Two days after Zaki's simulation training with Feres, the peaceful atmosphere of the Neo-Verdia Alliance collapsed.
Inside the main lounge of the White Ark, an emergency global news broadcast flickered onto the massive central monitors. The anchor's voice was filled with sheer panic.
"Breaking news! A high-profile assault has just occurred in the South American Sector. The Earth Guardian Front the self-proclaimed militia protecting Earth from foreign colonial rule has been completely annihilated. Military outposts were leveled in less than five minutes. Look at the aerial footage from our local chopper—"
The screen shifted to a hellish landscape of burning metal, cratered earth, and melting concrete. In the middle of the smoking debris stood a dark, predatory silhouette. It looked like a twisted mirror image of a Gundam, its entire frame painted in a terrifying matte black that seemed to absorb the ambient light. Suddenly, two piercing, neon-pink eyes flared to life on its visor. The machine turned its head, staring directly into the camera lens of the news helicopter.
BZZZZ—
With a burst of dark energy, the black machine vanished into thin air. The screen cut back to static.
The entire room went dead silent. No one moved. No one breathed.
Klaus Kimeza stood at the back of the room, his eyes locked onto the static-filled monitor. "They've created a monster. That thing... it's completely different from the heavy Mobile Armor Titans used by the Neptune Kingdom. It has a stealth camouflage system just like our White Gundam."
Airi Kimeza didn't look surprised, though her face was pale with exhaustion. "It was bound to happen, Klaus. The Colonial Kings have been analyzing the combat data of the White Ghost since its first deployment. They reverse-engineered our technology to build a direct countermeasure."
Before anyone could digest the horrifying news, a second alarm blared on the tactical console. Airis's placeholder system projected a digital map of the European continent.
"New threat confirmed," Airis's automated system reported in a flat, mechanical voice. "The Neptune Colonial Army has officially mobilized. Their vanguard, led by a massive Mobile Armor Titan, is currently marching toward Neo-Verdia. They are flattening every rebel outpost and resistance stronghold in their path. Estimated time of arrival: 36 hours."
The timing couldn't be worse. The White Ark was trapped in a logistical nightmare.
Airis's main android chassis was still undergoing critical neural repairs in Airi's private lab. The Lavender Gundam was only half-patched, lacking its high-frequency claw arm. The White Gundam itself had been forced to shed its damaged Eagle Armor, returning to its standard, less-armored base form.
"Are we... are we actually going to lose this time?" Maki muttered, her voice trembling slightly as she looked around the chaotic hangar. "How are we supposed to fight a Titan and a stealth monster with broken machines?"
Klaus walked over to the center platform, his booming voice echoing through the intercom system to command everyone's attention.
"Listen to me, all of you!" Klaus shouted, his gaze sweeping over the tired engineers and anxious pilots. "The enemy wants us to despair. They want us to look at our broken armor and give up before the first shot is fired. But let me remind you of something: as long as we have a single Gundam standing, and as long as the people of Earth and the Colonies look to us for hope, we cannot run. We hold the responsibility to tear down the tyranny of these Kings. Fix what you can! Prepare for launch!"
The hangar erupted into a flurry of motion as the crew's spirits were instantly revitalized. But away from the main floor, standing in the shadow of the White Gundam's leg, Zaki and Maki remained silent. The weight of being the "White Ghost" was pressing down on their shoulders like a mountain of lead.
By afternoon, the designated pilot briefing room was locked down. Around the central holographic table sat the core defense team: Augustina, Zaki, Maki, Tasya, and their newest ally, Commander Salia Bernekin.
Salia stood at the head of the table, her dark red hair catching the light. "Let's get straight to the point. My personal ship, the Grandknight, is going to transport us to the intercept zone. Our mission is to stop the Neptune Mobile Armor Titan before it reaches Neo-Verdia airspace. And we're doing it with a minimalist squad."
Augustina slammed her fist onto the table, her eyes narrow. "Minimalist? Are you insane, Commander? We're talking about a Mobile Armor that can wipe out an entire platoon with a single broadcast beam! Why are we withholding our main forces?"
"Because if we deploy the entire Neo-Verdia Alliance fleet, we'll deplete our defensive supplies within hours," Salia explained calmly. "Furthermore, it leaves the city completely exposed to a secondary attack from the Federation or the other Kings. This is a surgical strike. Only the Gundam units will deploy."
Maki let out a weak, hollow laugh, leaning back in her chair. "Great. So we're basically a suicide squad now. That's fantastic."
Pshhh—
The heavy pneumatic door to the briefing room slid open. Every head snapped toward the entrance.
Standing there, clutching the door frame for support, was Agnes Arbequs. She was pale, her long blue hair tied back loosely, and she was wearing a standard, clean pilot suit. Her eyes, once hollow and lifeless, were filled with an intense, burning resolve.
"I'm going with you," Agnes said, her voice shaking but determined.
Maki instantly stood up from her chair. "Agnes! No way! You just got out of the medical bay yesterday. Your mind... the brainwashing... if you get back into a cockpit, the trauma might return. I won't let you risk it!"
"I'm not a doll anymore, Maki!" Agnes barked back, stepping into the room and staring directly into Maki's eyes. "You came into the dark to save me. You burned your own spirit to pull me out of that hell. I refuse to sit in a safe room and watch my only friend march into a suicide mission alone. Let me pay my debt."
Zaki crossed his arms, looking at her seriously. "Even if we let you join, Agnes, your Arancia Gundam was completely neutralized. What exactly are you going to pilot?"
Agnes looked toward the ceiling. "Your mother, Miss Airi... she's a mad scientist, Zaki. She didn't destroy my father's machine. She completely remodeled it. She stripped away the neural feedback loops and installed a safe, stable operating system. It's ready."
Zaki let out a long, exhausted sigh, rubbing his temples. "Mom strikes again... she really can't help herself."
In contrast, Maki's eyes instantly lit up, a brilliant smile breaking through her worried expression. "Mom actually gave her a chance... Alright, Agnes. If you say you're ready, I trust you."
Sunday morning arrived with a cold, oppressive fog.
The Grandknight slipped through the European skies, flying low over the fractured landscape of Italy to avoid radar detection. Inside the primary launch bay, the Gundams stood in a row, the green activation lights reflecting off the metal walls.
Inside the standard cockpit of the White Gundam, Zaki and Maki sat in their respective seats. The console felt strangely quiet without Airis's cheerful sub-routines running in the background.
"Feels weird without her, huh?" Maki whispered, checking the fuel gauges.
"Yeah," Zaki replied, his hands tightening around the control sticks. "But we know what we have to do. Keep your focus, Maki. We're the anchor today."
Maki looked through her auxiliary camera feed, checking on the rest of the squad. Directly to their left was Agnes's newly christened machine: the Deep Blue Gundam. The orange armor of her father's legacy had been completely replaced by a rich, royal white and blue plating, looking like a guardian of the deep ocean. It looked perfect on her.
Next to the Deep Blue was the Lavender Gundam. Tasya sat in her cockpit, flexing her machine's left and right hands. The right arm had been replaced with a standard, mass-production G-ioneer arm since her original high-frequency claw wasn't fully repaired yet.
"I can still fight like this," Tasya muttered over the comms, her voice full of confidence. "I won't let them touch you, Maki."
On the far right, Augustina sat casually in the Sunflower Gundam, leaning back against her seat. She reached down, pulling a small silver locket from under her pilot suit. She opened it, staring at the faded photograph of her mother, her father, and a younger Feres smiling under a bright sun. She snapped it shut, her expression hardening.
"All units, this is Commander Salia," the radio crackled. "We have visual on the Neptune vanguard. Launch immediately!"
"Sunflower Gundam, Augustina! Moving out!"
"Deep Blue, Agnes... launching!"
"Lavender Gundam, Tasya! Let's go!"
"White Gundam! Zaki, Maki, breaking orbit!"
The sky above the Italian valley erupted into a chaotic symphony of beam fire and explosions. The five Gundams dove straight into the Neptune Colonial vanguard, moving like synchronized gods of war.
Augustina took the high ground on a cliffside, her Beam Sniper Rifle barking continuously, dropping heavy colonial transport ships with single, well-placed shots. Tasya and Agnes moved in a lethal pincer formation on the ground, the Deep Blue Gundam slicing through lines of Pioneer units with its new twin beam sabers, while Tasya covered her back with rapid beam rifle bursts.
"They're dropping like flies!" Maki shouted, pushing her targeting reticle over a squad of Bishops. "We can actually win this!"
BOOM!
The ground beneath them violently ruptured. From the belly of a massive colonial carrier ship named the Garuda Base, a colossal shadow emerged.
It was the Mobile Armor Titan. It looked like a floating fortress of heavy, silver armor, its central eye glowing with a vicious crimson light. Piloting the beast was Princess Starsha, the ruthless daughter of the Neptune King.
"Insolent Earth rats!" Starsha's voice echoed over the open channel, full of royal arrogance. "Die in the shadows of Neptune!"
The Titan's entire chassis shifted, opening dozens of circular ports across its massive frame. A split second later, a blinding Beam Spread erupted from the machine. Thousands of pink, jagged lasers flooded the sky, cutting through the clouds and tearing into the earth like a cataclysmic storm.
"Scatter!" Zaki yelled, pulling his stick hard to the left.
The White Gundam danced through the grid of lasers, its thrusters screaming as the heat melted its outer armor markers. Below them, the beam spread leveled an abandoned town, turning the concrete structures into liquid slag within seconds. Fortunately, the Alliance had evacuated the entire region days prior, but the sheer destructive force was terrifying.
"We can't get close!" Tasya shouted, her standard rifle shots bouncing harmlessly off the Titan's heavy mega-particle shield. "Our weapons aren't doing anything!"
Zaki gritted his teeth, preparing to push the White Gundam into a risky, high-speed dash to find a weak point in the Titan's armor. "Maki, prepare for full thruster output! We're going to—"
ZRRAAAAATH—!
A single, massive beam of piercing neon-pink light cut through the dark sky from a completely blind angle.
The beam hit the Mobile Armor Titan directly on its heavily armored head visor. The explosion was colossal, forcing the massive silver fortress to rock backward in the air, its mega-particle shield flickering violently from the sheer kinetic force of the impact.
Inside the Titan, Princess Starsha gasped, her hands shaking on her controls. "What?! Where did that attack come from? It wasn't the sniper on the cliff!"
Zaki and Maki instantly halted their advance, their primary cameras zooming in on the trajectory of the pink beam.
Standing on top of a half-shattered cathedral spire a mile away was a dark, terrifying shape. The matte-black armor seemed to swallow the ambient sunlight, making it look like a physical hole in reality. Its sleek, avian frame resembled the White Gundam in almost every proportional detail, but its aura was entirely malicious. Two neon-pink eyes flared to life on its visor, staring straight at them.
It was the Black Gundam.
Inside the dark, silent cockpit of the black machine, the white-haired girl sat perfectly still. Her pale, ghostly gray eyes didn't blink as lines of data scrolled across her monitors. Her face remained a perfect, unmoving void of human emotion.
"Target confirmed," Ichi said, her flat, mechanical monotone echoing in the quiet cockpit. "Battle phase 1 initiated. Neutralizing the giant obstacle... then, terminating the White Ghost."
As the black machine raised its massive twin railguns connceted on unit side skirt, the battlefield became a direct gateway to despair.
To be continued...