"JEDEN!" the voice cried over the communications link. Jeden Windborne pulled up out of the dive just in time to miss the hail of bullets heading his direction. He swore under his breath and swerved around to face his opponent. The large mechanized battle armor stood between him and his objective. It had to go. Charging it would cause damage to his own mech, perhaps there was a more prudent way to remove the enemy. As if answering his prayers several missiles flew towards it from just out of Jeden's line of sight.

"Don't just stand there, FIGHT!" a familiar voice snapped in his ears.

"Thanks Segundo." Jeden replied watching the enemy crumple in and explode.

"You're welcome. Now let's go take that son of a bitch down!" The second mech. passed by, its pilot safely encased in the inner frame of the metal suit. Jeden followed and the two made their way towards their intended target.

"Poor Alucard." Segundo whined running a hand over her mech's bullet ridden leg. "Damn bastards how could they do this?" she demanded turning green eyes to look upon her fellow pilot. Jeden shuffled trying to ignore the fact that Anubis, his own mech., was also bullet ridden. It was a sad sight to see its' normally glossy metal interrupted by holes. "And all that for a lousy isogenic core!" Segundo continued to rant grinding her teeth angrily. She growled under her breath as she scanned the rest of the giant mech. for injuries. "I really don't like those pirates. They're getting more bold." Jeden nodded then muttered something about reporting back and quickly left.

Hurrying out of the hanger Jeden walked past the parade grounds where the flag of Mars Primary flew to the commanding officer's offices. Let the mechanics do their work in peace, he told himself. The last thing they need is for me to get in the way.

As one of five chosen pilots for the new experimental mechs, Jeden had been training heavily for months. Along with Segundo Segovitch, San Valias, Veir Berné, and Kelima Hastings, he had been taken from Earth Primary because of his hypersensitive senses. They had been whisked off to the military installations underneath Mars Primary to begin training two years ago. The training had been difficult, long and lonely. Jeden hadn't met the other four until eight months after his capture, when they were taken under Dr. Tristan Keller's wing. He developed a new type of specialized mech. and needed pilots with their skills to fly them.

General Wiez's office door was open enough that Jeden could glance in to see if the room was occupied. It was. Sitting at a desk covered in paper work was an elderly woman with gray hair. Glasses slipped down her button nose giving her an innocent grandmother look. Yet, she was anything but an innocent grandmother. Jeden wrapped on the door and the uniformed woman glanced up from the document she had been reading.

"Ah, Windborne. I've been expecting you. Where is Segovitch?"

"Still at the hanger, ma'am. We sustained some damage during the mission." General Wiez nodded and folded her hands on the desk.

"I'm sure I'll hear all about it in your report." She said calmly. "Come in. Sit down." Jeden did as he was instructed. Wiez stood up and faced the small window behind her. Her uniform was clean and neat, not a button or cord was missing. It was a standard Martian Primus military uniform jacket, dark charcoal gray with dark burnt sienna collar and trim. There were stripes on her sleeves and two gold cords indicating rank. Various pins adorned her left breast pocket. Twenty years service, wounded in battle, actions above and beyond the call of duty, and more. On the lapels of her coat two silver leaf pins glinted in the light as she moved, indicating that she was a major general and someone of influence. Newly pressed tan pants and black polished boots completed the outfit. Jeden looked down at his own clothes. They were poor in comparison. The standard military jacket, which had seen better days, a dark purple tank top, a necklace with an anhk and a pair of jeans. Not exactly traditional military regalia, Jeden thought gloomily. But it was comfortable and no one questioned him about it.

"You know there have been tensions between Earth Secondary and her colonies?" Wiez asked after a time. Jeden nodded. He knew about Earth Secondary, it was the third planet of the fourth galaxy beyond Pluto Primary.

As the historical tomes stated, centuries ago Mars Primary's resources had dwindled due to human consumption, nearly killing the planet. Unable to continue living on the surface, the population split into three groups. The first traveled to Earth Primary, the only other planet in their solar system capable of sustaining life and interbred with the humanoid species already existing there. A second group decided to search for a new home outside the solar system and eventually founded Earth Secondary, a planet nearly exact to Earth Primary. The third splintered into several smaller factions. Of these factions, one stayed on Mars Primary working on the underground caverns and attempting to regenerate the planet. Another decided to find the group that had populated Earth Secondary, but vanished. The third quarreled amongst itself and finally broke into even smaller groups. These founded the Martian Primary space force, supported further exploration of space, or splintered into the various pirate factions.

"Our informants have uncovered a plot by the leaders of Earth Secondary to build a space ship capable of cross galaxy travel. Because of their current political strife, it is believed that it will be a military vessel. Its objective is still to be determined, but our sources fear the worst, the complete takeover of Earth Primary. Of course they would have to get past a Martian Primus military blockade before they reached it, but that's beside the fact. We don't want bloodshed.

"From what our sources have confirmed, it appears that an ancient Martian Primus ruin has been discovered. In it was a map of the galaxies from here to Earth Secondary. This means that if they have the chance they will try and find us. Fortunately, before they can proceed, they first must bring their colonies to heel." Wiez continued. She turned back to face Jeden. "This is where you and the other pilots come in. We would rather not engage in a battle with Earth Secondary, as it would be detrimental to both sides. So we have decided to send our latest mechanical battle armor and our best pilots to aid the colonies. This is a top priority mission. It will be dangerous and there is a good chance that you'll be shot at from both sides. We don't know how the rebels will react to our aid. Our informants will help you as much as possible, but for the most part you'll be on your own."

My, doesn't that sound cheery. I think I'd rather deal with the pirates, Jeden thought. He stared at the general for a moment before speaking.

"We've been abducted, our DNA tampered with, made into pilots against our will, thrown into experimental mechs and nearly killed by pirates. Being shot at from both sides isn't going to faze us much." Jeden told her. He crossed his legs and folded his hands in his lap. He hadn't meant to sound so sarcastic, but it was too late now. General Wiez smiled and brushed back a stray hair that was falling out of her bun.

"The Martian Primus military has done some horrible things in its time. I do apologize for it. I'm sure you would have been happier before, but you are among the few with that certain DNA strand." She replied sitting back down. "I will of course be talking with the other pilots, you'll most likely be departing within the week. I want you to be prepared. I'll have Sgt. Mac send over some books on Terran Secondus history and current politics to read. Please do."

"Yes ma'am." Jeden stood up, saluted her and left the office.

The star cruiser left Mars Primary’s orbit and moved towards Jupiter. Jeden sat in his quarters with a book of ancient Earth Primary mythology. He was quietly reading when a bell sounded, someone was at the door.

“Come in.” he called placing a bookmark between the pages. A boy with dark auburn hair and even darker eyes entered the room. His hair was loose and hung in a wavy mass down his back. Jeden’s own dark brown hair was about the same length, but he’d bound it back with a tie.

“We’re holding a meeting in Segundo’s quarters in an hour. I thought I’d inform you.” San Valais said standing just inside the room.

“Thank you.” San’s grim exterior softened momentarily.

“Are you feeling well?”

“I’m just a bit tired. We spent all last night loading the mechs. I didn’t get much sleep.”

“I didn’t either.” San replied. “I think Seyth nearly had a heart attack about the lack of, in her words ‘forethought into this whole bloody farce’.”

“She wasn’t too happy about it.” Jeden inquired. “Mechanics, always concerned about something. I think if she could have strangled the generals, she would have.” San shook his head.

“At least we have enough fire power to last an entire six months. Let’s just hope that our weapons are compatible with the Terran Secondus’. If we work in conjunction with the colonists, then we should be able to deter any thoughts of takeover.”

“I hope you’re right.” San sighed, then removed himself from Jeden’s quarters saying that he still had to find Veir and tell him about the meeting. With a short wave, he was gone. Jeden settled back into his book and tried not to think that he was leaving his solar system.

Only two short years ago he’d been a happy, no, a content Earth Primary citizen with no knowledge that there ever had been life on Mars. That had been only in the movies. His life had been quiet. The only thing that was important was his ambitions of being a professional writer and his friends. Then a Martian Primus scientific team had kidnapped him and had his DNA tested for a certain strand. To this day Jeden still didn’t know which strand it was or even the coding. The scientists, upon finding it, took him to the base where his DNA was tampered with so that his senses were heightened beyond normal perimeters. It still pained him to this day to think about it. My poor mother, he thought sadly as he opened his book. I hope she’s well.

One hour passed quickly and soon he was sitting on Segundo’s bed next to her with Veir sitting cross-legged on the floor and San next to him. San was scribbling something down on a legal pad, but Jeden wasn’t paying attention. Kelima entered, nodded to all and took a seat on the bed as well. Segundo, the only female in the group, had long blond hair and light wispy bangs hovering over green eyes. She had a nice round face and wore a cheerful smile. Veir had shoulder length brown hair and large gray eyes. A pair of rose colored glasses perched on his nose attempted to slip down as he tried to finish reading over several documents. Bright blue eyes lit up Kelima’s face as he brushed a lock of light red-brown hair behind his ear.

“I hope this isn’t going to take long.” He informed them. “I’m still trying to get that new com panel to work in Fire Fight. That thing is driving me nuts.”

“Shouldn’t you be letting Seyth and her mechanics do that?” Segundo asked. “I mean you’re the one who blew out the old one.”

“I was hit. I’m lucky I didn’t get fried.” Kelima stated crossing his arms in front of him. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up so that the tattoo of a red phoenix was clearly visible on his right tricep.

“The pirates are becoming more daring.” Veir murmured turning a page. He sighed, folded the papers back over and set it aside for later. “Fortunately, they are the least of our worries for now.” Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Have you been studying the literature that General Wiez gave us?” San asked.

“Yes,” everyone chimed in unison.

“Basically Earth Secondary has had a similar history to Earth Primary.”

“Which I find very unnerving.” Veir interrupted.

“But with our background we should fit in.” San finished.

“Yeah, we’re all fucked up.” Kelima stated just before he flopped completely backwards onto the bed.

“That’s not what I meant.” San replied. “I meant that since the histories are so similar that we can easily disappear into a crowd.”

“Which will no doubt come in handy.” Segundo commented leaning over to read San’s notes.

“This mission may be our last.” Jeden stated.

“Oh, don’t be morbid.” Segundo grumbled her eyes narrowing. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. We’ve already been through hell. I doubt Earth Secondary could be much worse.” Jeden sighed. He actually didn’t want to fight, but he had no choice. Having hypersensitive senses meant that you were in the military whether you wanted to or not. Sometimes hearing something before seeing it could make a difference in saving of lives.

“He’s gone silent. Must be that time of the month again.” Jeden shot Segundo a dirty look. “Just kidding, jeez. Come on you don’t believe we’ll die do you?”

“Everyone eventually dies.” Veir said. “The question is when. If we are to die, then we’ll die attempting to protect Earth Primary’s future.”

“ARH! Can we get off this morbid kick!” Segundo growled. “You guys are depressing me.”

“Calm down. Nobody’s going to die if we can help it.” San said.

“If I’m going to die, I want to go out in a blaze of fire. Yeah, and I’ll take a few of those sons of bitches with me.” Kelima remarked brightly lifting his head just enough to look at Segundo.

“We face death every time we go out on a mission.” San said calmly in an attempt to return to the topic they had originally been on. “This is no different than any other, except that we will be on a different planet as a third party. We have to keep our wits about us and work as a team. We can’t do that if everyone decides to be suicidal.”

“I’m sorry San. I’m just worried about my family.” The room quieted and all eyes turned to Jeden.

“Jeden, we all worry about our families. But we’re dead to them. Our death certificates have been signed. Even if we could go home, they wouldn’t believe our account of where we’ve been for the past two years.”

“I know, I just hate to think of my mother alone.” He replied. “At least on Mars Primary we’re close to home, but now.” Segundo put her arm around him. San patted him on the knee reassuringly.

“It’ll be all right. Don’t worry.”

“I can’t help myself.” Jeden was glad his friends were around. “Her birthday was yesterday. She is forty-five.”

“Life goes on and we keep going along with it.” Segundo said. “We have no other choice in the matter.”

Veir grumbled. Staring at his mechanized battle armor he noticed that the icons had been removed from Yama’s leg. Normally there were about twenty little skull and crossbones stamps marking all the pirates he’d taken down. Someone had painted over them. This frustrated him to no end because they were a mark of his piloting skills. When he had started piloting mechs, he hadn’t had much ability. Not like Segundo or Kelima. He now was one of the best pilots and was nimble with Yama’s controls. Glancing down the star cruisers’ large mech. bay, he suddenly remembered that the mechs had refitted with new armor plating. With a sigh, he realized that he was going to have to repaint all his icons on the new armor.

Yama, which Veir normally referred to as Hard Rock, was a tall monstrosity of metal worked into the form of a robot from a Japanese animated feature. It reminded one of something from Transformers ©, only more refined. The pilot sat in the chest, protected by layers of metal and synthetic material. It resisted laser fire up to a certain degree and could take a bombardment of missiles as well. The arms, legs, and head of the mech. weren’t as well protected, but Seyth had been petitioning for better armor ever since the pirates had gotten a hold of some mech. armor piercing bullets. Gundamium type G2 wasn’t holding out as it had. Jeden and Segundo’s run in with them while retrieving the stolen isogenic core had convinced the military to comply. They had given them the strongest Gundamium the scientists could produce in large quantities, type G4. It should help cut down on damage, hopefully.

Bloodbane, Segundo’s mech. whom she affectionately called Alucard after a character in her favorite book, was being worked on. Seyth’s underlings were busily making sure the small vulcan cannons on the head worked properly. In comparison to Hard Rock, Alucard had a slightly heavier frame. Segundo wasn’t supposed to be in front line action on a regular basis. Her buster rifle was her main weapon, with a beam saber as backup. Alucard had been painted black, blood red and gold, while Hard Rock was black, green and dark blue. In fact, now that Veir thought about it, all the mechs had a black base coat with the other colors as trim. Anubis, Jeden’s mech was black, purple, and blue. San’s beloved Sentinel, was black, dark green and silver. Then there was Kelima’s Fire Fight that was black, blood red and burnt orange.

From half way down the bay Seyth MacClain, Chief mechanic of the experimental Gundamium mechanized armor looked up. Noticing Veir she put down her tools and stood up.

“Hey Berné!” Seyth called from where she had been watching her mechanics. “I’m sorry about your icon’s. When we put on the new armor I had to get rid of the old. It’s been scrapped, but I kept count of how many marks there were. I’ll repaint them on if you want me too.” Seyth was a great mechanic, but devious. She delighted in figuring ways to get more power into the mechs, have their computer systems run smoother or adding more fire power. Approaching in her late twenties, she was short with cropped blue black hair and brown eyes. What there was left of her hair was normally pulled back in a tail under a scarf, which almost always had grease smears on it.

“That would be nice. Will this new armor be better than the other stuff?” Veir asked pushing his glasses up on his nose.

“It damn well better be. The last thing I need is a damaged mech and pilot!”

“No kidding. I hate visiting the infirmary.” Seyth nodded and went back to working on Alucard. Veir contemplated finding the paint and doing it himself, as it would give him something to do other than wander the decks aimlessly. But in the end decided that since Seyth and her crew had removed his stamps that they could put them back on. Instead he strolled down the bay to look at the other mechs.

He ran into Kelima polishing one of his pistols at Fire Fight’s feet. Veir shook his head and stopped to say hello.

“Thought I’d prepare my emergency gun for battle. I always keep one in the cockpit along with an extra couple clips of ammunition.” Kelima informed him as Veir knelt down.

“Segundo keeps her two on her at all times plus ammo. It’s not a bad idea if we ever have to eject.” Veir stated breathing in the fumes from the gun oil. He raised an eyebrow. “Coconut?”

“Yeah, coconut scented.”

“Well we’ll always know which guns are yours. They’ll smell like Hawaii.” Kelima gave him a dirty look and went back to polishing. Veir glanced up a Fire Fight. The mech had one arm with a normal robotic hand and the other contained a giant flame-thrower with one large Gundanium blade attached. The normal hand had a small shield with three beam claws that sprang over the hand. Kelima used them for ripping mechs apart and slicing through them. Thermal blades were a variation on laser and particle technology. San compared them to light sabers only on a larger scale. They were fairly useful during space battles when you ran out of missiles. This tended to happen more often than Veir cared. It was one reason all the mechs were now equipped with some sort of beam or thermal weapon. Seyth wouldn’t let them leave the hanger without one.

Leaving Kelima to his cleaning, Veir walked the rest of the bay then went to the galley for something to eat.