There was no sound in space as the mobile suits came together in a flash of energy, weapons discharging in the eerie silence, lunging and dancing in a deadly ballet. Wing Gundam stopped gracefully on it's thrusters, the mostly white, red and blue suit hovering there not far from the colony, then it raced forward again at the Leos with it's beam saber alight. The blocky looking mobile suits were piloted with skill, the officers inside some of the best of OZ's space force, but Wing Gundam was better. It attacked with unearthly skill to disable the four suits and ultimately leave them hanging there in space, floating above the colony they had attempted to launch a surprise assault against. Within the Gundam's cockpit Arisugawa Juri felt her breath slowly calming, the pure black flightsuit she wore making her orange hair glow even brighter in the green lights from her control panel. 'It gets a little easier every time,' she mused, reaching up to activate her suit's radio. "This is Arisugawa," she said crisply, "I've got four suits and pilots to be recovered in section twelve, please. Let Howard and his boys know, too." "I'm sure the engineers will appreciate four more suits to repair for the colony resistance," Hilde's voice was amused. "The captain was wondering if you'd be coming in, yet?" she asked, a bit of concern in her voice. "As soon as I finish my patrol sweep," Juri answered her, signing off. With that she returned to her patrol, the Gundam shining against the inky blackness of space. Juri smiled to herself wryly as they flew, 'It's been such a crazy few months, I almost can't believe I'm out here, now.' After the open declaration of hostilities between the space colonies and Earth's government, a recall order had been sent out to all the Gundams, asking them to assist with the colony defense. Juri quickly made her decision where her loyalties lay and threw in her lot in with the colonies, taking out the Wing Gundam in battle for the very first time. She assisted two of the four other Gundams in acquiring space transport, then she discovered that the 'bird' mode of the Wing Gundam was in fact space launch capable. 'Of course, it wasn't all smooth sailing when I got here,' Juri mused, her Gundam coasting by a band of the refit Mobile Suits that were stationed by the colony. There had been a real debate among the colony leadership over if she should keep the Wing Gundam, not to mention questioning Juri's own loyalties. Of course her past enmity with OZ helped relieve their fears a bit, and Duo Maxwell and Dr. J were both willing to speak up for her. Quatre Winner was cautiously friendly towards her, Trowa Barton was mostly neutral and Wu Fei Cheng completely distrusted her. Not that Wu Fei seemed to have much use for any of the other pilots, but he really had issues towards her. A soft chime reminded Juri her shift was over, and with a gentle twist of her wrist she turned her Gundam around, thrusters carrying her forward to the colony. The outer ring slowly grew in her viewscreen, then she shifted her course slightly to head for the open docking bay, the lights a warm beacon to her in the depths of space. Landing a bit roughly in the sudden return of gravity she maneuvered her Gundam to it's cradle, smiling as she saw the maintenance crew rushing to their positions all around it even as they bay doors closed. She climbed out the hatch and walked along the catwalk to a airlock, cycling through to get access to the colony itself. As Juri took off her helmet she heard a voice call out to her, "Lieutenant!" Juri looked around curiously, then realized he was calling to her. "Yes," she turned, silently wondering when she'd get used to her new rank. Not that the colony defense forces had ranks at first, things had been wildly chaotic at first. There really hadn't been much planning when the colonies made the decision to openly declare hostilities with Earth, and the fear of similarities to OZ and the Earth's military slowed them down even more. Still, they had quickly realized that some kind of structure was needed, and by necessity the Gundam pilots got bumped up pretty fast. "Lieutenant Arisugawa," the young man nodded, his insignia marking him as a engineering officer, "the chief asked me to convey his thanks." Juri chuckled, "Actually from what I've heard I bet Howard is probably bitching that I'm piling even more work on him and his boys and would I stop being so damn gung-ho capturing suits." She grinned at him, "How close was that?" He blinked at her, "Pretty much word for word, ma'am." "I'm sorry for increasing his workload," Juri said as she casually unbuttoned to top of her flight suit, "but we need as many Mobile Suits as possible operational." "Yes, ma'am," the brown haired young man nodded. He had to hurry to keep pace, "Commander Hilde is holding a meeting later with the new diplomat, she asked Harold to remind you that she'd like you to attend." "I'll do that," Juri agreed, her gaze softening. She nodded as they reached her quarters, "Thank you for delivering the message, Scott." "You're welcome, ma'am," he saluted then Scott was off. Entering her room Juri sighed in relief as she stripped her flightsuit off, stepping nude into the sonic cleanser and briskly cleaning hours of sweat from her body. Toweling off she laid a new flightsuit out on the bed if needed, then pulled on one of the new Defense Force uniforms. A simple gray it carried her name, rank insignia and the shoulder patch indicating she was a mobile suit pilot. "And why the rose crest?" Juri murmured, reaching up to touch the rose that was a central part of the patch. It was one of many things Juri was trying to get to the bottom of, much like the rose signets that the Gundam pilots all wore. She had felt a chill when she first saw them, and found herself wondering if the OZ pilots had more duelists there, too, like Colonel Une. The halls of the colony were busy as usual when Juri headed out again later, determined to make her next appointment. She headed down the hall to the elevators then took them up several levels, reaching what had been designed as a administrative section for the massive structure. Finding the proper room she knocked, then went inside. Commander Hilde looked up as she entered, the brown haired young woman's face lighting up in a smile. "Welcome," she smiled, "and good work today, by the way." "Thank you," Juri smiled slightly. In charge of the mobile suit pilots Hilde was Juri's superior officer, but it was a complex relationship. Hilde was nearly the same age as Juri and a fine pilot herself, as such she was well aware of the sort of personalities it took to be a pilot. She kept them in line without riding them too hard, as well as getting results for the colony leadership. It was a difficult tightrope to walk, and Juri didn't envy Hilde in the slightest. "Anything interesting in our latest acquisitions?" Juri asked as Hilde casually waved her over to a seat at the table. "Standard Leos," Hilde said as she sat, too, "and young pilots." Juri shrugged, "I guess it's to be expected, Treise knows he can't waste his aces against us when he also has to be worried about defending Fortress Barge." "I thought that was what he was saving his Tallgeese wing for," Hilde said dryly. "Too bad he's down two pilots," Juri added. A grim little smile, "Have Noin or Po decided to talk to us, yet?" "Not a word," Hilde sighed, "just name, rank and serial number." Juri shook her head, "I still can't believe their own pilot shot them in the back during Treise's attempted big push." Earth had launched a powerful force from Fortress Barge shortly after Juri had arrived, as many Leos as they could scrape together lead by three of the Tallgeese, and tried to overwhelm the defenders. The Gundams, Hilde, and every suit they could muster went out to meet them in space, and they were only barely able to stop them. And in the chaos, two of the Tallgeese were shot by their comrade, the devastating shots coming from a completely unexpected direction. The pilots would probably have died if Juri and the Gundams hadn't dragged back the wrecked Tallgeese units, if only to use them for spare parts." "Noin did relent and tell us who probably shot them," Hilde said and as Juri looked at her attentively she added, "Dorothy Catalonia." "Dorothy..." Juri frowned, trying to place the name. She finally just smiled grimly, "I'll have to remember that name." There was a knock on the door and Hilde called, "Enter." The young woman who entered wore a simple but elegant suit, just the thing for a diplomat, and Juri recognized her almost immediately. The long brown hair was tied back in a braid, she moved with a sure and confident step, but there really hadn't been much change since Juri had last seen her. "Commander," Releena said then smiled warmly, "Juri." "Ambassador Peacecraft," Hilde smiled devilishly as she looked towards Juri, "I believe you two have met?"
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