Chapter 25: Differing Opinions

"Ummm... was that a threat?" Yoko inquired as she saw the rather bewildered look on everyone's faces, who were all rather stunned at Major Ardulace's actions. In both her tone and style, she seemed to have come straight from the bridge of a 17th Century Man-of-War, where the Captain's word is law and disobedient sailors walked the plank. Ardulace's answer, almost predictably, was to fire a shot that passed mere inches above Yoko's head.

"Yes, that certainly was," Ardulace replied, her eyes shifting back towards the two primary offenders, who were now standing in attention and spaced a mere feet apart, "Now, Captains Gressier and Chow, I will ask you only once. Who started this?!"

Still seemingly oblivious to what was happening, both Ming and Sylvie merely glared at each other and stayed silent, obviously blaming the other for starting this predicament. Ardulace frowned as she resisted the urge to just shoot these two troublemakers outright, reminding herself that there were other, more "appropriate" forms of punishment that were available...

"Fine, have it your way," Ardulace snapped back, turning instead to John, "Major Recto, you were the senior officer present. Who started this?"

"Umm..." John started nervously as he stood uneasily, revealing a still limping leg from an earlier gunshot wound that Yoko had inflicted, "Mam, the situation was kinda tense, and..."

"Talk, or I'll shoot your other leg," Ardulace ordered, glaring at several pilots who seemed rather distrustful of Major Recto, "Remember that I'm senior to everyone in this room except for Colonel Jefferson, and I want to see all of you following my orders before I get REALLY pissed..."

'Oh great...' John thought to himself as he swallowed hard, trying to ignore the rather mutinous glares coming from Yun and his former Zeon cohorts, and deciding to just stick to the truth, "Mam, well... from what I saw it was Ming who threw the first..."

"I did not!" Ming interrupted indignantly, his face fuming in anger, "This merciless ***** has been doing nothing but torment me since we've met, and the mere thought of having a murdering whore like her work with us is..."

"Oh, so _I'm_ the murderer now, eh Ming Chow?" Sylvie shot back, no longer able to keep herself silent, "And how many innocents have YOU killed? How many civilians and prisoners did your group MURDER back in Bunch 7? Even though my only wish is to avenge Max, you've certainly done enough to earn yourself a one-way ticket to Hell!"

"I don't even know who your damn Max is!" Ming replied testily, the hatred in his heart now making him ignore the painful memories of the tragedy that had been Bunch 7, "And I don't ****ing care! For all I know he could just be some imaginary friend you invented so you can have a reason to kill me!"

"Why don't you find out then, Captain Ming Chow?" Sylvie asked as she unconsciously readied her stance, anger and hatred once again welling up from inside her, willing her to move in for the kill, "Maybe if you did, you'd stop losing so much sleep, and I would have had a more challenging opponent instead of a squealing, wash-out pilot like yourself!"

"I never lost any sleep thinking about your sick little boyfriend, *****," Ming replied as he also readied his stance, confident he could easily beat the thinner and frailer-looking Sylvie, "Because to me, he was nothing more than a murderous, raping ******* who was a million times worse than you are! In fact, the ONLY use I have for him is to kill him again and again, slowly and painfully, with you watching every little detail, so I can keep crushing your black, murderous heart until I've finally grinded it down to dust!"

The temperature in the room suddenly seemed to go up a notch as Sylvie's eyes began to blaze in anger, infuriated at Ming's final, arrogant remark. Few things angered Sylvie more than insulting her beloved, and her face slowly changed from its normally emotionless mask into one belonging to a killer. John swallowed harder, realizing what might happen next, while Yoko took a step back, knowing full well that it was dangerous to be around when the animal within Sylvie Gressier was finally unleashed on an unsuspecting Ming. Surprisingly however, this time Ming was not intimidated, and the hatred in his eyes matched those within Sylvie's.

"MING! THAT'S ENOUGH!" Jefferson rasped out, ignoring Major Ardulace's angry glare and shocked that Ming could say something like that despite everything that he had been through "I can't believe you just said that! Don't you even remember..."

To Sylvie however, Jefferson's final attempt to mediate, was too little, to late, and before he could finish, she finally lunged after Ming, her hands reaching for his throat. Surprised, but definitely not stunned, Ming stepped back, avoiding the hands that would have crushed his windpipe, and landed a punch that struck Sylvie square in the chest. The force of the blow quickly sent her crashing towards the floor, her heart pounding as it tried to cope with the shock. But she refused to give in, knowing that ******* would soon wrap his dirty little fingers around her neck to finish her off, but before she could do anything several crew members finally stepped in and turned her around, pinning her to the floor and trying their best to restrain her while others grabbed an equally infuriated Ming. Both struggled madly, trying to get away from their captors, but Ardulace quickly summoned more crewmembers to help restrain the rabid animals that both Sylvie and Ming had finally become. She then waited for a moment to let both of them to calm down, before deciding to speak again.

"Well, are you both satisfied now, Captains?" Ardulace asked, her eyes now filled with contempt, "Because if you aren't, I might have to shoot both of you, right here, right now."

"Wait a minute..." John started, "You can't just...!"

"Let her do what she wants John!" Sylvie cut-in indignantly, obviously not fearing the prospect of death, "I'll gladly be shot dead as long as I take this ******* with me!"

"Same to you, *****!" Ming shot back, his anger now clouding his judgment, and leaving Jefferson feeling powerless to stop the blood feud going on between Ming and Sylvie. For a moment, he almost felt as though that... death may be the only true way to stop this feud, and one or the other had to die for the other to go on, but Major Ardulace had other ideas, and she was not about to acquiesce to the demands of a pair of troublemakers...

"Well too bad, because as much as I loathe sparing you, starting a fight isn't a capital offense," Ardulace replied calmly, yet her eyes now adopting a distinctively conspiratorial look about them, "What I CAN do however, is to send you BOTH to jail, and to lay down the conditions of your incarceration..."

Both John's and Sylvie's eyes went wide at that remark, quickly realizing what the Major was up to, while Yoko tried hard not to laugh as she also reached the same conclusion. Jefferson also came to the same realization, but a fierce, "I'll have a LONG, LONG talk to you about your command methods, SIR," look from Major Ardulace quickly muffled his reaction. Ming's expression however, did not change, as he remained completely oblivious to the nasty shock that now lay in store for him.

"So, Captain Sylvie Gressier and Captain Ming Chow," Ardulace began, eyeing each of the defendants as she made public her judgment, "You are both sentenced to spend twenty-four hours in the Shigure's brig, and will be restrained by the use of straight jackets to ensure you can no longer inflict bodily harm on any other person during that time period."

"Is that all?" Ming replied, his chin up and obviously showing contempt towards the "ruling", despite the horrified looks on everyone else's faces. This time around, Yoko, now shaking her head in disbelief, finally let out a tiny chuckle, amazed at how shortsighted Ming could be.

"Actually, there is," Ardulace answered, a very vicious grin now forming around her lips, "You see Captain, the Shigure has only ONE brig, so you're going to have a cellmate..."

---------------

August 5, UC 0087. 0500 hours.

EFSF Battleship Warspite. Somewhere in Green Oasis.

"Damn it, this ship is _warship_, not a junk yard..." Captain McDermut growled as he surveyed all of the "trash" now lining the corridors, most of which were "outdated" spare parts that had been loaded unto the Warspite for "disposal". Some bureaucracy numbskull had decided that it was best to just load this kind of junk into doomed target ships, letting the Titans' guns atomize these useless parts along with the ships, and saving the Federal government a good sum of money that would have normally been spent in properly disposing these sometimes hazardous materials. To McDermut however, having spent much of his life in the salvage business as well as warship design, this was an inherently wasteful process, and even now he could already pick out half a dozen components that General Pluskat would have found extremely useful for his shipyard. Not that he could do anything about it anyway, nor could he do anything about the Warspite's intended fate, because there were just too many ***holes in the Federation to...

"Sir..." a technician reported as he navigated uneasily through the Warspite's cramped compartments, which were, aside being full of junk, truly smaller than that of a "normal" Magellan class battleship, a consequence of its much better-armored design, "Our escorts have finally arrived. Shouldn't you go up to the bridge to meet with them sir?"

"Did those cheap *******s send fresh rookies from Nijmegan again?" McDermut asked tiredly, trying hard NOT to remember all of the stunts he had to endure from the all-too cocky rookie pilots the Academy was producing nowadays, "Because if they did, I don't want them flying ANYWHERE near my ship."

"'Fraid so Captain," the technician replied a little grimly, "I could just ask Lieutenant Speer to talk to them for you, but..."

"fine, fine, I'm going..." McDermut groaned, turning around and wishing he could just spend sometime with the "Old Lady" rather than handling bureaucratic nonsense. She only had to sail for two more days before finally meeting her ignominious fate, and he just wished he could find a way to make her stop...

---------------

"Please... make them stop... please..." O'Connor begged as he covered his ears, trying to shield himself from the titanic and seemingly endless verbal battle still going on in front of him, 'Of all the dumb sluts they could have chosen to keep an eye on them...' O'Connor moaned to himself, 'Why did it have to be me?!'

"Dear God... are they STILL not finished?" John asked as his eyes narrowed tiredly, wondering how in the world the two of them could go on like this without going hoarse. Both had been at it for TWELVE long hours now, and both had used almost every curse and insult in the entire Chinese, French, Japanese and English vocabularies in their quest to shame the other to death. John had asked, no... BEGGED, Major Ardulace to gag them as well, realizing that mere physical restraints would not stop them from attacking the other in some other way, but she had been flatly refused, citing that "letting off some steam" would be good for both Captains. John's eyes then narrowed even further as he realized one of them had decided to add an entirely new language into the mix...

"Oh no..." O'Connor muttered, "Don't tell me she speaks Spanish too..."

"No... that's Filipino. Tagalog to be precise," John corrected as he slapped his palm into his face, wishing he had never thought her some of the basics. People tend to remember curses when learning a foreign language, and Sylvie was now using her much wider vocabulary to further bewilder Ming, who could only resort to repeating what insults he had already used, "God... And you know, Sylvie was REALLY into literature before the war, and I wonder how the hell would Shakespeare react when he finds out how she's been using his quotes to..."

"Really? Sylvie's into Shakespeare?" a voice asked as a third person entered the surveillance room, filling both John and O'Connor's already exhausted hearts with dread, "I've been holding a rather profitable betting game in the pilot's wardroom ever since those two got locked up together, and I'd like to know any details so I can better the odds."

"Yoko, I thought Ming was your friend..." John replied as he turned to meet the new arrival, his very tired, almost bloodshot eyes centering their gaze on Yoko, "He won't like it very much if he found out you were betting against him behind his back."

"Pardon me, SIR, but with my demotion, I need to find alternate sources of income," Yoko replied defensively, though from the look on her face, it was evident that she just wanted to have some fun, "A Second Lieutenant's pay is hardly worth anything nowadays, and since Yun and his buddies are dumb enough to believe that somebody as uneducated as Ming can beat Sylvie in an all-out verbal slugfest, then I feel compelled to relieve them of their money. And you know, I think I'll treat you both to dinner if the payoff is really big."

"Backstabber..." both John and O'Connor muttered together, wondering how could ANYONE possibly tolerate her company. Yoko, merely shrugged happily before answering.

"Nah, I'm just being my old, loveable self," Yoko replied with a grin, her eyes actually showing some affection and support for the Chinese pilot that Sylvie was now berating, "You two really should get to know me better. I'm really quite fun to get along with once you get to know me, and I'm pretty sure I can mend anything that goes on between me and Ming."

"Sir, if you don't make her stop, I might really just lose it and kill all three of them," O'Connor groaned miserably, the sight of Gina, who he was also supposed to keep an eye on, looking rather uncomfortable in her cell further adding to his woes, "Please... call the Major and tell her to end this. This is downright inhuman... for all of us!"

"Actually, I think Major Ardulace's decision was PERFECT for all of us," Yoko countered, her lips once again sporting her mischievous grin, "True, she's a bit strict, but she's the true embodiment of the ideal spacenoid Captain, and a female one at that! Now all I have to do is to find a male ship-driver partner for her to..."

"Yoko... please..." John muttered, "No more stories on how babies are made."

"Hey, come on sir! I was just kidding..." Yoko replied, though her widening grin definitely giving lie to her statement, "Though I was really serious about how perfect her decision was, I mean..."

"I think you're the only one enjoying this, do you know that?" John continued, his tone nearly lifeless as he felt tempted to cover his ears, no longer wanting to hear how Sylvie continued to use his native language to the fullest in such a... destructive manner, "Even somebody like Ming wouldn't be stupid enough to put himself in a situation like this again..."

"Then why don't you talk to the Major again, sir?" Yoko dared, "You're not scared of her, are you?"

"Not really..." John replied, turning to a now desperate O'Connor, who was already handing him the radio, "But do you really think she'll listen?"

----------------

"Are you EVEN listening to me, *****?!" Ming shouted back as Sylvie continued to blabber more insults, or at least what he assumed to be insults, that he could no longer understand, "Because I don't ****ing care if you speak Spanish! All I care about is that you're a miserable, wretched soul who deserves only death!"

"And why don't you learn it then, dimwit?!" Sylvie shot back, her eyes burning in anger as she struggled in her restraints, every cell in her body now screaming for her to strike out and finish Ming, "Because if you did, maybe you'd finally realize how much of an *** the whole world thinks you are!"

"So you are listening, *****!" Ming answered, ignoring Sylvie's retort as his eyes gleamed with hatred, "Shall I now tell you how I plan to kill your little boyfriend again, you psycho?!"

'*******... I WON'T let you get to me again...' Sylvie thought but did not say out loud, choosing instead to let her voice, which had now taken a life of its own, to answer with some sort of degrading retort while her mind temporarily withdrew from the battle. She had to admit that... the things Ming said about Max were like savage blows to the face, and both her mind and throat now desperately needed a break from the fight. It shamed her knowing that Ming's mental and vocal stamina was far greater than her own, and for a moment or two, she almost wished that she could just...

'Well Sylvie... about time you remembered I was still here...' a _very_ sinister voice echoed within Sylvie's head, the sheer malevolence of the being behind it nearly making her squirm. She wished it would go away, but knew that it was impossible, because that voice, she knew, was her own...

'What do you want now?' Sylvie asked her murderous side, fighting hard to keep it from surfacing yet again. The one time she had let it out, that part of her had destroyed what remained of her former life... the life that she had once shared with Max, and condemned her to become nothing more than a Mistress of Death. She had once hoped that it was finally "content" once she had agreed to live only a tortured existence, but ever since those Titans started their experiments...

'Oh don't worry Sylvie, I'm not about to rip out your conscience... yet,' the voice answered, knowing all of Sylvie's thoughts by heart, and manipulating them to make her do her bidding, 'I'm just here to remind you that I'm still alive and well within you... and you can call on me anytime, for a price, to help you finish off Ming...'

'I am doing just fine, "master",' Sylvie groaned, 'And I don't need your "help". He's now weak and foolish, while I've turned myself into a heartless killing machine. Ming Chow will die soon, and by my hands.'

'And since when have you EVER accomplished anything important, Sylvie Gressier?' the voice answered, now growing louder within her head, 'Were you able to admit your feelings to Max? Nope. Have you been able to kill Ming? Not yet. Were you able to save that little child...'

"Leave her out of this, you monster!" Sylvie blurted out loud, angry that her murderous side would DARE remind her of that... "incident" during her incarceration. To her annoyance, she realized that her dark side had quickly retreated back into her subconscious, while her other, more persistent nemesis took advantage of the situation...

"Her? What the hell are you talking about, you psychopath?!" Ming asked, a very arrogant look now going about his face, "Oh don't tell me, Max is actually a girl and you're a lesbian. How much sicker can you get?!"

"It was just a slip of the tongue, you insolent cur!" Sylvie shot back, trying to keep the color from rising on her face after that embarrassing slip-up, "And at least it's not as bad as the same, mindless drivel you've been repeating for the past twelve hours! If I didn't know better, I'd say that I've been arguing with an illiterate, pre-school drop out who can't even spell his own name!"

"And you're nothing more than black-hearted whore whose only purpose is to kill!" Ming answered, his voice growing louder as the fight once again began in earnest, "And I won't stop repeating myself until you finally realize how much of an *** the whole world thinks YOU are! Maybe then you'd finally just lie down and die!"

'I'd gladly lie down and die, but not till I'm certain that you're coming to Hell with me!' Sylvie thought but couldn't manage to say out loud, her strained vocal cords now beginning to crack under the torrid pace. She grimaced slightly, not wanting to give up this particular round to Ming, but having an audible voice to use in combat was a lot more important than shaming that thick-skulled ******* any further, and she had already promised John that...

As if on cue, the intercom suddenly crackled to life, and the voice of the certain Major in question resounded throughout the room, "Umm... excuse me Captains, but may I have your attention for a moment?"

"What John?" Sylvie answered, trying to minimize her use of words while she wondered whether it was once again his bad sense of timing or her accursed abilities that had warranted so timely a visit. Ming, on the other hand, was far more confrontational.

"Same here, _Major_," Ming added contemptuously, "And I hope you're not about to come to the aid of your little mistress here! If you've been listening carefully, then you'd know she should have been shot ages ago!"

"Ming, say that again, and I'll get down there and shoot YOU myself!" John shotback, angry that Ming would question his loyalty to his wife, "I'm here to inform you that Major Ardulace is pretty pissed off at your ceaseless shouting, as it is now disturbing the efficient functioning of this ship. She wants both of you to stop. NOW."

"And if we refuse?" Ming answered, "Is that coward finally going to shoot both of us?"

"Oh please... just let Major Ardulace do what she wants," Sylvie added sarcastically, ignoring her injured vocal cords for the moment to vent some of her anger towards that... interfering *****, "Because at this rate, I'm going to go amok soon, and she's going to be near the top of my hit list when I start my killing spree!"

"Well, sorry, but she said that killing both of you would be too easy," John replied, sounding very tired of the current situation, "Instead, she wants to lock both of you away for another twenty-four hours, and this time, we'll put you in a much smaller, sound-proof room."

'Oh great... another twenty-four hours with that *****?!' Ming thought but did not say out loud, trying to keep his face as impassive as possible while he glanced at Sylvie. Her face was also cold and impassive, and unbeknownst to him, she was, for the first time, thinking the same way he was, except that her description of him contained far more expletives.

"I take it you're not going to continue shouting at each other anymore?" John observed after a moment's silence, which held even after his opening statement. Finally sighing a sigh of relief, John ended by saying, "Alright, thanks guys. And don't spend the next twelve hours trying to stare each other to death. All this bad blood is driving everybody insane."

---------------

"Well, nice job Major Recto sir," Yoko observed playfully after John finally turned off the intercom, proud of her little part in resolving this conflict, "See? I told you that I'm quite fun to get along with. Now we can all enjoy some peace and quiet..."

"Nice try Yoko, but despite your help you're still a kidnapper and a liar, and I hope the good Major doesn't find out about our little bit of insubordination," John replied, carefully tucking away Major Ardulace's written response to their request regarding the two Captains. As he had predicted, she had flatly refused, wanting both of them, as well as the Shigure's crew, to suffer for the mess they had created. Yoko however, in an uncharacteristic gesture of "kindness", helped John concoct a suitable threat(namely, to lock BOTH of them away for another twenty-four hours) that both Ming and Sylvie would be unwilling to take on, and for now, it REALLY seemed as though it was working...

"Oh... come on sir! Everybody has to do something nasty once in a while," Yoko chided with a grin, "Besides, thanks to you, I've won my bet, and I'm about five hundred credits richer. Yun and his buddies will now have to work part-time if they want to make this month's rent, all thanks to me."

"Yoko, are you REALLY former Zeon?" John asked, amazed at how callous she could be towards her own "kind", "Isn't there supposed to be some unwritten rule barring you from doing this?"

"Nah... rules never meant much to me, and I'm more of a Daikunist rather than a Zeek anyway," Yoko replied with a shrug, before turning her attention back to the monitor, "And hey... now that the shouting contest is done, how about we start betting on the staring contest? Those two seem to be making GREAT eye contact with each other, so maybe..."

"Don't even think about it."

---------------

August 7, UC 0087. 0500 hours.

Titans Cruiser Dorcetshire. Somewhere near Luna II.

"I am most impressed sir," Captain Iosef Filitov observed as the Agano, a Titans Salamis Kai class cruiser, pulled up beside the Dorcetshire, "I never believed that a Task Force of this size could be put together in so short a time."

"We have been granted many powers, Captain," Major Ferelli reminded as a second Salamis class cruiser, the EFSFS Suffren, came to view, "And soon, I'm certain that our powers will become absolute."

"So long as that Man from Jupiter succeeds in his task," Filitov reminded rather pessimistically, "And so long as a certain French dinosaur's men prove to be as reliable as he says they are. That Colonel De Grasse seems far too eager to help us in this endeavor."

"You know Iosef, you really should lighten up a bit," Ferelli responded jokingly, wanting to give his Mobile Suit commander an elbow to the ribs had the venue been less formal, "AEUG does not suspect anything as of yet, and the fleet we have assembled can easily destroy any paltry defense they can put up in Von Braun. As for De Grasse, he's nothing more than an incompetent pig trying to bring life back into his dying career. His men will probably be worthless in combat, particularly his under-appreciated Mobile Suit pilots, but at least they will make excellent human shields for us to use against AEUG. I hear that many of their pilots are reluctant to engage Federals in open combat."

"Not this lot..." Iosef went on gloomily, not really reassured by his CO's words, "Another French ******* has just finished compiling his preliminary report on the attack on New Guinea, and it looks as though, aside from utterly ruining the Barzam project, those rebels showed little mercy in their assault. That crazy pilot who flew that Zugock, in particular, has committed a number of rather vicious atrocities. I will have to return the favor when we meet again."

"Why do I get the feeling that pilot is of French descent..." Ferelli noted with an amused sigh, recalling the Filitov family's long-standing blood feud with that nation of "meddling croissant munchers" since the days of Napoleon, "Well, in any case, that maniac pilot of theirs won't have to wait long. Our Task Force will be complete once we link up with the Blucher, and once we do so we'll..."

"Sir, pardon me for interrupting," the radio officer cut in, "But we are receiving a transmission from Colonel De Grasse on the Richelieu. It looks as though he wants to wish us luck before we go."

"Why doesn't he just give us another one of his cruisers instead of wishing us luck?" Filitov moaned, "His little greeting may just jinx this entire operation."

"Then maybe you should leave before his face covers the view screen," Ferelli suggested with a grin, "That way, if his greeting DOES bring bad luck, you can avoid it, and only I and the bridge crew will suffer the consequences."

"I'll take you up on your offer sir," Filitov replied, already turning towards the exit, "Just don't let that bad luck get to you sir. You're too good a man to lose."

---------------

'Next time, test something that blows up on your face...' Ming thought as Sylvie's rather heavily loaded Barzam stepped past his own Rick Dias, which was now being prepared for launch, 'It'd save me the trouble of hunting down an evil monster like you!'

'And I hope you bungle into a Titans ambush and die a slow, painful death at their hands, Captain Ming Chow...' Sylvie thought in reply as she glared angrily at Ming's orange Rick Dias, wanting to make sure that she kept her own Barzam a nice, safe distance from that murderer. Although spending that agonizing day with Ming had managed to curb her relentless urge to kill that ******* outright, she still had trouble controlling herself sometimes, and she could only hope that Colonel Jefferson had already filed some transfer orders for both her and John once this operation was done and over with. She had to admit that... fighting for AEUG was proving a lot more palatable than serving those Titans, and she didn't want anything to compromise her current position as an AEUG killing machine. Besides, Ming Chow was but one evil man, while the Titans were composed of dozens of men of the same type and caliber. Why give your life away so frivolously to kill only one when you can kill many others like him before finally giving him his just deserts?

"Hiya Sylvie, being your quiet, murderous self yet again?" Yoko asked cheerfully as "her" Nemo, which had been formerly piloted by Yun, was lifted onto the deck by the hangar elevators, "I hope you're not mulling over how to kill a certain friend of mine with that new toy of yours, are you?"

'No, I'm just trying to justify to myself why I shouldn't just fry the slime ball along with his psycho stalker, psycho,' Sylvie thought but did not say out loud, not wanting to waste any more breath arguing with Yoko. Surprisingly, Yoko had no more snide remarks for her at the moment, and Sylvie managed to get back into the Shigure's hangar in relative peace while the psycho and her "friend" went on patrol. Not so surprisingly, a pair of officers was already waiting for her arrival, and they seemed rather eager to greet her after her latest sortie...

"From your smiles, I gather that you are very satisfied with the performance of these weapons," Sylvie observed as she motioned towards two, machine-gun type weapons now hanging on some of the Barzam's hard points, "I have to admit that I am rather impressed with them myself, and my only regret is that we have already destroyed the production facilities for both of these weapons."

"Well don't worry about that, Captain," Scott Gusman replied enthusiastically, watching eagerly as a team of mechanics carefully took off one of the weapons. Described by many as the Mobile Suit version of a portable .50 caliber machine gun, this as of yet unnamed weapon fired heavy 150mm shells that, in both practice and theory, could rip right through older versions of the vaunted Luna Titanium armor, "You see, we've managed to capture about half a dozen samples of each weapon, and given ample time and resources, I have no doubt Anaheim can backwards engineer these weapons for our own use."

"Personally speaking, I'm just happy so long as those Titans never get to mass-produce these things..." Captain Jean Powell, who had just been released from the infirmary, answered as he watched a team of mechanics take off the second weapon, this one a scaled-up version of the Gelgoog Jaeger's dreaded precision beam machine gun, "You're absolutely certain that you deleted all of their records, aren't you Scott?"

"Positive sir," Scott answered confidently, "At best, they might be able to put together another Barzam prototype, maybe even start full-scale production of the ugly little bugger, but it definitely won't have all the bells and whistles of this particular sample we are using."

"A sample which you'll undoubtedly take apart at the end of our mission," Sylvie added dryly as her hand reached into her pockets, pulling out a pack of Strepsils to ease her still itchy throat courtesy of that shouting match with Ming, "A pity. That Barzam served me pretty well."

"Don't worry about that too much Captain, I think Mr. Neville's development team may already have something in the works for you," Scott replied with a grin, "Something that's ideally suited for someone with your fighting style."

"We'll see..." Sylvie replied doubtfully as she swallowed one of the throat-remedy tablets, although feeling as though she knew that Mr. Neville from somewhere before, and that he had proven to be both useful and trustworthy, "However, for now, I'd like to borrow one of those 150mm machine guns for my personal use. We are currently short of Mobile Suits, and I would prefer to have some extra firepower to compensate."

"No problem mam," Scott answered with a grin, "In fact, I was kinda expecting it. I heard you preferred shell-firing weapons over beam ones, and you're also renowned for having very, very good fire discipline, so the limited ammo capacity shouldn't be a problem for you."

'Gee... am I now the center of everyone's attention, or is Yoko just leaking all sorts of rumors about me?' Sylvie moaned to herself as she responded with a nod, trying to ignore a few discrete glances from a few nearby crewmen that had been directed in her direction. Though most of her companions had treated her little differently for the past four years, she still disliked the attention, knowing that it came about only as a result of either utter contempt or unwanted romantic(or, more correctly, sexual) aspirations. Jean immediately noticed her discomfort and decided to help by changing the subject.

"Well, these new weapons are nice, but I still wish we could get ourselves some extra Mobile Suits," Jean reminded, "Scott, any word yet on when we are getting replacements?"

"Sorry sir, that's one thing I can't help you with," Scott replied, "Anaheim's awfully short on re-supply craft, and I don't think any of their skippers are going to be brave enough to go all the way to Green Oasis. Unless of course..."

"We manage to... "borrow" a few from the Federation..." Sylvie cut in, a tiny twinkle now appearing in her eye despite her unsmiling face. Jean raised an eyebrow in response.

"I take it you have another one of your little plans..." Jean observed, "Care to share the details?"

The alarm claxons started going off before she could answer.

---------------

"Got-cha..." sensor operator Nikki Torecelli declared rather playfully as she punched up the image on the main view screen. The image was a little grainy, but there was no doubt that it was a Salamis Kai class cruiser, and one that was bearing Titans colors, "And boy did we catch'm napping..."

"Nice job Nikki, now start counting their Mobile Suits," Major Recto praised as he turned to his radio operator, "Communication, get me a secure line to Colonel Jefferson and Major Ardulace. I think they'll want to..."

"Already one step ahead of you, Major Recto," Major Ardulace's voice declared as the short-ranged radio receiver came to life, "And Colonel Jefferson is on the line as well. Well, Colonel SIR, what are our orders?"

"That cruiser does look like a rather promising target," Jefferson replied, though sounding rather weary over the radio, "But remember that we are on a recon mission, and we may get more information by following it. Opinions?"

"Sir, you know the Titans ORBAT better than I do," Ardulace responded in an irritated tone, clearly unhappy at any form of indecision, "And knocking out one of their cruisers is going to be a pretty big loss to them. I say we blow the **** out of her and just gather information from the twisted wreckage afterwards."

"I agree sir," John replied, "Besides, this one looks as though she's heading for Luna II, and I'm pretty certain that..."

"Ummm... sir..." Nikki suddenly interrupted, her normally large eyes growing even wider as she stared into the radar screen, "Excuse me, but I think we may have a small problem here..."

"Damn it... What now Nikki?" John demanded, annoyed at her interruption. The look on her eyes however, quickly convinced him that this was no "small" problem...

"Sir, I think our little prey just noticed us..." Nikki replied shakily, "And I think he just called for his big brother to beat us up..."

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Notes:

- Yes, Iosef Filitov doesn't like the French much(and yes, Sylvie IS of French descent and an avid croissant fanatic, much to her misfortune ^_^), and he also doesn't like a certain magnificent ***hole from Redcomet's What Cost for Freedom?, though for many other reasons beside his ancestry ^_^.

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Notice: This fic and all its contents are copyrighted by Thomas E. "Zinegata" Ting. No part of this work may be taken by any other person without permission from the author. Gundam and all related trademarks are owned by Bandai and their respective companies.