Nu Gunny-Chan (WIP)

Mobile Suit Musume: 0094

The year is UC 0093, and the Second Neo Zeon war has ended with a bloody conclusion. With several million dead, the Earth Federation once again begins to rebuild it’s battered infrastructure. However, in the colonies, unlike what was expected, a surge of support for the leaderless Newborn Neo Zeon has spurred Londo Bell into action once more in an effort to  stomp out the last remnants of Zeon once and for all. All across the colonies, agitators from Mars recruit more and more into the Zeonic cause, following in the footsteps of Zeon Deikun himself. With traditional Mobile Suits being far too large and obvious for clandestine operations in populated colonies, a new solution was needed for the Federation. This would come in the form of Anaheim Electronics Mobile Musume line. Featuring the most advanced AI to date using brain scans of actual people; giving them human intelligence, armed and armored with downscaled Mobile Suit designs, the first MMRGM-89 Jegan came off the assembly lines ready for duty. An android with the appearance of a young girl clad in armor resembling her namesake. A much needed morale boost to the troops keeping the peace on the colonies for a variety of obvious reasons, soon many of the more brazen remnant forces of Neo Zeon were forced into hiding.

UC 0094 arrived with a tragedy; as EFF troops fired on a protest in the fourth colony of side 3, causing many to once more doubt the Federation’s ability to reasonably contain the situation. Thus, Londo Bell is granted more authority and funding, which they put into the development of more of the androids, who in their past year of service have performed incredibly well. However, with this is the issue of sympathizers in Anaheim covertly making deals with the Remnants to sell Mobile Musume of Zeonic design to their forces to even the field. In response to this possibility, work begins on an MM based off of the RX-98 Nu Gundam, a suit so powerful it cemented itself in the public consciousness as the face of Londo Bell. With the project nearing completion, a cell of Neo Zeon remnants calling themselves “Zeonic Sunrise”, a group of mostly young veterans of the war, plot to steal the Nu Gundam-girl before she can be delivered to Federation hands. Part of this operation is the 19 year old Ensign John Berenzenovich, and his part to play in this heist will change the course of history in the earth sphere forever…

“Do we really have to wear these stuffy uniforms?”

    The ensign tugged at the collar of his slightly too stiff Grenada Technical Institute student uniform. He then pulled at the sleeve of the uniform to readjust it as he and the rest of the team drove towards the AE facility in the outskirts of Grenada.

“Well, if you want to get access to the MMRX-98 and not let a whole five months worth of intel go to waste, be my guest and go in with your Pilot’s suit. I’m sure they’ll appreciate that Neo Zeon has such a vested interest in the wider affairs of Anaheim.”
Replied Chief Engineer Marco Roberts.

He was one of their sympathizers inside of Anaheim Electronic, on the development team for the MMRX-93. A shorter man with cropped black hair and a bit of a beard, Roberts was one of the people who made sure the prototype android would be where it was today, and falsified the tour of the facility by students from the GTI; a university that was little more than a pipeline for employment by the monopalizers of Mobile Suit and Mobile Musume development.

The Ensign just rolled his eyes, and shut up. They rolled through the security checkpoint in front of the parking lot, and the 5 members of the team got out. None were older then 22, which helped add to the illusion that they were a group of college students. Roberts began the tour like what would normally happen on a school trip; taking them through the main lobby, through the production areas, and to the public side of the research labs. The whole faux-trip took about half an hour before the gloves came off, and the 6 went into action.

Seeing as the head of the 93’s development was a part of this group, they had little issue getting to the area where she was stored. A few guards gave them knowing nods, and let them on their way. Divided loyalties among the staff here were nothing new, as Anaheim had always played for both sides during all the major and minor conflicts from the Gryps War to the latest Neo Zeon War. True dedication to either side was non-existent, and the company would gladly sell to Zeon Remnant groups all over the Earth and Mars Spheres, though on Mars they had a bit of actual competition from local Zeonic producers.

Finally, after minutes of tense silence, they made it to the bay that their target was located, only to catch sight of Londo Bell personnel. John silently cursed, and brushed his hand by his vz/71 Skorpion, an earth made and updated version of a PDW from the late Middle Ages, long before the Universal Century. It was right where he had strapped the holster to the side of his body under his uniforms jacket, surprisingly impossible to make out unless someone touched it directly. It was all made worse seeing the Federation personnel here. All the worse when one of them muttered that they saw Nigel Garrett amongst the seven man group, a member of Londo Bell’s Tri-Star squad. If they weren’t on edge before, they certainly were now.

Regardless of the new complication, the 6 walk in like nothing’s wrong. The Londo Bell officers glance at the small group of “students” and smile. One of the men walks over, and shakes Roberts’s hand.

    “Sorry we didn’t let you know we were coming, but a few of us wanted to get a look at the new model before the handoff tonight.”

    While the Zeonic team hung back and let Roberts do all the talking, they all kept an eye on the officers arrayed around the pod the MM was being held in. All in all, the feeling in the bay was fairly casual. The Feddies didn’t suspect the students to be members of Neo Zeon, and the Team had no reason to suspect the Londo Bell personnel knew anything about them.

After a nigh unbearable amount of talking back and forth, the men and women began to leave, and the Extraction Team was finally able to begin work inside the hangar. They swept the pod for any tracking devices, finding several, as well as getting it to an area where they’d be able to move it quickly. At the moment, it was going on without a hitch. The GTI uniforms were discarded, and balklavas were donned, as by this point anyone who saw them would know their intentions, which was the case as a few of the Londo Bell pilots walked back in, one of them forgetting something.

The two groups stared each other down, neither making any moves in their wide eyed surprise. Suddenly, a shot rings out, with the Tri-Star pilot drawing his sidearm and firing. The round bounces off the durable armor of the container pod, and the Neo Zeon team takes cover. John draws his PDW from under the uniform, flicks the safety off, and leans out from cover, firing a burst into the group of pilots. One of the female officers takes a round to the shoulder, and cries out in pain as she falls to the deck. Quickly, a proper firefight starts, and both sides stick to their chosen piece of cover like glue as an alarm blares.

They didn’t have much time, so Roberts calls in a favor. A Geara Doga. The mass produced Mobile Suit leftover surplus from the War, made its way over. All the team would have to do is hold out. That was easier said than done, as the Londo Bell pilots had the Zeonic Veterans outnumbered, and then outgunned when one brought in a rifle.

“NEO ZEON BANZAI!”

    John yells, as he sprints across the room to another piece of cover, spraying his PDW at the pilots. One of them, he couldn’t tell who, peeks out at the wrong moment, and catches a burst from the running spray to the head, which nearly pops it open like a grape. John then slides on the steel floor, and catches his breath as rounds ping off the hardened titanium pillar he hid behind. Reloading, he racks the bolt again and fires off blindly at the pilots, his comrades doing similar as their combined fire forces the Londo Bell pilots back out of the room.

He peeks back out after he hears the doors shut, and presumably lock behind the pilots. What he sees first before anything else is the near-headless body of Nigel Garrett. The only reason he could tell was the Tri-Star insignia on his dress uniform. He’s stunned as he realizes he just killed one of Londo Bell’s aces, but has little time to celebrate that to himself, as he sees the wall near them begin to glow as a beam saber punches it’s way into the room. The Zeonic team begins to prepare for another firefight before they realize it was the Yellow beam of the Geara Doga’s Beam Saber-Axe. Their ride was here, and they make their way out of the room after waiting for the slagged concrete to cool down. As they make their dash out to a waiting Van, they just barely make out the door behind them opening up, and the stunned faces of the Pilots as the team makes their escape. While chase would have been made, the sight of the 20 meter tall AMS-119 Geara Doga made them pause, and once again retreat back into the facility, dragging their dead ace with them.

Several hours pass, and the team separates from their Anaheim contact at the lunar city’s spaceport. The incident happened to have been reported to another Zeonic sympathizer, a coincidence that saved the Chief Engineer from any major repercussions. The company was tricky like that. A ship was waiting to get them into friendly territory, and they were all too happy to get the hell off the Moon. In spite of the hiccup that was the firefight, the operation was mostly a success, and the team was ready for some well deserved R&R back in their main headquarters on Palau. Officially a cluster of asteroids used by Side 6 for mining, it held majority of the Neo Zeon Remnant command located there, as well as serving as a base for most of the active cells of Neo Zeon resistance.

As the freighter ship made its departure from Grenada, It’s captain was made aware that the ship might be tailed by Londo Bell forces should they have traced the extraction team back there. The team was then informed they’d be making several stops elsewhere before getting to Palau, and thus the 5 members made themselves as comfortable as possible for the day-long journey.

John now considered what symbol he’d add the ace kill to his Geara Doga back in the hangar bay on the asteroid. A kill was a kill, and after some debate among the other team members about it being outside of an MS, it had been decided that it would be fair to add a kill marker to his personal Geara Doga. His question lingered in his mind, and ultimately, he’d shelve the thought to go check on their acquisition. He made his way to one of the smaller cargo bays where they had hid the Gundam’s pod. After navigating the somewhat cramped pathways between crates, he found the one where they had placed the pod into. He unlocked the industrial container, walked over to the side of the MM’s storage unit and punched in the access code to the pod. He then stepped back as it made a hissing noise with the door opening.

    The sight he was met with was impressive to say the least, and intimidating to say anything else. The MMRX-98 was 7 feet of android, with white hair, a muscular physique and a goddamn 6 pack that looked about as hard as the Gundarium Armor she was wearing. Her face was covered by what looked like a pair of shooter’s glasses tinted yellow, as well as the iconic facemask of the Gundam Series. Mobile Suit or not, to John that mask was the most unnerving part about her. He was there during the Axis Shock, he had been there when the original RX-98 had blazed a path through the Newborn Neo Zeon armed forces as axis fell, Amuro Ray himself at the controls. He shuddered slightly at the memories that flickered up in his mind, how easily it rent apart their Mobile Suits with it’s fin funnels; a set almost Identical, albeit far smaller than the real thing, stored on the girl’s armor. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, banishing the unpleasant thoughts from his mind.

When he opened them again, he was met with her bust. Now, he’d seen other Mobile Musume before, mostly the Jegan ones. They had armor practically covering their whole body, and at best had a conservative cup size, but the Gundam in front of him? He wasn’t ever good at estimating boob size, but even in the armor she had on, they were huge, mostly due to the odd design choice which left plenty of underboob to be seen. He felt his cheeks warm a bit as he shamelessly stared at them, before shaking his head, banishing the new lewd thoughts. Having seen enough of the girl for the moment, he began to close the door, when he heard a noise. It sounded like groaning, and it was coming from the pod. She was waking up. Shit.

Unsure of what to do, his mind raced as panic set in. Looking at the pod’s controls, he noticed an emergency armament disconnect, and he pressed it. A sudden series of metallic clicking noises are produced, and the various pieces of armor are removed from her. First the torso armor, leaving only the points where the armor locks in to cover her mostly bare breasts. After that came the shoulder pauldrons and the waist armor. Then, the Funnels, as well as the beam rifle and both her beam sabers were removed from the sides and back locks on what underlying frame was left from the armor removal. She lets out a surprised gasp as she’s finally let go by the pod, and John makes his way in front of her. He already has a pistol raised as the door of the pod slid shut behind her, locking away all her equipment.

    “Stop right there gundam. You’re not going anywhere.”

    The girl looks down at the Ensign, her eyes scanning over him. She notices the insignia on his sleeve; the Flag of Casval Deikun’s Newborn Neo Zeon. She’d been Gundamjacked. Just like the fucking GP02. Absolutely fantastic. With her arms and armor now locked to the inside of the pod, as well as the law enforcement software in her head currently preventing her from trying to break the boy’s neck, she sighed, and put her hands up.

    “Alright, you got me. I’ll admit Zeek, that was a slick move that you pulled there. I’ll give you that.”


She sighs, and leans back on the now closed pod door. John lowers the gun from an actively raised position, to one closer to the side of his torso. Still aimed at her, but in a way that wouldn’t tire out his arm. He lets out a similar sigh, though in his case it was more out of relief than anything.

    “Surrender. Good. Even if this is was the worst way this could have gone do-”

    The Gundam Girl cuts him off.


“The worst thing for you would have been me blasting a hole through you with my beam rifle. Trust me, it could have been far worse.”

    It was a bluff, she knew that even with all of her armor and weapons, she still would have restrained the young spacenoid over killing him. Damn cop programming. John, however, didn’t know that, and she could see his pupils dilate and his breathing become a bit faster. A fight or flight response was clearly kicking off in the kid’s head, but he was doing neither.

    “Heh, yeah, if you’re anything like the real thing, you’d’ve butchered the whole fucking crew. But this time, things are different. This time, I stand a chance. So you stay right here.”

    As John leaves her by the pod, she begins to think, having a chance to do so now that he’s gone. She had no idea what he meant by “this time”, but eventually the thought dawned on her that he may actually be the real thing; as in an honest to God survivor of the Axis Shock. She had her doubts, after all, he looked too young to have been there. Then again, humans did have a tendency to look older or younger than they actually were.

By the time she’d refocused on her current predicament, John came back with what looked to be several pairs of zip tie handcuffs. She doubted they could actually withstand her if she tried to break them, but at the moment, it seemed better to just go along with his plans than to attempt an escape. Besides, if they wanted her destroyed, they’d likely have done it back on the Moon.

The next few minutes were filled with an awkward silence after he had “restrained” her by tying 5 or 6 pairs around her wrists and ankles, and the two glanced at each other occasionally. Neither had much to say, nor felt comfortable asking anything. Eventually though, one of them had to break the silence, and that would be the MMRX-89.


“Mind if I ask where I’m being taken? And why?”

John looked into her eyes, which he now noticed were a dull gold color, soft rather than the iridescent gold of, say, anti-beam coating. He cleared his throat, and then responded.

“Where we are going is classified, though as for why; You are now the property of the Newborn Neo Zeon. What Command decides to do with you is up to them, not me.”

    Content with the rather brief and concise answer, she sits back against the pod. Several more minutes of silence followed. This time, it was John who broke the silence.

    “So...any idea why the feddies decided to go all out and make a gundam like you; aside from propaganda and psychological warfare reasons?”


She blinked, now unsure of what the Neo Zeon pilot meant. She straightens up, into a slightly more dignified position. However, all this did was cause her bust to be emphasised; something that had John avert his eyes while a soft pink color filled in his cheeks. She notices, and snickers a bit.

    “What? You’re the one who did this to me.”

John’s response nearly faltered in his mouth, but he musters up the balls to continue on.

“Just answer the question. I did it for you without any kinda BS, hoped you’d do the same for me.”

He did have a point there, and the Gundam girl acquiesces to him.

    “Fine. That’s classified.”


The smug grin returns, but it’s met with a none too amused look back. John takes a deep breath in, holds it, and then lets it out before he speaks again.

“Listen, the more information I get from you now is less stuff we’ll have to dig through your databases, or storage, or whatever the hell through brute force. Shockingly enough, I’m your best bet for getting out of that shit.”

    She leans back again, thinking on the options she had in front of her. He wasn’t entirely wrong about them getting the information one way or another, and she didn’t know if any treaties on prisoner treatment applied to her, if this Neo Zeon even followed them. Then again, she knew how valuable of an asset she was to the Federation she was, and revealing any information might come to bite her in the ass if she was reclaimed by Londo Bell, or even ECOAS.

John waited on her, but eventually one of the more base urges got the best of him, and he needed to find a bathroom. This now caused him his own, similar dilemma. Leaving her alone wasn’t going to happen, but at the same time, who the hell was going to be able to come over to watch her. What if she’d get bolder with someone else watching her? All this because he had to take a shit.

    “You know what...forget it, I’ll see if we can get Roberts on the line for command, I go-”

    Her expression changes drastically. He can’t quite tell what emotion she’s trying to express, but it’s something at least.

“You...You mean the Chief? How the hell do you know him?”

Her knowing the Anaheim sympathizer wasn’t exactly surprising to John. He was a core member of the team developing her, so he had assumed she’d at least know of him. This reaction though, it was different. While he’d love to get into it more, nature was calling, and he wasn’t about to shit his pants.

“Y-you...don’t go anywhere. Got it?”

She looked confused at the sudden outburst, but nodded.

“Alright, fine I guess. But you better come back. I have more questions for you Zee-”


And like that, he runs off, locking the container behind him. Unlike the zip ties, that would be enough to stop her from walking off. The Gundam now sat in the darkness of the container, the only illumination coming from the glow of the keypad; to which she didn’t know the password to, as well as from the inside of the pod, which emerged from the only area that wasn’t hardened Titanium; the Glass which would show off her face. She sighed, and ripped the zip tie bindings off of her. If she was gonna be trapped in there, might as well be comfortable.

John on the other hand, had just left the bathrooms near the bunkrooms when one of the other team members, Jessica Arneto, informed him of more bad news.

“Ensign, do you have a second? The captain got informed of more things happening. The Federation apparently deployed ECOAS to locate the Gundam. Getting back to Palau is going to take a few more days to make sure we aren’t tailed back, or even found in the first place.”

    John’s eyes went wide, and his blood ran cold. His response was sputtered and his mind raced at a mile a minute.

“T-They’re sending their fucking wetwork teams after us?! Jesus...a-are there any MS in the hangar bays on this tub?”

    She shook her head, and John began to feel the icy grip of dread take hold. Forget Londo Bell, they’d at least be treated as POWs if Londo found them. ECOAS on the other hand? They’d kill everyone on board, take the Gundam and detonate the ship to make it look like nothing was ever there. At least if they had mobile suits, they’d have a fighting chance. Now their best hope was to avoid detection and pray that if ECOAS did find them, they’d have the courtesy to search the vessel before they blow it to hell.

John thanked Jessica for the information, and went back to the Gundam’s container. The Gundam could hear the lock on the container’s doors unlatch, and squinted as light once again filled the interior. John saw the bits of plastic ties on the floor, and merely sighed. There wasn’t much he could do to hold her aside from trying to get her back in the pod, or lock the doors again.

“ECOAS is after us.”

    Instead of a look of fear or relief that he was expecting out of the Mech-girl, he was once again met with confusion, which then made him confused. As such, he continued.

    “...The Federation’s Wetwork Special ops division? They didn’t tell you about them, did they?”

    She shook her head, one of the antennas mounted on her forehead hitting the side of the container causing her to wince a bit at the sudden stoppage. She then removed all of the headpiece, as well as the mask from her face. As she placed them on the ground beside her, John could see her face properly. It was a bit more rounded than he had assumed. Her skin was a smooth, paleish white; a lot like his in a way, except hers was flawless. That latter fact made a bit of sense, seeing as her designers probably didn’t consider giving their android moles or freckles. Why would they?

Her white hair rested a bit more naturally on the sides of her head, and her eyes were indeed the color they seemed to be under the glasses, a dull golden yellow. Totally unnatural but at the same time, warm and inviting. John could feel a blush once again rear its head, but this time he didn’t care.

“Hold on, Londo Bell is the Federation’s Special fo-”

    John cuts her off.


“The one they show to the public, sure. Ever since the end of the Second War, our people have been dealing with those sociopaths whenever the Federation even gets a rumor of where our command is going to be. What I’m getting at, Miss Gundam, is that you’ll need to sit tight. We’re gonna be a while.”

    She mutters something under her breath, which causes John to step closer. That, in turn, causes the Gundam to stand up. Now she towered over him by a good foot and a half, maybe a bit less. What caught her off guard was the fact that this caused John’s blush to deepen a bit.

“Woah there, I just didn’t hear what you said. Calm down. I’m not about to try anything on you.”


She looks off to the side, likely debating to herself whether to trust him, and ultimately calms down, leaning against the side of the container with her arms crossed under her chest. This served little other purpose than to mess with the pilot in front of her, which caused to smile on the inside. It was fun to her.

“What I said was that I didn’t want to go back into the pod. That, and you telling me about the Chief’s involvement in this little Gundamjacking of yours are my stipulation if I’m going to go along with this whole thing. Am I wrong in thinking that you’re people want me for what’s in here?”

She taps her head, and John nods.

    “Yeah. We got explicit orders from our command to not let you be damaged. As for your demands...I guess we could work something out, though I was just planning on having you stay in here rather than the pod.”

    That took her back a bit. Why wouldn’t he want her in the pod? She shut down when she was plugged into the thing, and it would be the safest option for their unit. So..why?

“...as for the Chief, I assume you knew him a bit? Well, I don’t know how you saw him during your development or whatever, but sure. I’ll tell you what he told us. Back in 0092, at the height of the Second Neo Zeon war, his family was caught in a fight between our forces and the Federation. It was in a colony on Side 3, Colony...bandish if I’m not mistaken. The federation decided to deploy a Mobile Suit to flush out the Zeon troops, so in their infinite wisdom, the pilot used a beam saber. His wife and two sons were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Vaporized in a millisecond. That was a miss too, the pilot wasn’t even close to his target.”


She blinked, and her hand moved to cover her mouth. The federation wouldn’t just pull a stunt like that, would they? Of course not...right?

“And to add to that, the Federation wouldn’t even fess up to the civilian casualties on that operation. Not a single one. If it were some earthnoids, no doubt they would have offered compensation, a formal apology, the whole 9 yards.”

    He grimaced. Accidents like that were common in the pre-Londo Bell days. Londo was at least very careful in environments like that. Unlike the majority earth-born EFF, Londo Bell was made up of colony born pilots and officers like Amuro Ray and Bright Noa.

    “It’s shit like that which caused me to join up. People wondered why we fought for independanc-”

    This time it was the Gundam who spoke up. She was on edge, and her change in posture from relaxed wall leaning to bearing down on John was an obvious tell. He backed up a step because of this.

“YOU tried to wipe out everyone on earth. It was your people who put nuclear warheads into axis to drop it on earth and kill billions! Don’t give me that Independance crap Zeek.”

    John snapped back at her, causing the Gundam now to take a step back, backing her into the pod.

“You think I, no, a majority of Neo Zeon personnel wanted a genocide? Do you honestly believe that? We wanted Independence from the Federation first and foremost. Char was the one who wanted to drop Axis onto earth, not me, not anyone alive today. All of his radicals died with him during the battle. A lot of people who just went along with it because of orders did too. You wanna know what killed them? You want to know what killed dozens of my friends and even my fucking brother?! The fucking Nu Gundam and that traitor to our people Amuro! That fucking mask of yours brings me nothing but memories of people I could have saved if I had been the one to take a beam sword to the cockpit instead of them! Don’t you dare make it sound like they died for an atrocity, because they didn’t.”

She was shocked at how angry he had gotten, but the mention of a brother dying by the hand of the machine she was based on gave her a reason why he was like this. However, she was more surprised by his motivations. All she had been told was that Neo Zeon wanted nothing else other than to totally wipe out the population of earth, and that’s why they had to be stopped. A brief thought crossed her mind to give the boy a hug; some distant remnant of an almost maternal instinct; likely born from one of the brain scans used to compile her AI. Fearing that making a move to do so would only set the upset pilot off again, she shamefully averted her eyes from him, and looked at the ground.

    “I...I didn’t know...all they told me during the tests was that yo-”

    He opened his mouth, likely to yell again, but he stopped. Taking a deep breath, John, lets it out slowly, calming himself a bit. After he was sure he wouldn’t start screaming again, he spoke up.

    “I get it now. That’s not you talking, it’s Feddy propaganda. Shit they made up to villainize us to make your job easier on you. Easier to pull the trigger when your target wants mass murder on a global scale, right?”

    She looks back up at him, and while she can still feel the tension in the air, he was less red in the face from his emotions getting the best of him. She could almost feel the remnants of his anger and resentment radiating off of him, and that made her feel...odd. Not in a good way to be sure.

“That wasn’t going to be what I would do.”

    John sat down, and motioned for her to do the same. She did, which still had the girl towering over him. He then motions for her to continue, which she does.

    “What I was made for...what...they told me I was made for, was to take out MMs.”

    John was curious now, why would that be the case? Anaheim still wasn’t willing to just give Neo Zeon the technology, and with Martian Mobile Suit plants springing up that wasn’t likely unless they had something the company really wanted. Not to mention trying to steal the tech would lose them what standing they had. Which made it odd that no one from Anaheim tried to stop them.

“Thing is, we don’t have any. We probably won’t for a while. Though with you, that might change. But as it stands, we don’t have any MMs. With that being the case, I can’t see why you’d be made. No offence meant, but you're a solution looking for a problem.”

The logic made sense. She knew that she was a preventative measure, but if what he said was true, then why did Anaheim agree. Probably for more government contracts. Convince the federation to get something they don’t need.

    “Uh, kind of unrelated, but you mind if I head out to get something to eat? I’ll bring you back something and we can eat in the office over there.”

    He jabs his thumb off to the side, indicating where the office was. At the mention of food, her eyes light up. Her face also changed from a somewhat confused depression to a beaming grin. It was cute really. He smiled back, glad that the ice had more or less been broken.

    “Oh yeah, I’m John, by the way. That’s right Gundam, the enemy does have a name.”

    He chuckles, and stands up, making for the door.

    "But the Chief always called me 93, and when we were alone he'd call me Roxie since I'm an RX series"

    He turns back around, smirking a bit.


“Roxie the Gundam eh? Well, I’ll see what kinda crap they have in the mess.”

With that, he leaves. He forgets to lock the door behind him as he walks off to the mess hall on one of the upper decks, too caught up in thinking about the fine body his new “friend” had. The Gundam quickly notices the fact that the door isn’t locked. This catches her off guard completely.

“Is...this a test? Or...or does he trust me now?” She asks aloud to herself.

She...didn't know how to feel about that. One feeling that became immediately apparent was the quick return of mind-numbing boredom. You can only count the corrugated slats on the inside of a cargo container so many times before you start contemplating playing chicken with a beam sword. It gives her a much greater appreciation for her transport pod's extended sleep function. She couldn't imagine spending months staring through her pod's tinted door at a warehouse wall or a transport ship's bulkhead. And...now, she thinks, she probably couldn't withstand the loneliness after experiencing what it's like to have a friend. She pictures John's laughing face, and can't help but smile. She'll need to make him laugh in the future, it was...cute? In a way? She noticed her heart beating faster, and her face started feeling strange, like it was too warm. She swallows, rings her hands a few times hoping the feeling would go away. It doesn't. Finally, she decisively stands up, making the loosely secured metal flooring of the container creak with the sudden burst of movement, and makes her way out of the container to explore. John said she couldn't leave the cargo hold, he didn't say anything about staying inside this stuffy metal box.

She looks around the cargo bay. It's poorly lit; so much so she was surprised that any light was able to reach into the container she was in, and dirty in a grimey, heavily used way. Caked on dirt and dust on many of the containers which had presumably not been moved in quite some time.  While she’s absolutely shocked at the state of the place, it isn’t because she hates it. On the contrary, she’s got a morbid fascination with the whole place. Every part of the Grenada labs that she saw were spotless, always. Even the weapons testing room in the sub levels She runs her finger on the floor, picking up particles of dust and dirt.

    She rubs her fingers together, feeling the grains of material between them before she wipes her hands together to get the stuff off her once she’s done messing with it, and moves on. The Gundam wanders through the rows, directionless but full of wonder, and excitement. Gawking at every dirty foot print and lone discarded nut or bolt, every dent and scrape on the old well-used containers. Even smells. Dirty metal, old oil, pallet wood, plastic, almost-stale recycled ship air. She knew all of them, could identify them fully and immediately thanks to her programming, and yet, still, each scent was new, exciting, and made her feel like this casual walk through a dirty cargo hold was a great adventure. Occasionally checking the handles to see what’s unlocked. What she expects are smuggled weapons, mobile suit parts, even drugs, but in the unlocked containers, she finds a fair number of rather mundane things; primarily computers and parts for industrial equipment. The computers cause her to remember the Lab, and the Chief. Specifically, one time after she had finished with weapons training.

She could remember being hooked up to a computer strikingly similar to one of those she had found in the container, and the two, for the first time, had a real conversation. The Chief expressed how happy he was on how well she had done in the course. She remembered him patting her on the shoulder, and smiling at her. Those memories brought forth feelings of sadness, homesickness even. She felt that she might not ever see her surrogate father again, and that made her feel worse.

Eventually she makes her way towards the office John had mentioned, and opens the door. What she’s met with is a shabby office space, with some folding chairs, a big plastic folding table, some drawers, a few cabinets, an ageing computer and a fold out bed. The place reeked of cigarettes long since smoked, old coffee, and the carpet left an odor unique only to old office buildings. The first thing she does is sit down on the bed. While it’s not a very good mattress, it’s far better than anything she’s ever sat on in the past, let alone laying down on it. This was the first time she’d ever been on an actual bed, and it was one of the most comfortable things she’d ever laid down on. It was soft, and springy, the blankets laid on top of the bed warm and fuzzy. She grabs one of the pillows, and hugs it close, smiling to herself and giggling as she squeezes the cushion. This pillow was softer and springier/fluffier than anything she could think to compare it to. There were office chairs in the Grenada Labs that were kind of soft, and there are rubber bearing surfaces in her pod that she rests against during storage and transit, but despite being pliable and dampening shocks, they weren't nearly as soft as this. It felt as if she was hugging a cloud, which made her reflect on the fact that she'd never even seen. Cloud with her own eyes.


    John, by that point, walks in with two trays of food and begins to stare at the girl currently rolling on the bed, looking the happiest she’s ever been. It causes him to chuckle a bit, and he walks over to the table, putting the food down. It’s some kind of grilled chicken, with rehydrated mashed potatoes. Also on the trays were two cans of some kind of generic cola, along with utensils. He whistles, which gets the Gundam’s attention. Realizing he saw most of that, she blushes hard, which surprises John that she can even blush in the first place; though it’s soon replaced with laughter. The Gundam pouts as she gets up, tossing her pillow off to the side of the bed as she sits down. The pout quickly vanishes as the smell of the food hits her. She’s practically drooling, and John starts eating; though she doesn’t.

    “So...you gonna eat or what? You’re acting like you haven’t seen food in years.”

    She glances back up at him.

    “I...I can just eat? Just like that? No permission needed?”

    He stops mid-fork raise, and slowly lowers the food. He then looks back up and her, and half glares in astonishment. Did she really just ask that?

    “Y-yeah. Go ahead. Did you need permission be- Oh God, you did, didn’t you?”

She nods slowly, realizing that was not a normal thing now. Right after though, she begins to eat. With the only thing she had ever eaten before being a piece of white bread, the Grilled Chicken and mashed potatoes were almost too much. The flavors were like nothing she’d ever tasted before, and she was loving every second of it. John could tell, and it once again brought a smile to his face. While the day may have started with one another as mistrusting enemies, they were starting to warm up to one another; and they could both recognize that.

John looks out into space from the porthole, watching the infinite stars twinkle from millions of lightyears away. To him, a colony born Spacenoid, it was a mundane sight, almost like looking up into the sky