his beam slice harmlessly past. Lily countered automatically—
—and Hale's 115mm round smashed into her leg thruster.
The Nebula Blitz spun, uncontrolled for a fraction of a second.
A fraction was enough.
Kyousuke surged in, beam saber raised—
Then a new voice cut across the battlefield.
> "Enough, Lily."
The Nebula Blitz froze.
A private channel opened. Finis Socius' calm tone carried across the comms.
> "Data saturation achieved. Disengage."
Lily steadied her machine, red armor scorched, systems humming dangerously close to overload.
She looked at Kyousuke one last time.
> "You are inefficient," she said quietly.
"But… resilient."
The Nebula Blitz vanished in a crimson flash, retreating toward the debris field where the Hail Buster Gundam was already withdrawing under covering fire.
Silence fell—broken only by the crackle of damaged comms and the distant roar of battle fading away.
Kyousuke's hands trembled as he powered down his saber.
"Hale…" he breathed. "I thought I was done."
Hale's voice softened. "You weren't. You adapted."
Across the battlefield, the Drake-class convoy limped toward Artemis Fortress under Hyperion G's barriers as Beowulf's team reformed.
On a distant vector, Lily Thevalley replayed the fight in silence.
For the first time since her creation, her data held something new.
An error she couldn't erase.
And far from the battlefield, Librarian Works would soon realize—
Kyousuke Asagi was no longer just surviving their tests.
He was beginning to break them.
Agamemnon-class Refit "BEOWULF" | Mobile Suit Hangar
The hangar doors sealed shut with a deep, reverberating clang.
Emergency lights dimmed to standby as the last Mobile Suit was secured to its rack. Steam hissed from overheated joints, and the smell of scorched metal lingered thick in the air—an unmistakable reminder that this hadn't been a training sortie.
Kyousuke Asagi climbed down from the cockpit of his Strike Dagger, his legs unsteady the moment his boots touched the deck.
A Gundam.
Not a mass-produced unit.
Not a ZAKU.
A Gundam, moving with intent, precision… and a voice.
His hands trembled as he pulled off his helmet.
"Hey."
Kyousuke barely noticed Captain Marcus Hale step up beside him.
"You're still breathing," Hale said lightly. "That's a good sign."
Kyousuke swallowed. "She talked to me, sir. Like… like she knew me. Like I was just another line of code."
Hale's expression softened. "That's what they want you to think."
He rested a firm hand on Kyousuke's shoulder.
"You went toe-to-toe with a Librarian Gundam in a Strike Dagger," Hale continued. "No Phase Shift. No miracles. Just skill and guts."
Kyousuke looked up at the scarred armor of his machine.
"I almost froze," he admitted. "If you hadn't—"
"But I did," Hale interrupted. "Because you held long enough for me to."
He gave Kyousuke a faint grin. "That's how this works."
---
Footsteps approached.
"Well, look at that," Commander Isaac Rowan said, folding his arms as he surveyed the Strike Dagger's damage. "You're still in one piece."
"Barely," Kyousuke muttered.
Lieutenant Maya Feld leaned against her Verde Buster, arms crossed, eyes sharp but amused.
"First time facing a Gundam?" she asked.
Kyousuke nodded.
She smirked. "Yeah. They do that to you."
From behind them, Ensign Leo Vargas jogged up, helmet still under his arm.
"H-Hey! You were amazing out there!" he blurted out. "I mean—uh—you didn't die, and that's huge!"
Rowan snorted. "High praise from Vargas."
Leo flushed. "I meant it in a good way!"
A ripple of quiet laughter spread through the group.
Kyousuke felt something loosen in his chest.
Rowan's tone grew more serious. "Convoy made it to Artemis. Damaged, but intact."
"That's what matters," Maya added. "Librarian didn't get what they wanted."
Kyousuke let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"We… won."
Hale shook his head slightly. "We survived."
He looked Kyousuke in the eye. "And sometimes, that's enough."
Kyousuke glanced back at his Strike Dagger—scarred, outmatched, but still standing.
For the first time since boarding the Beowulf, the fear receded just a little.
He hadn't beaten a Gundam.
But he hadn't been broken by one either.
Surrounded by the quiet confidence of the Beowulf team, Kyousuke Asagi realized something important:
He wasn't alone anymore.
And whatever monsters the war sent next—Gundams, Carbon Humans, or ghosts from the past—
He would face them as part of the pack.