"What is this?!" one of the Sleeves' pilots gasped, staring wide-eyed at the tactical data scrolling across his cockpit screens. "Look at this data!"
"While they look like the Federation, they are not," Marisa replied, her voice steady over the comms. "Their mobile suits aren't in *any* databases. And plus, do you really think the Federation would still have a fleet this big since the Second Neo Zeon War?"
A heavy silence hung over the channel before a deep, mask-filtered voice cut through the static.
"Mhm... True," Full Frontal mused, his golden hair catching the dim glow of his monitors. "But what would we do about it?"
"We must ally with the Federation or face destruction!" Marisa urged, leaning forward in her seat. "You have seen them—they want to take over our world. We alone won't stop them, but with the Federation's help, we can! And plus, we can use it to our advantage to be able to finally regain our independence!"
"Mhm... Maybe," Full Frontal replied smoothly, his tone unreadable. "But I still have to do something."
Marisa scoffed softly. "If you think getting Laplace's Box will help? It won't."
When Frontal didn't immediately answer, she pressed on. "The people who have appeared in our world would they care about it? They won't! We, the Federation, and Zeon will be slaves for the people from this other world. We need to fight them back, or at least be destroyed!"
Frontal quieted for a moment, weighing the gravity of her words. "Fine. We will help you. But we need more people."
"Don't worry, reinforcements are coming. We just need—"
"Sir! We have spotted the Federation ship!" a pilot suddenly interrupted, his voice laced with panic.
Full Frontal's gaze shifted through his feed, looking directly toward Marisa's unit.
"Heh, my team will assist you," Marisa chuckled, her trademark confidence returning. "Not like you won't need it, but as a show of friendship, *da ze*~"
With that, the Enclave and the Sleeves' ships altered their thrusters, heading directly toward the Nahel Argama the Federation ship currently carrying the Unicorn Gundam and the last living member of the Zeon royal family.
"Mark, you stay with the ship. I will be joining Full Frontal," Marisa commanded, flipping a series of hot-starts on her console.
"Understood, Commander."
The thrusters of her custom EMS-02 Skinwalker roared to life, launching her out into the cold void of space. Ahead, the Nahel Argama was already scrambling its own mobile suit complement, frantically attempting to establish a defensive perimeter. But before either faction could make contact, a titanic beam of condensed particle energy slashed through the darkness right in front of them.
The sheer thermal backwash forced Marisa to slam on her thrusters, halting her advance. She whipped her sensors toward the origin of the shot.
Emerging from the debris was the *Archangel*, its catapults already firing. Rocketing into the battlefield came the Freedom Gundam, flanked by a swarm of unfamiliar mobile suits.
"Not good, *ze*," Marisa muttered under her breath. She quickly keyed in the frequency of the Nahel Argama. "This is Marisa, one of the Zeon remnants in space! We need to work together, lest we will all die!"
"Why would we join you if the Federation is going to help us?!" a crew member on the Nahel Argama's bridge demanded defensively.
"Federation?" Marisa countered. "Take a closer look—they aren't the Federation! And if you need more proof, I am sending you data, ze."
She quickly transferred the encrypted files detailing the Cosmic Century invaders. "I'm only sending the part that proves they want us dead. We need to work together, or else—"
As the red warning blared in her cockpit. The Freedom Gundam had already locked onto her, unleashing a deadly volley of beam fire. Marisa yanked her control stick, sending the Skinwalker spinning into a desperate dodge as the beams scorched the space behind her.
The mobile suits from the SEED universe had fully arrived.
"Mark, get in here!" Marisa yelled into the comms, while Full Frontal signaled his personal guard to engage.
"You're not getting away this time!" Kira Yamato shouted over the open channel, the Freedom Gundam's multi-lock system tracking the Skinwalker as he unleashed another barrage.
Marisa dove behind a cluster of floating asteroids, using the massive rocks as makeshift shields.
"Sieg Zeon!!!" a Geara Zulu pilot screamed over the local net, his beam machine gun spitting fire as he charged a squad of advancing Strike Daggers.
"These mobile suits are a joke, but those Gundams aren't!" Mark growled, his bazooka firing a heavy round that caught a Strike Dagger dead-center, blowing it into a spectacular fireball.
Nearby, Full Frontal was a blur of crimson, effortlessly dismantling any machine that entered his airspace. However, his momentum was suddenly checked when the Justice Gundam intercepted him, its dual beam sabers clashing against the Sinanju's shield.
"Keep up! *Da ze*!" Marisa shouted, weaving her Skinwalker through the dense asteroid field while firing snap-shots to keep the Freedom at bay.
The Freedom's high-mobility thrusters flared, closing the distance at terrifying speed and unleashing a hail of beam and railgun fire. Marisa yanked her machine through a series of high-G maneuvers, narrow misses rattling her cockpit.
"Let's see how you handle this, *da ze*!"
Marisa slammed a heavy toggle switch on the dashboard. The monitors flared a brilliant, glowing gold. The Mini-Hakkero neatly integrated right into the core control column began to hum with catastrophic power, drawing massive amounts of energy from both the dual-reactor setup of the Skinwalker and her own mana.
Outside, the heavy, Dom-like chest ports of the EMS-02 began to spark with blinding, multi-colored light.
"Love Sign... MASTER SPARK!!" she roared.
Instead of a standard particle beam, a gargantuan, roaring torrent of rainbow-colored magical energy erupted from the Skinwalker's chest. The sheer kinetic recoil pushed the massive mobile suit backward, its thrusters screaming to hold its position. The colossal beam tore through the asteroid field, instantly vaporizing several multi-ton space rocks and blasting straight toward the Freedom Gundam.
Kira's eyes widened in sheer horror inside his cockpit. The systems on his screens went entirely haywire, overwhelmed by an unquantifiable energy reading.
"What is that?! A colony laser?!" Kira gasped, violently jerking his controls to the side.
The Freedom Gundam's thrusters flared to their absolute limits. Even with its insane agility, the edge of the magical torrent clipped the Gundam's left wing, completely melting away two of its signature freedom wings and sending the blue-and-white machine into a violent, uncontrolled spin through the debris.
Before he could drift into the line of fire again, the Justice Gundam swept in, catching the damaged Freedom and pulling it behind cover.
"Full Frontal, we have to retreat! They are too many, *ze*~" Marisa called out.
Looking around, she saw the local Federation mobile suits engaged in the chaos as well a blue, mass-production ReZEL was locked in a bitter dogfight with a Strike Dagger before the enemy machine was obliterated by a well-placed beam shot.
Recognizing that the seed suits are not the federation, the Nahel Argama fired its engines, covering the retreat of both the Sleeves and Marisa's forces.
Once they reached a safe pocket of space, Marisa opened a secure, multi-party channel. "So, do you believe us now? *Da ze*."
On the bridge of the Nahel Argama, Captain Otto Midas rubbed his temples. "You may be right..."
"We have to work together, or we won't survive, *ze*," Marisa said.
Full Frontal's voice broke the silence. "So, a truce then."
"Yes. And we need the Federation's help with this one. We alone won't be enough, *ze*," Marisa added.
"Even with the Federation's help, how would Zeon even help?" a girl's voice interrupted, sharp and skeptical. "You don't have the strength to fight."
Marisa smirked inside her cockpit, switching her transmitter to a formal, respectful frequency. "Heh... Your Majesty, my soldiers will follow you until the end!"
On the receiving end, Audrey Burne Princess Mineva Lao Zabi gasped. "What?!"
"I won't let your voice go unheard, Your Majesty. From the One Year War until today, we await your orders, Your Majesty, *da ze*," Marisa declared proudly.
Mark's voice cut in, completely bewildered. "What are you talking about, Commander?"
"She is the last of the Zabi!" Marisa revealed.
"Wait, you mean..." Mark's voice trailed off in sheer disbelief.
"Yes! The one person who can make the dreams of our comrades come true, so their sacrifices won't be in vain." Marisa saluted in her cockpit. "Your Majesty, what are our orders, *ze*?"
Audrey stared at the comm console, her heart pounding. "Are you... truly loyal to me?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. We shall fight your enemies, and even give our lives for you."
"Tell me everything about these enemies you speak of," Audrey commanded,
"Yes, Your Highness," Marisa said, immediately transmitting the compiled surveillance data to the Nahel Argama.
Audrey scanned the incoming files, her expression growing pale. "This... is this accurate?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. Me and my team found a spike in energy somewhere along Industrial 7. We didn't investigate the location yet, as we followed their fleet heading towards Industrial 7."
"Mhm... If they really want to conquer us, we would need more people," Audrey murmured, looking at her small bridge crew. "But we only have—"
"Don't worry, Your Majesty," Marisa interrupted gently. "We have reinforcements arriving. But you, Full Frontal... will you join us?"
The leader of the Sleeves narrowed his eyes. "For now, I will cooperate with you. Otherwise, they will destroy everything we have built."
Audrey turned back to her screen. "Miss Marisa, when are your reinforcements arriving?"
"Not long," Marisa smiled, checking her radar. "Because they are here."
Right on cue, space itself seemed to ripple. Emerging from the nearby sector was an entire armada. It was a spectacular sight a massive fleet comprised of heavily modified vessels ranging from the One Year War era to the Second Neo Zeon War, all retrofitted with advanced reactors, armor, and weaponry designed to go toe-to-toe with the most modern Federation ships.
"Behold!" Marisa cheered proudly as her ships began launching waves of upgraded mobile suits to screen the fleet.
"Now then... for Zeon, for our world, we must fight!" Marisa declared, a fierce smile on her face. "So then, may I count on the Federation for cooperation as well? And you, *ze*?" she asked, looking toward the red Sinanju.
"I will cooperate," Full Frontal agreed.
"The Federation as well," Captain Otto sighed, giving his nod of approval.
"Good," Marisa said, looking out at the united front of once-bitter enemies. "I just hope this wasn't in vain."