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Thread: Mobile Suit Gundam - The Second Century (Part 1: Prelude 0099)

  1. #141
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Episode 6 continued…

    A twirling slash of Blackbird Two’s beam naginata nearly separates the head of Captain Athena Ibaz’s Cour de Leon from its body. Athena ducks it with hardly a centimeter to spare, bringing up the Cour de Leon’s beam saber to parry. Despite bringing all of her considerable training and skill in the use of a beam saber to bear, Athena feels that the enemy is simply toying with her…that he could destroy her mobile suit any time he chooses.

    This is not exactly true. As relentless and complex as Mugabe Gazi’s attacking strokes are, Athena is proving to be an incredibly difficult nut to crack. Gazi is quite impressed. Few enemies have ever been able to last two or three strokes against his beam saber strikes; the enemy pilot he now confronts has already lasted twelve.

    Had the mobile suit pilots of the Special Forces Teams the luxury of standing by and observing the battle, they would have witnessed one of the most spectacular displays of beam saber prowess in the twenty-year history of mobile suit warfare. Gazi and Athena wield their respective mobile suits’ weapons like two warriors out of an ancient wuxia film. Later, Cpl. Geoff Sutcliffe, who caught a glimpse of the battle while defending the Silverthread, would remark that the duel between Gazi and Athena reminded him of those ancient 20th/21st Century Star Wars movies, with Gazi and Athena going at each other like the Sith and Jedi from those fanciful films that Geoff’s great-grandfather’s great-grandfather had enjoyed as a youth.

    The Federation mobile suit pilots, however, have no such luxury, struggling to prevent Blackbird Three’s damaged, but still deadly Gellond from doing further damage to the already crippled Silverthread.

    A heavy blast from Sgt. Karim Abdul Al-Said’s Guncannon 100’s shoulder-mounted heavy shell cannon breaks Blackbird Three’s bead on the Silverthread, but the errant beam unleashed from the Gellond’s beam rifle nevertheless immolates three more Special Forces mobile suits, and nearly nails Cpl. Sutcliffe’s Jegan and Cpl. Horowitz’s GM-IV AWAC unit.

    “Careful, you guys,” Sgt. Al-Said admonishes his squad mates.

    An electronically processed voice enters the edge of Karim’s consciousness, which is focused on the battle, “One-hundred and twenty seconds until atmospheric contact. Vollute deployment in one-hundred seconds unless unit resumes lower G-position.”

    We’re running out of time. Karim grates.


    General Bright Noah, shuttle pilot Captain Antonio Donatelli, and his co-pilot 1Lt. Mindi Dulfer have donned their Zero-G normalsuits and have boarded the Silverthread’s escape/re-entry capsule. Ejecting from the damaged space shuttle is now their only hope of survival, but ejection means loss of maneuverability. They will be a sitting duck for any further enemy attack, and should that not come, they would still face the prospect of minimally guided freefall into Earth’s atmosphere.

    One hell of a way to travel to a conference, Bright reflects.

    In his twenty years as an officer in the Earth Federation Forces, Bright Noah has experienced nearly every danger imaginable on the field of battle. He has faced apparent imminent death so often that it no longer fazes him.

    This time, Bright tells himself, will be no different. He will either live to see more threats to his life, or finally meet his end here and now and never concern himself with it again.

    It’s that easy.

    Or so Bright wishes.

    As Bright straps himself with Captain Donatelli and 1Lt. Dulfer into the tight confines of the escape capsule, his inner calm is disturbed by two familiar and beloved faces.

    Mirai, Chieming…. The thought of never seeing them again brings a creeping fear up Bright’s spine. The fear is manageable…containable…but unavoidable.

    And then, another name, another face, comes unbidden into Bright’s mind…Hathaway.

    His son.

    They became estranged years ago. Bright had thrown his son out of his home, out of his family, out of his life. The man named “Hathaway Noah” had nothing in common with him anymore except a name, and Bright wishes it were in his power to take that back as well. His family had no place for traitors.

    But now, as Bright faces the prospect of fiery death in the skies above Earth, he feels a tinge of regret in the midst of his resolve.

    Hathaway…son. Why? Why did you turn traitor?

    Perhaps the afterlife would offer answers that this life could not.

    A synthesized voice interrupts Bright’s thoughts, “T-minus thirty seconds to escape pod ejection. All passengers secure safety restraints and stand by for recoil shock.”

    Unknown to Bright and his pod-mates, Hyo-Kyung Song’s Gellond is a mere one-hundred meters away and closing fast. The Special Forces mobile suits, unable to strike the Gellond without also hitting the crippled Silverthread, are forced the cease fire.

    In Shanghai on Earth, Mirai Noah (nee Yashima) drops a vase she had been cleaning, her head suddenly stricken with a sharp pain.

    Her sixteen-year old daughter, Chieming Noah, notices her mother’s fainting spell and rushes forward to support Mirai, “Mom? Are you OK?”

    “I-I’m all right…,” Mirai says, gathering herself, “I just had this sudden pain and…your father…”

    “Daddy?” Chieming asks worriedly.

    Mirai pales, her eyes widen in horror, “Oh, Chieming. Your father is in grave danger!”

    ************************************************** **********************

    Mugabe Gazi’s spearfighting technique was invented by his ancestors in the African wilderness on Earth many generations ago to subdue savage beasts many times stronger than men, and to overcome human enemies in the close quarters of jungle combat. It is unrelenting and intricate…reflecting thousands of years of progress and refinement in the art of slaying the enemy.

    Athena Ibaz’s beam saber technique combines her military training with the fencing and other European swordfighting techniques she had been trained in as a child, back when millions recognized her as Duchess Minerva Zabi, Sovereign of the Archduchy of Zeon. Those techniques, although developed for warfare centuries ago in medieval Europe, have become more aristocratic sport than combat technique. It is enough to overcome most enemy mobile suit pilots, who typically use the beam saber with the subtlety and refinement of a thug swinging a length of metal pipe in a street rumble, but not enough to defend against the refined strokes of a seasoned warrior such as Mugabe Gazi.

    The beam naginata of Blackbird Two’s Gellond lances forth at the speed of thought towards the cockpit of the Cour de Leon.

    Athena knows that she has absolutely no chance of blocking the incoming strike.

    Death imminent, Athena feels nothing but an ocean of calm. She has anticipated this moment for years.

    She will not take her regrets with her; she will leave them here in this world.

    The beam naginata arcs ever closer.

    Mugabe Gazi smiles with the satisfaction of an imminent kill.

    The tip of the beam saber digs quickly and cleanly into the cockpit, instantly melting the flesh and blood of its pilot.

    In the cockpit of the Cour de Leon, Athena Ibaz blinks in disbelief as the scene unfolds before her. Almost too quickly for the senses to process, 2Lt. Jolie Minh’s Centurion Gundam deftly plunges its activated beam saber deep into the central body of Mugabe Gazi’s Gellond.

    Without pausing to even reclaim its beam saber, the Centurion Gundam dives forth…past Gazi’s immobilized Gellond, beam rifle first, towards where Blackbird Three is about to finish off the space shuttle Silverthread.

    Regaining her senses, Athena directs her Cour de Leon to draw the still-activated beam saber of the Centurion Gundam from where it lies embedded in the overheating and self-destructing Gellond of Blackbird Two.

    The Gellond explodes. Mugabe Gazi, one of the greatest mobile suit pilots in history, is now a part of the eternal cosmos.

    Athena transforms the Cour de Leon to Waverider mode and takes off in the direction where she had seen Jolie’s Centurion Gundam disappear.

    Now, you’ve got me following your lead, Jolie, Athena thinks to herself, a slight smile coming to her beautiful young face.

    A synthesized voice reports, “Thirty seconds to atmospheric contact…”

    The escape pod deploys from the burning wreck of the Silverthread. The sudden dislodgment of the pod from its mothercraft rocks the passengers violently. Momentarily, however, the pod is floating free in space, the blue and white mass of the Earth below it and the black emptiness of space offset by thousands of glittering lights above it.

    Then there is a second, much more violent shock, thrashing the three passengers inside.

    “Seems like something…grabbed us,” Captain Donatelli surmises.

    “Enemy mobile suit,” Bright agrees.

    Hyo-Kyung Song, Blackbird Three, clutches the Silverthread’s deployed escape pod in its one good arm, like a rugby player clutching the all-important gameball.

    The bone-shattering force of Jolie Minh’s Centurion Gundam slamming feet-first into her Gellond forces Song to release the escape pod. The pod plunges closer to the planet, as does Song’s mobile suit.

    “Damn Feddie dog! Die, NOW!”

    Song’s Gellond aims its beam rifle directly at the cockpit of the Centurion Gundam. With a deft maneuver, the Centurion Gundam wrenches the weapon out of the Gellond’s hand. With a grace seemingly impossible for such a massive machine, the Centurion Gundam tosses the Gellond’s weapon back over its shoulder, where it is caught by the metalshod hands of a Moscow Team mobile suit.

    Under Jolie’s direction, the Centurion Gundam pummels Hyo-Kyung Song’s Gellond with a series of powerful blows from its Gundarium fists. The Gellond’s monoeye unit is shattered. The mighty punches snap critical gears and servomotors aboard the Gellond, further immobilizing it.

    Certain now that her enemy is vanquished, Jolie grabs the wreck of the Gellond in one of the Centurion Gundam’s mighty hands. Servomotors straining, the Centurion Gundam throws the Gellond deeper into the grasp of humanity’s mother planet.

    Already critically damaged, the Gellond begins to burn more intensely as its titanium hull scrapes against the ever thickening Terran atmosphere.

    Its combat processing computer seriously damaged, the Gellond can no longer report its systems status to its pilot. Hyo-Kyung Song does not need the computer to tell her, however, that her Gellond’s Vollute system has been severely damaged and will not deploy.

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    Spacecraft and mobile suits lacking the correct aerodynamic profile and heat shielding for atmospheric reentry must use a Vollute (parachute) system to reenter Earth's atmosphere from space. Attempting atmospheric reentry without a Vollute system has inevitable and catastrophic consequences.

    It will be a long, agonizing death unless her enemy possesses the decency to make it otherwise.

    The disembodied voice of Dirk Kirscher seems to speak to Hyo-Kyung gently from somewhere deep in the center of her mind, “We really don’t deserve much decency, Luv. Not after all we’ve done, but the universe is kinder than we’d be.”

    Another voice, Mugabe Gazi’s, adds, “A warrior’s end is not a destiny to flee from. It’s one to be embraced, Hyo-Kyung.”

    Dirk’s voice sounds as if it smiles, “This isn’t the retirement I had in mind, but maybe it’ll be even better. You with us, Luv?”

    Hyo-Kyung smiles weakly and answers through her own voice, “Shortly, my friends. Very shortly.”

    An unbearable heat begins to envelop the Gellond.


    Jolie extracts the Centurion Gundam’s beam rifle and levels it at Hyo-Kyung Song’s slowly disintegrating Gellond. Her enemy is beaten, but true to Hyo-Kyung’s hopes, Jolie is a soldier with a deep sense of decency. Knowing how slow, painful, and terrifying it would be to die burning through atmospheric re-entry, Jolie shows Hyo-Kyung Song the one act of mercy she can.

    The Centurion Gundam opens fire with its beam rifle.

    The Gellond of Blackbird Three, Hyo-Kyung Song, is vaporized immediately, along with its pilot.

    The Blackbirds are reunited in the eternal tranquility of death.

    The Centurion Gundam’s combat computer reports, “Atmospheric contact in thirty seconds. Vollute System deploying.”

    Episode 6 to be continued...

  2. #142
    Senior Member ghostdarTeal'c's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    1. What do you like most about this story?
    - i would say the interaction between Athena and her superiors......the fact that she's only 19 and knows what the heck she's doing......


    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    2. What do you like least about this story?
    - the names! the bloody confusing names!! and not to mention there are too many important characters to remember, of which i usually skip the explanation to.... i know it's important but i just dont fancy of reading up the entire history/background of each the characters


    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    3, Do you find the writing style enjoyable to read? If not, what do you believe could be better?
    - im still adjusting the the present tense writing style....LOL but overall is okay i guess.....the flow of the battle could be more detailed, as i mentioned before....


    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    4. Are there certain elements of the story that you believe should be removed or modified?
    - hmm....i havent thought of that yet...


    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    5. Is there anything that you would like to see added to the story (so far)?
    - oh yes,

    1. more normal fight scene, what i mean here is the non-mobilesuit ones.....i dont know, it just hard to keep track of the functions and weapons of the mobile suits....plus, i fancy more of physical bodily contact than the metal contact more blood would be preferable...

    2. more of Athena scenes....well, from the flow i can see that Athena and Jolie are the main leads, but it just makes me go everytime i read of how powerful/badass/special Jolie is.....i dont know, i just like Athena better than Jolie, well, that's probably cuz she's more military than the little brat....and id prefer to read more of her than Jolie's. but of course, i know you cant possibly cater to all the readers' preference....

    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    6. Do you find the characters in the story interesting and well-developed?
    - i guess so....


    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    7. Who is your favorite character (or characters) in the story? What makes this character compelling to you?
    - please refer to Q#5

    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    8. Who is your least favorite character in this story? How do you think this character can be improved?
    - i'll reserve this question for later....err, i can do that, right?


    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    9. What do you hope to see in upcoming chapters of the story?
    - more athena!!! more fights with skin-contacts (i know this is quite impossible since most of the fights are done in mobile suits, but wont hurt to ask, right?)


    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    10. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being best, 1 being worst), how would you rate the story so far?
    - id give 6 for now....


    oii, am i the only one doing this questionaire?
    Last edited by ghostdarTeal'c; 05-14-07 at 12:43 PM.
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  3. #143
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    First, thanks for reading and taking time to respond to the questionaire. Your feedback is going to be very helpful to me as I further develop and refine the story and characters.


    Quote Originally Posted by ghostdarTeal'c View Post
    - i would say the interaction between Athena and her superiors......the fact that she's only 19 and knows what the heck she's doing......
    Ah...excellent. I loved crafting these scenes and I'd been worried that people would overlook them. These scenes are important character development bits for Athena. Her relationships with her superior officers are strategic and mutually exploitative: as their subordinate, she naturally must serve their objectives, but what her senior officers don't know is that she's also using them for her own objectives...which will become more clear as the story moves on.


    Quote Originally Posted by ghostdarTeal'c View Post
    -
    - the names! the bloody confusing names!! and not to mention there are too many important characters to remember, of which i usually skip the explanation to.... i know it's important but i just dont fancy of reading up the entire history/background of each the characters
    That's one thing GUNDAM has in common with Jin Yong: the stories tend to have a cast of thousands (well, not literally, but you get my drift), and often, even the various minor characters get developed almost as much as the leads.

    That's all right, however. Not all the characters will have great significance, and the ones who do you'll get to know because they keep appearing in the story.

    Why the names are so unusual: in Japanese anime, characters are often given names that aren't Japanese, but aren't quite Western in the conventional sense either. For some of my original characters, I've stuck to that unique GUNDAM convention.


    Quote Originally Posted by ghostdarTeal'c View Post
    -
    - im still adjusting the the present tense writing style....LOL but overall is okay i guess.....the flow of the battle could be more detailed, as i mentioned before....
    Working on those more detailed battle scenes. Maybe you can still help me here.

    The choice to go present tense was a very deliberate one. I want to present the story as happening "in the now," so to speak. It gives the story a sense of urgency that it might like if written in past tense. I think it helps create the impression that no one knows what might happen next.

    - oh yes,

    1. more normal fight scene, what i mean here is the non-mobilesuit ones.....i dont know, it just hard to keep track of the functions and weapons of the mobile suits....plus, i fancy more of physical bodily contact than the metal contact more blood would be preferable...
    The good news for you is that as the story goes on, you will be seeing more non-mecha action to go along with the mecha action. I'm not going to give away any spoilers, but somewhere way down the line (and I do mean quite a ways; you might not be reading about it until early next year if I keep going at my current pace), one of our characters will be sustaining quite a bit of blood loss).

    I'm probably going to have to post up a FAQ on the general capabilities of mobile suits. For the most part, all mobile suits have a hand-held long-range beam weapon (a gun, basically, called the beam rifle) and a close-in weapon (the beam saber, which is essentially a giant light saber for giant robots). Those are standard items. Different mobile suits will have different equipment.

    The GUNDAM anime series, being on television, had to restrain their use of gore (although they were still bloodier than anything shown on American youth programming at the time). The manga tend to be gorier. I try not to overdo it. Did you like the scene of the original Centurion Team Leader, Rick Tinnes, getting killed? The poor bastard was impaled by a utility vehicle.

    I also hope you caught on to the fact that Athena deliberately set him to get killed. She knew what was coming, but chose not to tell him (i.e. she wanted him killed so that she could get the position of Centurion Leader). Athena can be a heartless b*tch sometimes when she has a goal in mind (at least, she starts out that way).

    Quote Originally Posted by ghostdarTeal'c View Post
    -
    2. more of Athena scenes....well, from the flow i can see that Athena and Jolie are the main leads, but it just makes me go everytime i read of how powerful/badass/special Jolie is.....i dont know, i just like Athena better than Jolie, well, that's probably cuz she's more military than the little brat....and id prefer to read more of her than Jolie's. but of course, i know you cant possibly cater to all the readers' preference....
    Heh. This is great, though. Sheraldine has said that she's more of a Jolie fan. Athena doesn't interest her as much. That's very close to what I'm hoping for. I designed Athena and Jolie as a set of contrasts: ice and fire, with enough similarities that the two could still find plenty of common ground. I think most readers will tend to like one character or the other depending on their personalities and experiences. Athena is the refined, elegant, slick professional while Jolie is the wild, undisciplined firebrand. Both characters will change and grow through the course of the story. As you read on, your opinions of the two characters might change. Athena and Jolie must both come to terms with their pasts and grow up.

    You might be wondering why I have so many smoking and drinking scenes for Athena and Jolie. Early on, I want to emphasize that both of them are fairly bad girls (not bad people deep down inside, but deeply troubled). They are products of their backgrounds and the twenty years of war that have devastated their world. The military has many young women in it because many of the young men have been killed in earlier wars. As Athena and Jolie develop over the course of the story, however, we see them improve as people in various ways.

    But things get much worse for both of them before they get better. The journey to self-discovery for both of them will not be painless or without setbacks.

    Quote Originally Posted by ghostdarTeal'c View Post
    -
    - i'll reserve this question for later....err, i can do that, right?

    Quote Originally Posted by ghostdarTeal'c View Post
    -
    - more athena!!! more fights with skin-contacts (i know this is quite impossible since most of the fights are done in mobile suits, but wont hurt to ask, right?)
    You're going to really love Episode 7. It's a very Athena-oriented episode.

    There will be non-mobile suit fights coming up in future episodes. What forms these will take I won't spoil now.


    Quote Originally Posted by ghostdarTeal'c View Post
    -
    - id give 6 for now....
    Fair enough. At this point, you really can't give it a higher score...not when the best is yet to come.


    Quote Originally Posted by ghostdarTeal'c View Post
    -oii, am i the only one doing this questionaire?
    Sheraldine said she'll do it too, although she won't specify *when*.

    I'm hoping the other "silent" readers will break their silence too.


    Thanks so much for responding. We'll revisit this questionnaire in a few months after I've posted and you've read several more chapters.

  4. #144
    Senior Member sheraldine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    You're going to really love Episode 7. It's a very Athena-oriented episode. Sheraldine said she'll do it too, although she won't specify *when*.
    does that mean i have to skip episod 7, ken, since i m more jolie-oriented?

    as for your questionaire, i m what tolkien described his ent(s), "do not be hasty" i went thru the list and since i m not familiar with gundam, although i seen some books in malaysia bookstore and countless of gundam fanfiction (www.fanfiction.net) i never really into it. since i m here as beginner, why dont you and i come to an understanding, ken, the sooner you finish the earlier i answer them?? (see ghost, my dealing with ken is betta than your whipping )

    J/K!!!! dont be at me, guys. seriously it is a bit too early for me to answer. usually, viewers and readers reserved comments until the end of a movie/story, but for you, i shall do so earlier but not now . back to your recent chapter, i thought mugabe really "toying" with athena but your next line calmed me down. although rather impressive, not someone i want "toying" with athena. told you before, ken - we ladies has plenty to say on such matter
    Last edited by sheraldine; 05-16-07 at 01:50 AM.

  5. #145
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Episode 6 continued

    Over half of the twenty-five escort MS from the Special Forces were lost to the Blackbirds’ attack. Of these, four pilots were able to bail out of their mobile suits alive, and now await rescue. The remaining pilots were killed in action, including the commanding officers of the Moscow and Xerxes Teams.

    Nine young lives, twelve including the Blackbirds, snuffed out in an instant. Thousands of manhours of training and preparation, lost with a gesture. Grieving parents, siblings, lovers, and friends on Earth and in space, their sorrows to be borne for the remainder of their days.

    All so the bureaucrats who rule the Earth Federation Government could deliberate ineffectually about the “Spacenoid Problem” that has bedeviled them for decades.

    Two Magellan-class warships from the Earth Federation Forces Whampoa Base in Shanghai approach the descending Federal Forces convoy from Garrison Noah. Two squads of GM-IV mobile suits stream forth from the Magellan-class cruisers Ghostwind and Taggert.

    Typically, they have arrived too late to be of any help. Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of the Special Forces, it makes no difference…not this time, anyway.

    A message is received by the shuttle Nightwing, the escape pod of the destroyed shuttle Silverthread, and the remaining mobile suits of the Special Forces, “This is Captain Leonard Stern of Whampoa Escort Squad. Sorry we were late, General Noah, General Blackhead. Severe weather at Whampoa Base prevented us from lifting off in time. The extreme cold was preventing us from igniting our main boosters.”

    However legitimate that excuse might or might not be, Generals Noah and Blackhead are in no mood to hear it. Recriminations, however, could wait for later. For the moment, the only priority is landing the convoy safely at Whampoa Base.

    General Noah transmits a message back to the Ghostwind, “Captain Stern. We’ll be docking with the Ghostwind. Please send an escort.”

    “Roger that, General Noah,” comes Stern’s reply, then his order, “Escort Squadron Units T-16 and T-18: retrieve the escape pod of the Silverthread and bring it safely aboard the Ghostwind immediately. All remaining units guard our flank as we re-enter the atmosphere."

    In response, two GM-IVs from the escort squad attach magnetic clamp cables to the descending escape pod, stabilizing its azimuth and halting its freefall. The two Federation mobile suits then proceed to draw the pod into the hangar bay of the Ghostwind.

    The remaining GM-IVs, twenty-five in number, form a metaphorical titanium curtain behind the descending convoy, guarding against possible further attacks by enemy forces.

    The escape pods secured aboard the Ghostwind, Captain Stern issues a new order, “Escort Squad prepare for re-entry. ETA at Whampoa Base in T-minus fifteen minutes and counting.”


    Elsewhere, the surviving mobile suits of the Special Forces are re-entering Earth’s atmosphere via their deployed Vollute systems. The only mobile suit not deploying a Vollute is Captain Athena Ibaz’s Cour De Leon, whose aerodynamic Waverider configuration obviates the need for re-entry by Vollute.

    “This …freakin’….hurts…!” Jolie’s voice grunts through the comlink.

    Athena, calm and cool as always, says gently, “Relax. Let yourself go limp. Don’t try to fight the gees. You’ll only make it worse.”

    Following her best friend and superior officer’s advice, which has never gotten her into trouble before, Jolie forces herself to stop straining against the gravitational forces around her. Her muscles relax. Her mind goes limp. She feels herself floating despite the increase of gravity.

    The stars begin to dim. Soon, Jolie notices vapor clouds around her Centurion Gundam. There is also sound…the friction of metal against air, so clamorous compared to the silence of space. As gravity increasingly exerts its force upon her, Jolie’s tiny body begins to feel impossibly heavy. It is as if an invisible hand had placed a boulder on top of her.

    All around the Centurion Gundam, various spacecraft and mobile suits of the Earth Federation Forces make similar descents into the atmosphere of Mother Earth. The planet embraces them, but not gently. Passengers and pilots alike brace themselves as retro-thrusters engage and combine with the swollen Vollutes to further brake the war machines’ descent into the atmosphere.

    Aboard the Cour De Leon, the mobile suit’s combat computer intones “Altitude 35,000 meters…30,000….25,000.”

    Athena opens communications channels to all Special Forces mobile suit pilots, “This is Centurion Leader to all Special Forces Units. After we’ve touched down, remember to wait for disembarkation gantries to deploy before de-manning mobile suits.”

    Although that consideration would seem, on first impression. to be mere common sense it’s this kind of attention to detail and presence of mind that make Athena one of the Federal Forces’ finest officers. The pilots of the Special Forces are mostly Spacenoids. These young men and women were born and raised in space, and are accustomed to low-gravity or zero-gravity environments. Many of them have never visited Earth before. Failure to bear that in mind has caused no shortage of mishaps to first-time visitors to Earth.

    Moreover, Athena thinks to herself with an amused smile, if I let the greatest piloting prodigy of our generation fall to her death getting out of her mobile suit, I’d be the most ludicrous war criminal ever!

    Athena notes that she no longer hears Jolie grunting, complaining, or cursing through the tac net. Either Jolie has successfully found a way to cope with the G-forces of re-entry, or she’s passed out. Athena considers the latter possibility more likely.

    Either way, she would know soon. Touchdown ETA is now fewer than five minutes away.

    Several dozen glittering objects descend into the clear, cold sky over Shanghai, China, like a shower of falling meteors.


    At a sidewalk café located on the famous Bund in Shanghai, a young man looks up into the dark, starry skies high above the city. He sees the telltale contrails of the incoming Federal Forces convoy streaking by, en rout to landing at Whampoa Base some forty kilometers outside of the city limits.

    Looks like he’s managed to survive, at least for now, Hathaway Noah muses.

    His father. His enemy. His prey.


    END OF EPISODE 6

    COMING SOON: EPISODE 7 – “WINTER'S WARMTH”

  6. #146
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sheraldine View Post
    does that mean i have to skip episod 7, ken, since i m more jolie-oriented?
    If you skip Episode 7, you'll be skipping the episode that I think most of the lady readers (if there are any other than you, that is) will probably most enjoy (to date, anyway). There'll be more mobile suit mayhem in Episode 7, but the focus of the next episode will be...could it be? Romance.

    "What?!" you might say. Ken "I hate mushy ROCH Yeung Gor and Little Dragon Girl, Yuck!" Cheng is going to write a LOVE STORY? Well...you'll just have to wait and see.

    Jolie will be an important character in Episode 7, but the focus of 7 will be Athena...and a certain young man who appeared briefly at the end of Chapter 6.

    Quote Originally Posted by sheraldine View Post
    as for your questionaire, i m what tolkien described his ent(s), "do not be hasty" i went thru the list and since i m not familiar with gundam, although i seen some books in malaysia bookstore and countless of gundam fanfiction (www.fanfiction.net) i never really into it. since i m here as beginner, why dont you and i come to an understanding, ken, the sooner you finish the earlier i answer them?? (see ghost, my dealing with ken is betta than your whipping )
    Quote Originally Posted by sheraldine View Post
    J/K!!!! dont be at me, guys. seriously it is a bit too early for me to answer. usually, viewers and readers reserved comments until the end of a movie/story, but for you, i shall do so earlier but not now . back to your recent chapter, i thought mugabe really "toying" with athena but your next line calmed me down. although rather impressive, not someone i want "toying" with athena. told you before, ken - we ladies has plenty to say on such matter
    Heh. Well, in the end, Mugabe Gazi *almost* did defeat Athena. If it had been a gunfight with beam rifles, Athena would have won because she's an excellent markswoman (perhaps the only mobile suit pilot on any side who can equal Jolie). In using the beam saber, Athena is also better than most, but Gazi was better than her. Fortunately, Jolie showed up in time to bail Athena out.

    In the next episode, there will be toying of a different kind. Stay tuned.

  7. #147
    Senior Member sheraldine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    Looks like he’s managed to survive, at least for now, Hathaway Noah muses.

    His father. His enemy. His prey.
    dont tease, ken

    no i dont agree with your ken "I hate mushy ROCH Yeung Gor and Little Dragon Girl, Yuck!" cheng, but ken "ah, yg/xln as my punching bags, great!" cheng.

    i never doubted your ability on romance, just surprise that you could write love scene without puking , or did you?

  8. #148
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    Quote Originally Posted by sheraldine View Post

    no i dont agree with your ken "I hate mushy ROCH Yeung Gor and Little Dragon Girl, Yuck!" cheng, but ken "ah, yg/xln as my punching bags, great!" cheng.
    You know me too well.

    Quote Originally Posted by sheraldine View Post
    i never doubted your ability on romance, just surprise that you could write love scene without puking , or did you?
    No, because I did it *my* way (I sound like Frank Sinatra here): not TVB's way or anybody else's way. I'm not so much against romance as I am the way it's often portrayed in films and television (especially Asian drama). For some reason, people in love in Asian dramas start acting like they're brain dead...or stuck in junior high school. That stuff *does* make me sick.

    Some mild spoilers here, to explain what I'm getting at. Don't highlight if you don't want to be spoiled.

    click to show/hide spoilers
    Athena (aged 19) and Hathaway (aged 18) are very young, but they each have more maturity than people ten years their senior. In my depiction of their relationship, I try to emphasize that. Nevertheless, although Athena and Hathaway have greater maturity and intelligence than most people their age, they are both up against feelings that neither is prepared to handle...and complicating that are the political and objective differences between them. Suffice to say, what happens between them will be bittersweet, and leave both of them changed.


    I'm currently typing up Chapter 7. I'll post the newest update when the time is right (can't say when that is, but it will be soon). Things begin to get interesting on many levels. Much of the basic setup is done now, and the REAL story can actually proceed.

  9. #149
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    EPISODE 7: WINTER’S WARMTH

    The Special Forces mobile suits still capable of walking (which is most of them) march into a hangar that has been hastily cleared of surplus materials to accommodate them. The old storage facility has not been used for years, except to store scrap metal and spare parts, but facility management crews utilizing worker mobile suits are making space for the one dozen plus mobile suits of the Special Forces units, now confined Earthside until transports can be arranged to return them to their base at Garrison Noah in Side 7. Captain Athena Ibaz has heard from a Whampoa Base official that it will be at least a few days before that can be arranged…perhaps as long as a week or longer.

    Such is the inefficiency of the Earth Federation Forces in general in these times.

    Ninety minutes pass before portable lift gantry crews arrive to enable the Special Forces mobile suit pilots to de-man their mecha. It is already 02:37. The Centurion Team has been awake and on duty for over twenty-two hours. As elite troops, they are trained to function effectively for up to seventy-two hours without sleep, if necessary, but that does not mean that the long hours are not grueling…especially after that life-or-death battle and atmospheric re-entry they have just endured.

    Only five lift vehicles are available to service twelve mobile suits. On the average, it takes five minutes for each vehicle to disembark a mobile suit pilot from his or her mecha. Athena instructs the other pilots to disembark first and proceed to post-mission processing. She and Jolie will be last.

    It is 03:21 by the time that Athena disembarks from the Cour de Leon. The air in the hangar is cold. It is early November, but winter has arrived early in Shanghai this year. Athena had the Cour de Leon’s communications receiver tuned into local radio while waiting for the lift vehicle, and heard that snow was expected in the coming days.

    Great time for us to get stranded down here, Athena reflects wryly.

    This is not Athena’s first visit to Earth. She first came to the mother planet as a young child of nine. She remembers riding in a stately limousine escorted by over a dozen security vehicles on a wide boulevard in Dakar, Senegal…then the Earth Federation Government’s capital city on the planet. A gathering of hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets of Dakar that day to greet her arrival on Earth as the Sovereign of the Neo Zeon Empire. There were no protesters on the street that day. Lady Haman Khan’s security forces had seen to that.

    $this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9673/ep27asm5.jpg')

    Nine-year old Duchess Minerva Zabi triumphantly arriving in the Earth Federation Government capital of Dakar, Senegal, after the Neo Zeon Empire briefly overran and forced the surrender of the Earth Federation Government during U.C. 0088.

    At that age, Athena had been too young, too naďve, and too far in the thrall of her caretaker, Lady Haman, to fully appreciate what was being done to her. As Duchess Minerva, Athena had been the cute, smiling puppet of an evil woman and her militaristic cohorts. Athena had been used to bring an innocent, adorable face to the evil of the Zabi Family…to lead the people of Earth to believe that they were dealing with a kinder, more humane Archduchy of Zeon that they had during the One Year War. Duchess Minerva Zabi was used as a mask for Lady Haman Khan’s imperial ambitions.

    Athena shudders, zipping up the parka she had taken along in anticipation of a forced landing in Shanghai. Athena is uncertain if the chill she feels comes from the environment around her, or from her memories of those dark days.

    Athena had also spent some time on Earth after she came into the care Colonel Char Aznable. For about two year’s time, she lived with Colonel Char at the home of his adoptive family, the Masses, in Switzerland. Mr. and Mrs. Mass were very kindhearted people, and they treated Athena as if she were their own grandchild…not caring that she was the descendent of militaristic zealots whose ambitions had slain billions. Of this period on Earth, Athena has warmer, more pleasant memories: the green grass and multihued flowers that graced the slopes of the lower Alps in spring and summertime, and the beautiful crystal clear nights over a carpet of milk-white snow during the winters. It was perhaps the happiest period of Athena’s childhood.

    Since then, there have been one or two training missions on Earth during her years at the Earth Federation Forces Officer’s Academy. Athena remembered that in one training mission during her first year at the academy, she was part of a unit that conducted a simulation re-entry combat exercise not unlike the battle that she and her Centurion Team members had participated in a few short hours ago. They had landed near the Federal Forces’ California Hickory Base during that particular mission, and in the following days’ R&R time, Athena even had the opportunity to visit the ancient Earth cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

    Athena comes out of these reflections as she spots Jolie, who is standing at the foot of the Centurion Gundam, neck craned forward and hand leaning against the mecha for support. Jolie is panting and looks a little pale.

    “Are you all right?” Athena asks with concern.

    Jolie waves Athena off, bends over, and vomits onto the cold concrete ground of the hangar. The half-digested milky remains of the previous evening’s dinner at the officer’s commissary are unrecognizable.

    Athena places a comforting and supportive arm around Jolie’s waist as the teenager continues retching up the contents of her stomach.

    “I’m OK,” Jolie says after a minute, wiping her mouth with the back of her gloved hand, “Ugh…one of these days, I’ll be able to get out of one of these cockpits without needing medical attention.”

    Athena pulls out her handkerchief and helps Jolie wipe the remaining residue from the corner of the pretty teenager’s mouth. As if on cue, a pair of Medical Corps staffers stops by with an ambulance vehicle.

    One of the medics approaches the pair and salutes them, “Captain, Lieutenant. Ma’am, do either of you need medical assistance? Can we give you transportation to the medical complex?”

    Athena checks with Jolie again, “Sure you’re OK?”

    Jolie nods, “I’m fine.”

    Athena tells the medical staffer, “We’re all right, but we’ll take you up on that ride to the medical complex. Is the rest of my crew there?”

    “Yes, ma’am,” the medical staffer reports, “all Special Forces personnel are now at the medical complex undergoing checks or receiving treatment for wounds sustained during the battle.”

    “Very well, Sergeant,” Athena says, “let’s get over there, then…”

    “Ma’am,” the medical sergeant salutes.

    Athena and Jolie board the ambulance and are taken to the medical complex.


    At the same time, General Bright Noah and General Manron Blackhead are being whisked via executive limousine to an emergency conference with the Earth Federation Government Deliberative Council. The two generals were originally not to have met with the high officials of the civilian government until the following day, but the attack on the generals as they traveled to Earth from Side 7 has necessitated a change of plans. Earth Federation Government officials are roused from their sleep by aides, and quickly shower and dress to attend the emergency conference.

    The ISRLA has become increasingly brazen in its attacks. Despite Dr. Sayla Mass’s claims of wishing for peaceful coexistence with the Earth Federation Government, the ISRLA appears to becoming more, not less aggressive in its stance towards the Federation. Many in the Earth Federation Forces and the civilian government believe that the ISRLA must secretly be receiving Zeon support from the Outer Solar System.

    The ISR’s propaganda wing is also becoming increasingly potent. Some eighteen months ago, the ISR had begun disseminating its message through a media apparatus dubbed the Cislunar Free Media Bankrolled by such financiers as Anaheim Enterprises (the world’s largest technological corporation, manufacturing mobile suits and space battleships among other items), the Luo Company (a trading house that supported the AEUG and Karaba during the Gryps Conflict), the government of Side 6, the Zeon warlords of the Outer Solar System, and other business and political entities not on the friendliest terms with the Earth Federation Government, the CFM initially built up a great underground following, and is now increasingly making its presence felt in the mainstream media. The Earth Federation Government regards the CFM as a dangerous subversive entity, but is wary of taking overt steps to shut it down out of a legitimate fear that doing so would further galvanize public opinion in the space colonies against the Federation.

    Although increasingly influential, the CFM operates with a relatively small, mobile staff, making it difficult for the Earth Federation Government to track its activities. Although it maintains a head office in Zum City on Side 3, the CFM’s staff of several dozen investigative reporters, photojournalists, writers, and editors is widely dispersed across the Earth Sphere and are constantly on the move. The stock and trade of the CFM are investigative reports that reveal the corruption, inefficacy, and often outright cruelty of the Earth Federation Government towards the space-based population. These have caused a great deal of embarrassment for the Federation, and stoke the flames of anti-Federation sentiment in the space colonies. In response, the Federation has quietly arrested and imprisoned several CFM staffers, but stopped this practice after the CFM took advantage of the Federation’s move to further depict the Federation as suppressors of Spacenoid rights. All in all, the CFM is a considerable thorn in the side of the Earth Federation Government, especially the Earth Federation Forces, which the CFM typically portrays alternately as an army of incompetents or murderous thugs.

    The CFM is nominally headed by Kai Shiden, the ISR’s Chief of Intelligence and Information. Its day-to-day operations, however, are actually managed by a woman named Linda Ackerman, whose acerbic anti-Federation op-ed writings have enjoyed great popularity with the Spacenoid population. Hardly a week passes by without a new investigative report or opinion piece from the ISR outlining the Federation’s many crimes against space colonists.

    One of the brightest lights on the CFM staff is a reporter/writer going by the pen name of “Mafty.” Nobody outside of the CFM’s inner circle knows who Mafty really is, but many surmise that he or she must have once been a Federation or Zeon intelligence agent. Mafty has demonstrated an uncanny ability to discover and expose many of the Earth Federation Government and the Earth Federation Forces’ deepest, darkest secrets. In recent months, Mafty has exposed a secret plan by the Earth Federation Forces to construct a base in neutral and independent Side 6…a plan that has now been cancelled due to the great public outrage. A year ago, several high-ranking Earth Federation Government officials were forced to resign from office after Mafty exposed them as having accepted Zeon bribes for illicit supply and weapons trades. Most recently, Mafty has broadcast a profile piece on one of the Earth Federation Forces’ most famous and beloved figures, General Bright Noah. To the people of Earth and colonies loyal to the Federation, Bright Noah is a hero…a man who has bravely and skillfully led many battles against the Zeon and Titans during the past twenty years. Mafty’s interpretation of the war hero, however, casts him in a much more negative light…showing Bright Noah as a heartless leader unconcerned with the lives of the people under his command, an ineffectual bureaucrat betraying his own Spacenoid heritage to be the running dog of his Earth Federation Government masters, and a sorry excuse for a family man who has abandoned his wife and children in the name of adventure and glory.

    Mafty’s view of General Bright Noah is undoubtedly biased against the general, but if the general public were aware of Mafty’s true identity, it would likely give great credence to what Mafty has to say about Bright Noah – because Mafty is none other than Hathaway Noah, Bright Noah’s firstborn son.

    Episode 7 to be continued...

  10. #150
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    Episode 7 continued

    Scarcely six hours after touching down on Earth, the Centurion Team is lined up in their new, temporary home in a military dormitory at Whampoa Base, receiving new orders from Captain Athena Ibaz.

    “The conference is expected to last ten days,” Athena informs her unit, “during this time, security forces from Whampoa Base will be providing primary security for Generals Noah and Blackhead. The Special Forces will provide secondary security.”

    This news is received by the team with quiet enthusiasm. These orders mean that the team will have the opportunity for some downtime. Unless there is a major mobile suit assault on Shanghai (unlikely, considering the Federation’s concentration of strength at Whampoa Base), the team is unlikely to see deployment. The team is looking forward to some R&R time on the mother planet, which most of them had not visited before now.

    They should have known better.

    “We’ll be spending the unexpected downtime training for Earthside operations and reevaluating our battle tactics,” Athena announces, “I’m expecting each of you to spend the day working with the engineers and technicians in the repair and upgrade of your mobile suits, which will receive modifications for Earthside combat.”

    The team groans inwardly, but replies with a sharp “Yes, ma’am,” knowing that Athena would tolerate no protests.

    Athena is a demanding commander, but she is by no means heartless or insensitive to the needs of the people under her command. To conclude the issuing of new orders, Athena adds with a grin, “Upon the completion of your duties at 17:00, you have a pass for R&R time, which you may spend here on the base or in Shanghai, provided you return to base by 22:00.”

    At that point, a young liaison officer of Whampoa Base approaches and salutes Athena, “Captain Ibaz, ma’am. General Noah and General Blackhead request your presence at the security conference.”

    That comes as a surprise. A mere Special Forces captain is unlikely to be asked to attend such a high-level security conference. Athena reasons that it is probably a consequence of the ISRLA assault on the re-entry convoy.

    “Very well,” Athena tells the liaison officer. Turning to Jolie, Athena says, “2Lt. Minh, you are in command.”

    “Who, me?” Jolie says, rudely awakened from some adolescent daydream.

    Athena fixes a stern glare at Jolie, then tells her, “Yes, Lieutenant. You’re in charge of the squad until I return from the conference. Make sure my orders are carried out, understand?”

    Jolie salutes, “Yes, ma’am.”

    Athena returns the salute and departs with the liaison officer to where Generals Noah and Blackhead await them.

    Boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy Jolie thinks to herself, this is the first time I’ve actually been in command…on my own. What if I screw up? What should I do?”

    Jolie turns to see the Centurion Team looking expectantly towards her.

    I can do this, Jolie tells herself, I used to be a girl’s softball team captain in Fourth Grade!

    “What the hell are all of you looking at?” Jolie says to the squad with her best imitation of Athena’s stern scowl, “You heard the woman: go and help the techs with your mobile suits!”

    “Yes, ma’am!” the Centurions salute, departing to follow the orders given by Athena and executed by Jolie.

    Jolie watches the team disperse on her orders. She smiles, Hah! Being in command is cool!


    At the Noah home in the suburbs of Shanghai, Chieming Noah is checking messages on her personal Datapad. Her father had sent a message saying that he would be home to join Chieming and her mother, Mirai, some time tomorrow.

    Chieming sighs. She has seen precious little of her father during her sixteen years. Chieming’s father is a hero to billions of people whose lives and freedom he has fought gallantly to protect, but to Chieming, he has been an absentee parent who has spent more time with comrades-at-arms than with his family.

    $this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/2230/01mirairu9.jpg')

    Mirai Noah, Hathaway Noah, and Chieming Noah in U.C. 0087. As Bright was often off on adventures fighting the Titans and Zeon in space, Mirai was left to raise their two children, Hathaway and Chieming alone.

    Chieming adores both her parents, and although her father has seldom been with her during the past eleven years, she respects the work he does to keep her and the rest of the people on Earth and in the space colonies safe from terrorists such as the Zeon, Titans, or ISRLA. She also, however, harbors some anger towards her father…anger for having cast her beloved brother, Hathaway, out of the family’s life. Anger at his stubbornness and unwillingness to forgive a mistake that his son made in a moment of passion.

    It was in U.C. 0093, during the Second Neo Zeon War, when Hathaway, enraged at seeing Quess Parayana, a fractious Newtype girl of sixteen with whom he had become infatuated, slain by the Federal Forces’ engineer 2Lt. Chan Agi, then the lover of famed Federal Forces Newtype and mobile suit pilot Amuro Ray, killed Chan in a moment of anger. Hathaway was charged with the murder of a Federal Forces officer…a crime that, committed in a time of war, made him eligible for the death penalty. Bright was able to use his status and influence in the Earth Federation Forces to spare his son’s life, but wanted nothing more to do with the boy. Bright threw Hathaway out of the family, forcing him to leave and telling him never to return.

    Chieming remembers the day, some five years ago, when her brother was expelled from the family.



    The hand of Bright Noah had stricken many an insubordinate soldier during the many wars he had fought in. Amuro Ray, Camille Vidan, Judau Ashta, Kai Shiden, Katsu Kobayashi – all of them had tasted the back of Bright’s hand or the knuckles of his fist in moments of insubordination.

    None of those blows, however, were stricken with as much anger as Colonel Bright Noah now unleashes upon the young face of his firstborn, thirteen year old Hathaway Noah.

    “You killed a good woman and a fine officer!” Bright roars, “I don’t know how you can live with yourself after what you’ve done! Lt. Agi was your friend too! She protected you and took care of you while carrying out her duties, and you repay her by killing her!”

    Hathaway matches his father’s wrath with his own, “You! Don’t try to lay the blame on me! You were the one who killed Chan, and Amuro, and Quess! Char Aznable was right about you and about the Federation! All of you are murderers! You’re willing to kill so that you can continue to rule over the world’s people!”

    Bright responds to Hathaway’s accusations with another slap, “Preposterous nonsense! Count yourself lucky that Captain Amuro didn’t return from the last mission! If he had known what you did to Lt. Agi!”

    “Captain Amuro,” Hathaway sneers, “I can’t believe that I used to think of that guy as some great hero. He was just as bad as you and the rest of them! I’m glad he died!”

    “You…!” Bright bares his teeth at his son, cocking his fist for a blow sure to knock out some teeth.

    Mirai Noah, who has been fretfully watching on the sidelines, tearfully stops her husband from striking the devastating blow, “Bright, don’t! Please! He’s your son!”

    Chieming Noah, then a slight girl of twelve years, begs her father, “Daddy, please! Don’t hit big brother anymore! He’ll be good!”

    “He’s no son of mine,” Bright says angrily, but relaxes his fist.

    Hathaway Noah spits at the man he no longer respects as his father.

    Bright considers slapping the boy again, but thinks better of it. Instead, the veteran Federal Forces officer says quietly, “Pack your things. I want you out of my house in thirty minutes, do you understand? Get out of this house and don’t ever come back again. From today onward, you are no one to us. If I see you here after thirty minutes, I swear I’ll shoot you personally.”

    “Fine,” Hathaway says, rising from the chair in which he had been sitting. Pointing at Bright, Hathaway says menacingly, “But remember this, old man: I’ll make you pay one day. I swear, I’ll make you pay.”

    To emphasize his point, Hathaway picks up a ceramic vase from a nearby shelf and hurls it at Bright. Bright dodges the missile, and begins charging at his son, who disappears into his bedroom to pack his possessions.

    Mirai stops him, “Bright, please!”

    Bright comforts his wife, “I’m sorry, Mirai. Hathaway has committed a crime that I can’t forgive. I can’t tolerate him in this family anymore.”

    Chieming runs into her older brother’s bedroom, where the young man tearfully packs some clothing and a few other items into a small valise.

    “Big Brother,” Chieming sobs, “where are you gonna go?”

    “I don’t know sis,” Hathaway says, brushing way tears as he packs his luggage, “the universe is a big place. I’ll find my way.”

    “Will I ever see you again?” the girl asks.

    “Maybe not,” the boy replies.

    Chieming hugs her older brother, “Hathaway, please don’t go! I don’t want you to leave! Mommy doesn’t want you to leave either!”

    “Sis, I’ve got no choice,” Hathaway says, “that bastard you call ‘father’ will kill me if I stay. I don’t need him any more than he needs me.”

    Chieming, knowing that she cannot stop her brother from leaving, must nonetheless know one thing from him, “Big Brother, what you said about making Daddy pay. You don’t really mean that, do you?”

    Hathaway Noah does not reply to his sister’s question. He closes his valise and heads out the door.

    Hathaway sees his parents whispering quietly to each other as he enters the living room of his childhood home for the last time. They turn to him.

    Hathaway points an accusing finger at his father, “Remember this, Bright Noah: the next time you see me, I’ll be the last person you ever see. I swear it.”

    Hathaway leaves the house, his younger sister and mother chasing him in vain.

    Bright Noah sinks to his knees and sobs.


    It was the saddest day in Chieming Noah’s life. Since then, Hathaway Noah has returned to Shanghai to visit her and her mother once or twice…always under highly secret circumstances and without the knowledge of her father. These visits, however, are rare and usually quite brief. She has not heard from him in over eighteen months.

    Until now.

    $this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/2092/hathawayflashgg8.jpg')

    The Noah Family, circa U.C. 0098. From left to right: General Bright Noah, Hathaway Noah, Mirai Yashima Noa, Chieming Noah

    Chieming Noah receives a message on her Datapad from “Dean James,” one of her brother’s many aliases: “Sis: I’m in town. Let’s have dinner together. Eternal Spring Bistro on Joffre Street, 7:00 p.m. tonight.”

    Chieming smiles. She always looks forward to get-togethers with her brother. They grew up together, after all, and were very close during their childhood years.

    Episode 7 to be continued...

  11. #151
    Senior Member ghostdarTeal'c's Avatar
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    good thing to know this fic is still alive....

  12. #152
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ghostdarTeal'c View Post
    good thing to know this fic is still alive....
    Alive and thriving, my friend. More is to come before long.

  13. #153
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    Episode 7 continued...

    General Bright Noah, General Manron Blackhead, and Captain Athena Ibaz appear before the Earth Federation Government Security Council at a secret underground chamber located in the city of Shanghai. This council chamber is accessible only via a concealed underground transport from the Federal Assembly Building downtown. The bunker is secure from penetration by mobile suits, poison gas, and even a nuclear strike.

    “The ISRLA continues to outmaneuver us,” General Noah tells the council, “it’s uncanny how easily they can penetrate our security.”

    Senator Bryce Coleman, one of the senators, glares at the general severely, “It certainly doesn’t speak well of the competence of the people under your command that this can happen, General Noah. Do you have anything more substantial to offer, or can you only tell us what we obviously already know?”

    The general is left chagrined by this rebuke, but Athena rises to his rescue.

    “Senator, if I may,” Athena chimes in as the general sits down.

    “You are?” the senator asks.

    Athena replies, “Captain Athena Ibaz, commanding officer, Centurion Special Operations Team.”

    “Ah, yes,” says Senator Junichi Hashimoto, “you’re the officer who commanded the operation that rescued the Moonshadow, and also guided the safe landing of General Noah and General Blackhead’s convoy.”

    “Go ahead,” Senator Coleman says.

    Athena begins, “Members of the Council, I’m sure you all know of Mafty.”

    The senators mumble among themselves. Of course, they have all heard of Mafty. Mafty has been the source of no shortage of embarrassment for them during the past two years.

    Athena continues, “Ladies and gentlemen, you have all undoubtedly read, seen, or heard examples of Mafty’s anti-Federation propaganda. They are sensational, and they manage to expose secrets that should be known by no one outside of these chambers. Have you ever considered how Mafty has been able to obtain all this secret information?”

    Another senator, Carla Delgado, asks, “Captain Ibaz, are you saying that Mafty is not only a troublemaker in the media, but also the source of our military leaks?”

    “Ma’am,” Athena replies, “it would be extremely coincidental if he weren’t. Have you ever noticed how quickly and in how much detail Mafty’s investigative reports appear after a Federal security weakness has been compromised? I was able to read his spin on the assault on the shuttle convoy while waiting to de-man my mobile suit early this morning.”

    The senators nod in agreement. They find Athena’s observations quite compelling.

    Sitting beside Athena, Generals Noah and Blackhead cannot help but smile. Athena has bailed them out of a tight spot again…this time, politically.

    Senator Coleman says, “Captain Ibaz, we’d like to hear more about your observations on Mafty and how we should deal with his nuisance…”


    Athena returns to Whampoa Base at 16:30. She finds Jolie and the rest of the Centurion Team industriously assisting the base technicians in the repair and upgrade of their mobile suits, just as she had ordered.

    Spotting Athena, Jolie runs over to her friend and commanding officer.

    “Hey, ‘Thena! We’ve been working on the MS just like you ordered us to!”

    Athena, a bit too tired from her long day in front of the Security Council to chew Jolie out for forgetting protocol and etiquette again, replies simply, “Good work. I’m glad to see that you can handle being in charge.”

    “Hey,” Jolie says with a grin, “we’re off in thirty minutes. Wanna go into town for dinner and to see the sights?”

    “I just got back from the city,” Athena replies, “it’s a forty-minute drive one way.”

    “Oh, c’mon,” Jolie insists, “it’s not every day that we get time off…on *Earth* no less.”

    Athena grins. For all her superlative abilities, Jolie is very much a teenager after all, “All right. There’s this restaurant in downtown that serves the best Beijing Duck I’ve ever had. Why don’t we dine there?”

    Jolie says, “Cool! I love Chinese food! My ancestors were Chinese, after all. Is the rest of the squad coming, or is it just you and me?”

    “Go ask them,” Athena replies, “and tell them to get ready in thirty minutes.”


    The Eternal Spring Bistro on Joffre Road is one of the most popular upscale dining facilities in Shanghai. Open in some form on the road since the early 20th Century, the bistro is known for its delectable menu, which is half-Chinese, and half-French. As has been the case for generations, getting a table at the bistro at peak dining hours is next to impossible, and the restaurant does not take reservations.

    Chieming Noah, wearing a conservative, but attractive skirt beneath her leather overcoat, stands waiting in the restaurant’s crowded lobby. She is soon approached by a young man in a finely cut Armani suit that he wears without a tie.

    “Big Brother,” Cheiming grins brightly.

    “Sis,” Hathaway Noah replies affectionately, removing his dark sunglasses.

    The siblings embrace, happy to see each other after so many months.

    Chieming Noah checks out her brother’s hair, dyed a light brown over its native black color, “I almost didn’t recognize you with that new hair color. It makes you look so much like Uncle Amuro.”

    Hathaway releases his embrace of his sister at the mention of the name of the Earth Federation Forces’ greatest hero of the One Year War.

    “I’m sorry,” Chieming says, “I know you don’t like to talk about…”

    “Never mind that,” Hathaway replies, a smile returning to his face, “How have you and Mom been?”

    “We’ve been fine,” Chieming says, “we were worried about…Daddy.”

    Hathaway nods, “He just can’t stay out of trouble, can he?”

    “Hathaway…” Chieming begins.

    “Never mind,” Hathaway says, “I wanted to see Mom too, but now isn’t a good time for that. Tell her I’m sorry, and that I’ll see her next time.”

    Chieming says, “So what have you been up to lately? Still working on your writing?”

    “Yeah,” Hathaway says to his sister, “lots of work. Gets my bills paid, though.”

    “Just who is it you write for, and what do you write about?” Chieming asks.

    “Nothing you’d be interested in,” Hathaway replies, “boring political crap, that’s all.”

    Chieming clearly understands that her brother is only willing to be so candid to her. She will get that much, but no more.

    At that moment, two slim, attractive feminine figures in Earth Federation Forces military uniforms are jostled into the crowded space of the bistro’s lobby. The two young women stand within arm’s reach of the Noah siblings.

    Episode 7 to be continued...

  14. #154
    Senior Member sheraldine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    Taking a break from updates here for a questionaire that I hope readers of MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM - THE SECOND CENTURY (PRELUDE 0099) will take a few minutes to answer for me. If you're reading, please respond, as I could really use the input:


    1. What do you like most about this story?

    because it is free

    2. What do you like least about this story?

    too much units for my idle brain to process at one go

    3, Do you find the writing style enjoyable to read? If not, what do you believe could be better?

    it well written but i prefer brief and direct style like austen or bronte

    4. Are there certain elements of the story that you believe should be removed or modified?

    no... clueless here

    5. Is there anything that you would like to see added to the story (so far)?

    i dont think some readers can take it

    6. Do you find the characters in the story interesting and well-developed?

    the main ones yes

    7. Who is your favorite character (or characters) in the story? What makes this character compelling to you?

    jolie... because she is just like me! ok, maybe slighty different, but you get my point, dont you?

    8. Who is your least favorite character in this story? How do you think this character can be improved?

    so far so good

    9. What do you hope to see in upcoming chapters of the story?

    you know i know lah

    10. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being best, 1 being worst), how would you rate the story so far?

    8 for characters 7 for scene 5 for climax 6.5 for flow and oh, 9 (i am not fully qualified to quote 10) for english

    Your candid responses will be greatly appreciated.
    you are most welcome. i wont reply the fanfic thread now that i have answer your questionaire

  15. #155
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sheraldine
    1. What do you like most about this story?

    because it is free
    Well, I was hoping there was more to recommend it than that!


    2. What do you like least about this story?

    too much units for my idle brain to process at one go
    Yeah, I know it is alot of information to take in. The GUNDAM world is as dense and complex as that of any Jin Yong novel (try explaining all the background information for the CONDOR HEROES TRILOGY to a wuxia newbie). Since my story is built upon that, I have no choice but to incorporate it. The good news is that it gets better from here on out: in subsequent stories, I can concentrate more on the characters and their personal conflicts rather than the whole political/historical setup (although that will always be in the background).

    3, Do you find the writing style enjoyable to read? If not, what do you believe could be better?

    it well written but i prefer brief and direct style like austen or bronte
    It's funny that you would say that, because I don't consider Austen or Bronte to be all that brief and direct...especially compared to, say, Hemingway.

    Ironically, my original draft from 1991-1996 was much more brief and direct. As I'm retyping the draft for posting here to the Fanfic Forum, I'm fleshing out much of what was underdeveloped in the original draft. What covers pages now was sometimes just a three or four-sentence paragraph in the original draft. Believe me, it's much better now than it was a decade ago.

    5. Is there anything that you would like to see added to the story (so far)?

    i dont think some readers can take it
    Make sure you're here to read the next few updates!

    6. Do you find the characters in the story interesting and well-developed?

    the main ones yes
    Great! There are more layers to both Jolie and Athena that are yet to be uncovered, and in Part II, there will be one more main character added to the mix: Jonah Miguel. Part II is where the "meat" of the story will be, and Jonah's introduction into the story will have a great impact on Jolie's subsequent development (from that, you'll probably be able to guess at least the general direction of where that's going). Jonah will fulfill a role for Jolie somewhat similar to Hathaway does for for Athena.

    7. Who is your favorite character (or characters) in the story? What makes this character compelling to you?

    jolie... because she is just like me! ok, maybe slighty different, but you get my point, dont you?
    How do you feel about the Athena character, though, as you haven't really commented about her yet? Ghost is a big fan of Athena, while you're more a Jolie fan.

    I love them both, personally. I could consider either one an "ideal woman" of sorts.


    I like Athena's sharp mind and quick wit; I also like Jolie's brash energy. Hmmm. In some ways, it seems like I divided the Wong Yung character into Athena and Jolie.

    Athena and Jolie were not based on any Jin Yong characters. They are, however, slightly based on two other characters prominent in the history of Asian drama. Can you guess which ones? Hint: don't think female characters.

    9. What do you hope to see in upcoming chapters of the story?

    you know i know lah
    YOU'VE GOT TO READ THE NEXT FEW UPDATES, THEN!

    10. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being best, 1 being worst), how would you rate the story so far?

    8 for characters 7 for scene 5 for climax 6.5 for flow and oh, 9 (i am not fully qualified to quote 10) for english
    Thank you. You're very kind.

    you are most welcome. i wont reply the fanfic thread now that i have answer your questionaire
    Well, then, I'll just have to make the future installments so stupendously great that you won't be able to help but respond!

    The next installment follows immediately hereafter...happy reading!

  16. #156
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    Episode 7 continued...

    The shorter, black-haired one, wide-eyed and smooth complexioned, says, “Jesus, what a crowd!”

    “I know,” the taller, honey-blonde one replies, “it’s always like this here. We’ll probably need to wait at least ninety minutes.”

    The black-haired one, evidently Asian in ethnicity, says, “The rest of the squad was smart to not come with us.”

    The honey-blonde replies, “I’m sure they wouldn’t have minded the wait too much, but they probably figure there are better ways to spend their R&R time than to hang out with their superior officers.”

    “Heh,” the black-haired one says again, “they were probably worried that you’d order them to do urban patrol or something.”

    Chieming views the pair admiringly. The two officers look so sharp, so sexy in their uniforms. The taller one, whom Chieming identifies as a captain by her rank insignia, has an aristocratic air about her. She is beautiful in the way a fairy tale princess would be, and her eyes reflect a piercing intelligence. The shorter one, a lieutenant, is around Chieming’s own age. This one, too, is extraordinarily pretty, although more in the manner of a vivacious teenager than her more mature commanding officer.

    Someday soon, Chieming knows, she would be like them. Her application to the Academy has been accepted, and her training would begin the following spring. Chieming’s dream is to follow in the footsteps of her heroic parents as an officer of the Earth Federation Forces.

    “Maybe we should just to go that steakhouse we passed by on the way, ‘Thena,” Jolie says, “that place smelled pretty good.”

    “Have some patience, Jolie,” Athena replies, “the cuisine here is well worth the wait. I’ve been here before.”

    Chieming turns to her brother and begins to say something, but notices that Hathaway is staring intently at the pretty, honey-blonde officer named “Athena.”

    Athena notices too, returning Hathaway Noah’s intent stare with a guarded glare of her own.

    Hathaway offers a charming smile. Athena does not return it, instead turning to Jolie, “Maybe you’re right. To the steakhouse, then?”

    At that point, the restaurant’s manager spots the two groups and his face lights up in recognition.

    “Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise,” restaurant manager Jack Fung says, “Athena! Is that you? Look at you! All grown up!”

    Jack takes Athena’s hand and kisses it cordially, to which Athena offers a smile, “It’s been a long time, Jack. It’s good seeing you again.”

    “Ah, Athena,” Jack says fondly, “when you last came here with Mr. and Mrs. Mass back in 0094, you’d just applied to the Academy…and I was just the head waiter here. Look at you now: a captain, and more beautiful than ever!”

    “You’ve been promoted too,” Athena observes, “manager, eh?”

    Jack says with a laugh, “What can I say? I know how to schmooze the boss.”

    “That makes two of us,” Athena says pleasantly.

    Jack then turns to Hathaway Noah, who has not taken his eyes off Athena, “Mr. James. It’s good seeing you again. Been a while.”

    Hathaway, momentarily snapping out of his reverie, replies, “Good to see you again, Jack. Got a table?”

    Jack takes a dubious look over his shoulder, “I’ve got one left, but it will seat four. You aren’t together with Athena, are you?”

    “No,” Hathaway replies, But I certainly hope that changes, he leaves unspoken.

    “If you don’t mind sharing a table…” Jack begins.

    Jolie, whose intestines are twisted in knots with hunger, answers, “We don’t mind!”

    Chieming and Hathaway nod their assent, as does Athena. Jack Fung leads them to a round table in a cozy corner of the restaurant.

    The four seat themselves at the round table, Hathaway, Chieming, Jolie, and Athena, in that order.

    There is an awkward silence for a brief moment. Hathaway continues staring at Athena. Athena pretends not to notice, praying for the waiter to hurry with the menu so she can hide behind it.

    Chieming too, is studying the two officers carefully, although not with her brother’s singlemindedness. There is something familiar about these two…especially their names. Then it dawns on her.

    “Wait a minute,” Chieming says, “Excuse me. But aren’t you Captain Athena Ibaz and 2Lt. Jolie Minh of the Centurion Team?”

    “You know us?” Jolie pipes up.

    “Well, of course I know about you,” Chieming says with a smile, “Everybody does! You’re the White Phoenix!”

    Jolie is amazed, “I had no idea that I’ve become famous.”

    “Are you kidding?” Chieming says excitedly, “All the other kids in school talk about you all the time! A lot of girls have started growing their hair long like yours…including, um, me.”

    Jolie notices for the first time that Chieming Noah wears her hair in a style similar to her own.

    Jolie begins to giggle, “Cool! I’ve started a fad!”

    Athena is amused as well, “Don’t let it get to your head, Jolie,” she puns.

    Chieming realizes that introductions are in order, “I’m Chieming Noah. This is my older brother, Hathaway.”

    “Chieming…Noah?” Jolie asks, “You mean you’re General Noah’s…?”

    “He’s our father,” Chieming replies with a hint of pride.

    A dark look comes over Hathaway Noah’s face, but he says nothing. His expression becomes more pleasant again as his eyes once again dance over Athena.

    Jack Fung returns with a waiter, who begins to distribute the menus.

    “Can we start everyone off with some wine tonight?” Jack asks cordially.

    “Chablis,” Athena says, “slightly chilled.”

    “Four glasses,” Hathaway Noah adds, “plus the bottle.”

    “Excellent,” Jack says, sending the waiter for the wine.

    “It must be exciting piloting mobile suits for the Federation, huh?” Chieming asks Jolie.

    “Yeah, it’s a whole bag of laughs,” Jolie says, “What could be more fun than getting slagged by beam fire or being burnt to a crisp during atmospheric re-entry for two-thousand credits a month?”

    Chieming finds herself liking Jolie’s sarcastic sense of humor. Chieming is a very conservative girl, raised with very conservative values. Her parents expect her to be a proper young lady, nothing less. How she wishes she could speak her mind as boldly and brashly as Jolie does.

    “What about you?” Jolie asks, seeking out common ground with this girl who shares her hairstyle and her age, “You must still be in high school, huh?”

    “Going to graduate after Winter Finals,” Chieming says, “then I’m going to the Academy.”

    “Academy, eh?” Jolie says, “So you’re gonna be up there dodging the beams with us, huh?”

    “With any luck, yeah,” Chieming replies.

    As the two teens chat, Athena squirms silently and uncomfortably under Hathaway’s intent gaze. The young man is certainly pleasant-looking enough…very handsome, in fact…the good looks of someone who could be the leading man in a romance film. That’s partially, however, what makes Athena uncomfortable.

    Jolie eyes Hathaway Noah, then whispers to Chieming, “Your brother’s cute…really cute, but he’s kinda quiet.”

    Chieming whispers back, “Usually, he’s not, but I think he’s got a thing for Athena there.”

    Jolie replies, “Yeah, I noticed too. He’s been staring at her ever since we came in here.”

    Chieming says somewhat crestfallenly, “Doesn’t look like Athena’s too interested, though,”

    “Don’t be so sure,” Jolie says with a smile, “Athena’s good at hiding how she feels. I bet she’s just waiting for him to make the first move!”

    The two teenaged girls giggle. Athena has a pretty good guess what they’re discussing. She resists the urge to roll her eyes.

    “Captain Ibaz,” Hathaway begins tentatively, but confidently.

    “Mr. Noah,” Athena replies with a polite, but not overly inviting smile.

    Hathaway flashes a charming grin, “Nobody calls me ‘Mr.’ It’s never really suited me. How about ‘Hathaway,’ instead?”

    Athena replies, “All right, Hathaway…but you probably should continue calling me ‘Captain Ibaz,’ at least until I get promoted to Major or discharged from the Federal Forces.”

    That reply elicits a short, quiet laugh from Hathaway, “That would be a loss to the Feddies…ooh, excuse me. I’m sorry, that was a rude thing to say.”

    “Not so much,” Athena replies matter-of-factly, “we call ourselves ‘Feddies’ all the time too.”

    Jolie knows that much is true. “Feddie,” a pejorative term that Zeon soldiers first used in reference to their enemies during the One Year War, has been co-opted by Federal soldiers themselves in joking self-reference. Some consider the term rude, however, when used by civilians to refer to Federation soldiers.

    “You’ll have to forgive my brother,” Chieming says with a mischievous smile, “he doesn’t know how to behave himself in public. That’s why I have to watch over him all the time.”

    Athena spares Jolie a glance, and grins, “Same story here.”

    Jack Fung returns with the wine and wine glasses, pouring for four.

    Hathaway lifts his glass to his sister and the two pretty young Federal Forces officers, “To youth, friendship…and peace and freedom!”

    “Cheers!”

    Episode 7 to be continued...

  17. #157
    Senior Member sheraldine's Avatar
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    before i go yakking on n on ken, make sure you have the entire time to devote yourself reading this . anyway first of all i have a complain, it should go to technical, but as usual, m lazy..... i noticed i have to log in everytime i want to read or to post.... sometimes in my irritation, i just clicked off rather than log in n proceed... i prefer the last system where i logged on once and it stayed logon... which i forgot to log off in the end anyway, enough of my grouses... back to the story... i told you, when it gets to woman thingy like boy meet girl stuff, we women will sit up and pay attention.... our mind works like sudden procession and our alert eyes glued to the event

    Well, I was hoping there was more to recommend it than that!

    well, you must be a real fan to enjoy it. i personally a fan of voltron (the original five lions one, of course) so i can take on your gundam. i think the most gundam fans (i know my friends did, but in recent years, they kinda stop) in the other fanfiction... you know, they go where the crowds is... some just read but never bother to comment, just like yours truly in the beginning.

    It's funny that you would say that, because I don't consider Austen or Bronte to be all that brief and direct...especially compared to, say, Hemingway.

    many people considered austen's works kinda drag to read, but i think it is a matter of opinion. the book that i least enjoyed was persuasion. as for bronte, i finished wuthering heights in one day whereas the rest by charlotte took few days. i m not familiar with hemingway, i might have come across but presently, i cannot picture it when your setting much more inti err, interesting.

    How do you feel about the Athena character, though, as you haven't really commented about her yet? Ghost is a big fan of Athena, while you're more a Jolie fan.

    i like men who are cool and calm and in uniforms, not the women. dont worry, i have nothing against anthena but i simply cannot endear myself to athena. just like strawberry and blueberry, many would go for strawberry, but i rather have blueberry.

    I love them both, personally. I could consider either one an "ideal woman" of sorts.

    is that a hint ken? you are lucky we so far apart, else i might play your persistent matchmaker and demand your big angpow when the time comes.

    Athena and Jolie were not based on any Jin Yong characters. They are, however, slightly based on two other characters prominent in the history of Asian drama. Can you guess which ones? Hint: don't think female characters.

    there are many promient characters in history ken, plus i dont watch dramas as often as you people do... so dont harm my old brain by asking me to guess.

    and on athena and hathaway development, isnt that meeting scene a bit overused????? most mills n boons/harquinne/zebra/silhoutte etc (the romance publishing houses) and romantic movie stories are like that, you know. ahah, you read and watch them, didnt you... didnt you?

    lastly, maybe you should insert humors into the story. not overly done, but enough to make us smile and laugh simultenously.
    Last edited by sheraldine; 05-23-07 at 12:37 AM.

  18. #158
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    Episode 7 continued...

    Ninety minutes later, the group has disposed of a sumptuous and delicious meal, ordered by the combined culinary sensibilities of Hathaway Noah and Athena Ibaz. Between them, they identified the restaurant’s finest dishes, including a few that are not featured on the menu.

    “That was delicious,” Hathaway Noah remarks, running a napkin across his mouth.

    “I think I’m gonna explode,” Jolie says, having consumed nearly half a Beijing Duck by herself.

    “I’m amazed that you can keep that figure of yours eating like that,” Chieming teases Jolie, admiring the young lieutenant’s long legs and sexy, slim figure.

    Jolie says, “I don’t get to eat like this all the time. Athena usually gives me ZG-rations for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. What doesn’t come out of me from one end usually comes out the other!”

    The group laughs at Jolie’s somewhat graphic, but amusing joke.

    Jack Fung stops by again, “Well, did everyone enjoy the meal?”

    “It was excellent, Jack,” Athena remarks pleasantly.

    “Remarkable, as always,” Hathaway adds.

    Extracting his credit card, Hathaway tells Jack Fung, “I’m calling tonight’s reckoning. What’s the damage?”

    Jack smiles, “If you want to do damage, Mr. James, you must move faster. Athena has already paid the bill.”

    Athena grins modestly. Chieming and Jolie are enthusiastic in their thanks for what has been a great meal. Hathaway Noah looks mildly annoyed that he has been denied a gentleman’s opportunity to pay for the meal.

    Putting his credit card back into his wallet, Hathaway lifts his glass to Athena, “You must be a real hit with the men on the base, paying for their meals and all.”

    Athena lifts her glass in response, “Actually, most of them think I’m a control-obsessed b*tch.”

    Hathaway did not anticipate that frank remark, but it clearly stimulates him, “Really? Those men must be pretty insecure.”

    Athena takes a different tack, “Jack just referred to you as ‘Mr. James.’ There must be an interesting story behind that.”

    Hathaway says cryptically, “Pen name of mine. I often use it in public.”

    “My brother’s a writer,” Chieming Noah explains.

    “Interesting,” Athena replies noncommittally, “Do you write fiction or nonfiction?”

    “Depends on who you ask,” Hathaway replies.

    The waiter returns with the bill, which Athena signs.

    Her teenaged sensibilities knowing a good segue when she sees one, Chieming says to Jolie, “Hey, Jo. There are some really fashionable boutiques up and down Joffre Road. Why don’t you and I go check those out? You don’t have to return to base so soon, do you?”

    Jolie considers it. She loves to shop as much as the next gal, but does she really have that many opportunities to wear civvies? It occurs to Jolie that her entire wardrobe consists of identical Earth Federation Forces uniforms.

    Chieming whispers conspiratorially to Jolie, “Let’s go. Give these two a chance to be alone together.”

    Seeing what Chieming is getting at, Jolie giggles.

    Jolie tells Athena, “Chieming and I are gonna check out some of the boutiques around here. You wanna come with us?”

    Athena, fully aware of what she’s being fenced into, has no choice but to admire her protégé’s guile, Damn it, Jolie…you’ve given me no way out of this, have you?

    “No,” Athena replies, “it’d be rude to leave Hathaway here all by himself. You two go. But Jolie: we need to be back at the base by 22:00, so don’t stray too far.”

    “Sure thing, ‘Thena!” Jolie replies. Jolie and Chieming quickly depart the restaurant, giggling on their way out.

    There is an awkward silence that lingers in the air between Hathaway and Athena, permeating the space in the corner of the restaurant with a mild tension.

    Athena breaks the silence as it becomes unbearable, “I don’t suppose you want to tell me more about your writing career.”

    “Only if you promise to not throw me in a prison cell somewhere,” Hathaway responds roguishly, “I’m with Cislunar Free Media.”

    “At least you’re candid,” Athena admits.

    “’Candid’ is our stock and trade,” Hathaway adds.

    “Especially for Mafty,” Athena offers probingly.

    “Mafty…,” Hathaway Noah lets out a slight laugh, “now there’s a journalist I’d like to meet someday. Probably learn a lot from her.”

    “What makes you so certain Mafty is a ‘her’?” Athena challenges.

    Hathaway smiles, “Mafty must be a woman. Only a beautiful woman could charm her way into so many Federation secrets…I’m sure you can relate, Captain Ibaz.”

    Brushing aside Hathaway’s flattery, Athena presses further, “So even the staff of the CFM doesn’t know who Mafty really is?”

    Hathaway takes a sip of the Chablis before replying, “Not a clue. Every few days, or so it seems, a new Mafty report shows up on our Datapads and we just run with whatever she’s got. We’ve never been able to trace her.”

    Nor we, Athena thinks to herself, but does not verbalize.

    “What about your work, Captain Ibaz?” Hathaway turns the question back on Athena, “It must be exciting work piloting mobile suits. I had an aspiration to that myself when I was younger.”

    Listen to him go on as if he’s some mature, sophisticated gentleman. I’ll bet he’s at least a year younger than I am, Athena thinks.

    Athena smiles roguishly, “Why didn’t you pursue it?”

    “I’m afraid of enclosed spaces,” Hathaway says matter-of-factly.

    “That must explain why you live on Earth and not in the space colonies,” Athena remarks as Hathaway refills her wine glass.

    “One of the reasons,” Hathaway replies, “but you haven’t answered my question, Captain.”

    “What is there to answer?” Athena replies, “Jolie and I pilot mobile suits to kill people for the Earth Federation Forces. The job pays decently enough, but the real incentive is the thrill.”

    Hathaway smiles, “You’re just determined to remain a mystery, aren’t you, Captain Ibaz?”

    Athena returns the grin, “Likewise, Mr. ‘James.’”

    The pair laughs lightly. In each other, Hathaway and Athena see a puzzle to be decoded.


    As Hathaway and Athena leave the restaurant, they see that a small crowd of people have gathered around a building across the street: the Shanghai branch of the Earth Federation Government’s Office of Space Immigration Affairs. The crowd, which numbers in the hundreds of people, is divided into two sides. On one side are Spacenoid activists, carrying signs bearing such familiar slogans as “End Earthist Oppression!”, “Down with the Earth Federation!” and “Hail, Contolism!” On the opposite side are Earth loyalists, bearing their own signs reading “Support the Federation!” and “Remember the Colony Drop Attacks!” People on both sides shout angrily at each other, and are restrained by Earth Federation Forces Military Police as well as members of the local police.

    Hathaway steps protectively, although a bit unnecessarily in front of Athena, just in case the anti-Federation crowd decides to turn its hostility upon her (she is, after all, dressed in an Earth Federation Forces uniform, officer’s hat on head, overcoat draped on her shoulders).

    “Let’s walk that way,” Hathaway recommends, pointing towards a quieter street along the Bund waterfront. The pair walks along the more tranquil, tree-lined route.

    “Such sights are growing increasingly common,” Hathaway remarks, “even here on Earth.”

    “I’ve seen worse in the colonies,” Athena rejoins, “riots have become routine up there.”

    “You can’t really blame them,” Hathaway says, “the Federal Forces behave like thugs. Present company excepted, of course.”

    Athena observes, “You can’t really blame the people on Earth either. Over the past twenty years, the Spacenoids have rained one catastrophe after another on them.”

    Hathaway replies matter-of-factly, “Maybe it could have all have been avoided if the Federation had heeded the warnings of Zeon Daikun.”

    “Or if the Zabi Family hadn’t murdered Daikun and usurped his authority,” Athena adds fairly, “but history can’t be rewritten, Hathaway. The future depends on what our generation does.”

    “You’re right,” Hathaway says, “but I’m not sure what can be done for our generation from the position of a Federal Forces mobile suit pilot.”

    Athena smiles, “Or from the position of a CFM staff writer. Maybe Mafty will save us from ourselves."

    The two laugh at the absurdity of the thought.

    “Linda always said she’d trade in the whole lot of us if she could only get Mafty on the staff,” Hathaway says.

    “Linda Ackerman,” Athena recognizes, “the Editor-In-Chief of CFM?”

    “That’s my boss,” Hathaway says, “even more of a slave-driver than you are, however.”

    Athena remarks, “I’ve read many of her columns. I enjoy her insights.”

    “Oh?” Hathaway says, raising an eyebrow, “Isn’t that a bit…subversive for a Federal Forces officer to say?”

    “I didn’t say I agree with her,” Athena says, “only that her insights are well taken and well presented.”

    “Do you write?” Hathaway asks.

    “Only military journal entries,” Athena replies, “dry and dull.”

    “Unlike you,” Hathaway smiles.

    “Very much like me,” Athena returns.

    “I don’t believe that,” Hathaway answers.

    “There are many things in this world,” Athena says, “that are very difficult to believe; that doesn’t make them any less true.”

    “Can’t argue with that,” Hathaway says.

    “Some truths,” Athena finishes, “are so terrible that you don’t want to believe them.”

    Hathaway has no response for that. The pair continues their walk in silence.

    Episode 7 to be continued...

  19. #159
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sheraldine View Post
    before i go yakking on n on ken, make sure you have the entire time to devote yourself reading this . anyway first of all i have a complain, it should go to technical, but as usual, m lazy..... i noticed i have to log in everytime i want to read or to post.... sometimes in my irritation, i just clicked off rather than log in n proceed... i prefer the last system where i logged on once and it stayed logon... which i forgot to log off in the end anyway, enough of my grouses...
    That's a question for the tech gods. Can't help you there, sorry.

    back to the story... i told you, when it gets to woman thingy like boy meet girl stuff, we women will sit up and pay attention.... our mind works like sudden procession and our alert eyes glued to the event
    Heh. You'll really dig this current chapter, then. It's the focus of this particular episode.

    I approach it from a more general perspective. War and politics tend to screw up many aspects of life...including personal relationships. In a better world, Hathaway and Athena would be a very happy couple, but the damn war gets in their way. It's something of a recurrent theme in the GUNDAM universe (in alot of fiction, really). Things become a bit complicated when one falls in love with the person one is duty-bound to kill.


    well, you must be a real fan to enjoy it. i personally a fan of voltron (the original five lions one, of course) so i can take on your gundam. i think the most gundam fans (i know my friends did, but in recent years, they kinda stop) in the other fanfiction... you know, they go where the crowds is... some just read but never bother to comment, just like yours truly in the beginning.
    I'm a big VOLTRON fan myself (I'm buying all the new DVDs), but the VOLTRON universe lacks the thematic sophistication I need to tell my story. GUNDAM has it by the ton. Only EVANGELION is more angsty in terms of robot-themed anime.

    EVANGELION is too far gone for me. It's robot anime for the Emo set.


    i m not familiar with hemingway, i might have come across but presently, i cannot picture it when your setting much more inti err, interesting.
    Some of the scenes of the military at work in my story have a somewhat Hemingway-like feel, but yeah, my style's a bit too lyrical to be described as Hemingwayish.

    i like men who are cool and calm and in uniforms, not the women. dont worry, i have nothing against anthena but i simply cannot endear myself to athena. just like strawberry and blueberry, many would go for strawberry, but i rather have blueberry
    .

    To each his/her own. It's actually kind of nice, with the balance of you as the Jolie fan and Ghost as the Athena fan. Ideally, if my fanfic had alot of fans, I'd like them to be split approximately 50/50 between Jolie and Athena.

    It's also very satisfying to know that I've been able to establish them as very distinct characters.

    is that a hint ken? you are lucky we so far apart, else i might play your persistent matchmaker and demand your big angpow when the time comes.
    What the heck is an "angpow?"

    If you're going to play matchmaker for me, find me a girl who looks like Jolie Minh/Joey Meng.


    there are many promient characters in history ken, plus i dont watch dramas as often as you people do... so dont harm my old brain by asking me to guess.
    Heh. All right. I'll give you another big clue, though: think about the setting they're currently in. I put them where they (physical location) are in this current episode for a special reason.

    and on athena and hathaway development, isnt that meeting scene a bit overused????? most mills n boons/harquinne/zebra/silhoutte etc (the romance publishing houses) and romantic movie stories are like that, you know. ahah, you read and watch them, didnt you... didnt you?
    Well, no, but I guess there are only so many "first contact" scenarios one can use. I knew for sure that I wanted their first contact to be in a more casual setting. I didn't want them to first meet slugging it out in mobile suits. A restaurant was the best thing I could think of. Restaurant dialogue is easy to write.

    And I can't believe I've written something like ten pages about four people having dinner.

    lastly, maybe you should insert humors into the story. not overly done, but enough to make us smile and laugh simultenously.
    The humor is kind of subtle...it's in all the wry, cynical little comments that Athena and Jolie make. One running joke (I hope you've noticed) is how Athena is always trying to get Jolie to behave like a proper lady and officer, but Jolie keeps on acting like the savage little street teen she is.

  20. #160
    Senior Member ghostdarTeal'c's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sheraldine View Post
    i like men who are cool and calm and in uniforms, not the women.
    I'm curious to know why is that?


    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    What the heck is an "angpow?"
    whoa a chinese who doesnt know what angpow is?

    or is the term angpow only used in malaysia and singapore?


    all these bronte, hemingway stuff takes me back to school days.....
    Last edited by ghostdarTeal'c; 05-23-07 at 03:05 AM.

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