And so, two people who had survived the war three years ago finally met each other on the field of battle. To settle their scores. To avenge their loved ones. And for one, to regain her soul...

And the first shot was fired by Sylvie Greisser.

Just as Ming Chow began to turn, Sylvie let loose her first three shots of the battle. For any other pilot, it should have been the end, but Ming was no ordinary pilot. He was an ace.

And use his skills he did. As he turned around he saw the tracers start streaking towards him, and he quickly maneuvered his GM Quell to duck down into the ground. It was only partially effective, as two of the three shells still found their mark. But these shells, meant to rip through Ming's cockpit, struck an armor belt in the GM Quell's chest instead. Saving Ming and giving him a chance to shoot back.

And shoot back he did, sending three shots towards Sylvie in return. Sylvie saw the tracers come as well, but her GM Custom was already side stepping out of the way. Unlike Ming, she evaded all three shots entirely, before firing another burst at Ming.

But Ming was already moving, and he shot back as he leapt backwards out of the harm's way. Sylvie, likewise, evaded and fired a volley in return as she dodged out of the way of the incoming bullets, only to see her shots deflected by Ming's shield.

And then, there was a lull. The briefest of lulls in this duel. A lull as both mobile suits threw out their now empty clips and slammed a fresh one into their waiting machine guns. And together, both mobile suits began to raise their guns towards each other... ready to fire...

And at exactly the same time, both Ming and Sylvie found themselves staring at the barrels of each other's guns.
Neither fired.
Yet.

Ming felt a sweat drop slowly roll down his cheek as he stared at the enemy mobile suit, hesitant to shoot. It was a deadly stand off, neither willing to make a move before the other...

And Sylvie stared on as she felt herself breathing harder. She was now waiting, biding her time before she finished off her prey.

How great it would feel to finally be free. Free of all of the trappings that had enslaved her these past three years. All caused by this one man. There would be no mercy now.

She fired.

Ming immediately saw this, and fired back while evading. Sylvie dodged his return fire, while producing a grenade of her own. Ming tried to shoot her again, but before he could do so a grenade had begun tumbling towards his mobile suit, and he jumped... jumped to get out of the way...

And he made it, but just barely, as the grenade threw up a huge cloud of dirt in front of him. By the time it had subsided, the enemy GM was nowhere to be seen...
-----------------------------

"Halt!" a Federal GM Kai pilot ordered as two of the enemy mobile suits appeared before them, "Stop or we will..."

But Jake Stark paid no heed to their warnings, and immediately charged the trio of GM Kais still guarding the docks. All three opened up at once, but Jake suddenly threw a grenade in their midst, exploding one GM Kai while knocking the other two to the ground.

"Damn it... those blasted rebels..." a surviving Federal pilot muttered as he tried to get his mobile suit to stand once again. Before he could do so, a GM suddenly appeared right over him and aimed its machine gun at him. He was just about to scream outloud when he saw a flash.

"I won't... I won't let you..." the third and final GM Kai pilot declared as he began to right his mobile suit to face Jake. But Jake never gave him the chance to fight again. He rushed the last GM Kai and smythed it with his shield, shattering its mono sensor. As the enemy's suit crumpled back down to the ground, Jake fired a final volley, blowing its cockpit apart.

"Damn... if we had only gotten to those mobile suits yesterday..." Horton observed.

"Yeah... but it's too late now, ain't it?" Jake replied as he started to move his GM Kai over to the airlock, "You think we can get out from here?"

"I think that airlock leads directly out to space..." Picton answered as he tried to take a look at the airlock's markings, "But we don't have the access codes to..."

"We won't need access codes..." Jake replied as he reached into his GM Kai's backpack and produced one of the weapons that had been instrumental to the Federation's victory during the One Year War: A beam saber.
-----------------------------

"Mam!" Ivan Romanov shouted as the report came in, "The Lion's mobile suit squad just bought it, and those rebels now have control of the docks. And... Oh ****! They're trying to break a airlock open!"

"If that airlock isn't broken open properly..." Natalie Dolvich started.

"We're going to have massive decompression in the areas near the docks," Ivan finished for his commanding officer, "We're going to suffer serious casualties if we don't..."

Natalie merely nodded as she grabbed the microphone, "This is Major Dolvich! Evacuate the docks! GET EVERYBODY OUT NOW!"
-----------------------------

"Arnie, what's going on?!" Estella Madrigal asked worriedly as alarm claxons began to ring all around them.

"****..." Arnold Jefferson muttered, "It's a major decompression warning. We need to seal off this room now!"

"But if we don't get out of here... my chance to get word from Ming..." Estella started.

"Ming can handle himself," Jefferson replied as he quickly locked down all the doors and prayed that this room didn't give way. Being ejected out into space was a horrid way to die, he knew, seeing from the bodies they had recovered in several accidents that had happened in the past. You were both freezed and cooked at the same time, all the while realizing that you were dying as your lungs exploded from the lack of air pressure. And if you were really unlucky, your horrid little corpse would fly in space forever, trapped in the final, agonizing pose that you were in just before you died. Wonderful. Even incineration was probably a better death than that... "Because I am certainly NOT going to risk being ejected out into space."
-----------------------------

"You're all crazy!" the chief medical officer screamed as he saw one of his ambulances getting ready to go to the devastated dock yard area, "Don't you know you might get blown out into space?! Don't you even realize there is still shooting out there!?"

"I'll take responsibility!" Sandra Miller screamed back as she hopped on into the ambulance's front seat, "There are injured men out there, and they need my help now!"
-----------------------------

"Almost there..." Jake muttered as he felt his GM Kai now slowly being sucked into the massive gouges he had made on the airlock using his beam saber. Small objects that had littered the docks were now being sucked by the onrushing air and ejected out into space, including, much to his horror and disgust, several corpses that they had left lying around in the docks.

"Alright! I think you can kick it off now!" Picton advised.

"Got it..." Jake replied as he turned off his beam saber and returned it to its rack. He then kicked the airlock as he was told. He did not expect what happened next.

As he kicked the airlock its seals finally gave way, but the onrushing air suddenly picked up his own mobile suit and dragged both his and Horton's GM Kai into the space, along with nearly everything inside the dock area that was not tied down. But it was what he saw outside that shocked him: EF's battleships. At least two of them. Guarded by half a dozen cruisers and even more mobile suits. But it was one of the battleships that had caught his attention. Its bridge. Its superstructure. Its elegant and beautiful hull lines. Its deadly and foreboding cannons. It was her. The ship he could never forget. It was the Warspite.

"Oh ****..." Horton managed to say outloud despite his shock, "****! This is it! We've had it!"

Just to emphasize that fact, several Mobile Suits began to rocket towards both Horton and Jake firing their guns as they did so. But they were still too far away, and most of their rounds missed. But Jake paid no heed to them. Only the Warspite held his complete attention.

"Jake... what do we do?" Horton asked nervously as he began to pray quietly on his own. This was it... from the frying pan and into the fire... and they were so close...

"Horton," Jake replied as he took one last look at his companion, "I'll handle this. Goodbye, friend..."

"Jake?" Horton asked as Jake's mobile suit seemed to ready itself for the battle ahead. He wasn't thinking of...

"Oh ****... he's not..." Picton exclaimed.

He did. To Jake, this was now all about sinking the ship that had gotten all of his friends and companions. To him, only one thing now mattered: Sinking the Warspite. And so, he began to move towards the Federal lines, slowly at first, but then gaining speed as his GM Kai accelerated forward...

"We have to..." Horton started.

"GO! NOW!" Jake ordered as he rushed towards the first group of GMs, firing his machine gun as he did so and exploding one of them, while a second began to trail smoke. The third fired back, reducing his shield to scrap, but then Jake lopped off the surviving GM's arms and forced it to retire as well...

"Damn it, Jake... don't..." Picton started.

"I... I'm afraid we have to..." Horton replied as he began to move his own GM away from the battlefield. Slowly, and stealthily, his own GM began to leave the battlefield behind him. The chances were still slim, but Jake was now giving his life for there to be any chance at all. Horton felt himself blinking away a tear...

But Jake was not about to give his life away needlessly, as he quickly weaved his way through the intense fire now being thrown at him. Beams from every Federal warship lanced out at him, but all he cared about was hitting the Warspite. He could do it. He still had a few grenades and...

Another three GMs began to head towards him, determined to intercept him before he could do any damage to the ships. Jake fired at the leading GM, lopping its head off, but the other two fired back, ripping off his arm and a leg. His maneuverability, and much of his staying power, was lost at this point, but he fought on. This time, he threw a grenade in the midst of the two undamaged GMs, crippling one while stunning the other, and with that, Jake saw his last chance.

General Nicolo Lander grimaced as he saw a second squad stopped cold by the lone rebel GM. Every gun he had was now aimed at that lone rebel unit, to the protest of that idiotic Alexander Dolvich, but still it came on. And it was heading right for him.

Jake forged on ahead even as the fire even grew denser than before, shredding his GM Kai's torso and even causing some damage to the cockpit itself. But he was now in range, and he didn't hesitate.

"This is for you Captain! This is for all of you!" Jake screamed as he locked the battleship into his sights. A volleys of shells were heading for her a moment later.

Nicolo saw the shells come, and felt several explosions rock his battleship. But the Warspite was no ordinary ship, and would not succumb to such little damage. He ordered his men to fire on as he began to step away slowly, not intending to stay on the bridge for any longer than necessary...

Jake screamed on as he fired every last bullet in his machine gun at the Warspite, peppering the old warship with explosions and damaging a turret. But to his shock, the Warspite was unscathed. Not one shot had penetrated her armor.

Next, he tried his grenade, throwing it at the Warspite just before anti-aircraft fire lopped off his remaining arm and exploded his GM's mono-sensor. His GM began to power down as his GM took more hits, but then he saw huge blast as his grenade had struck true.

And still, the Warspite remained, defiant as ever. Another turret was damaged, as was some of the superstructure, but the ship was still intact.

And to Jake, now feeling shrapnel ripping through his body as more shells struck his now derelict GM Kai, decided that there was only one thing left. But it had been a worthy fight, against a worthy ship. Win or lose, he realized, he had redeemed himself to his companions. And now, he would finally join them...

Nicolo had cringed after the grenade had exploded on his ship, and had just begun to recover when he saw another sight that finally caused him to panic and lose his demeanor: It was the derelict rebel GM. And it was now on a collision course with his ship. He screamed for the anti-aircraft batteries to shoot harder even as he fled the bridge of his own ship.

General Dolvich on the other hand, watched on in amazement as the still barely functioning GM began to head right towards the Warspite. An anti-aircraft gun scored a direct hit on its cockpit, but the GM went on. Unknown to Dolvich, the pilot had died at that point, his hand still firmly clutching the controls.

And so Jake never did find out. He never did find out that his last strike had struck true. That his GM Kai had smashed right into the Warspite and destroyed itself in a massive explosion as its reactors cooked off. An explosion that shook the Warspite down to her very core...

But perhaps it was better that he had not known after all. Twenty-seven men had died on the Warspite that day, and four of her seven turrets were put out of action. But she remained intact, defiant as ever. Her famous namesake had endured two World Wars and hits from nearly every type of ordinance and survived. So would she. She and the spirit of those who had built and crewed her.
-----------------------------

"Jake... damn it..." Horton whispered to himself as the firing finally subsided far behind him. The Federal Fleet had finally stopped firing, meaning they had finally killed their target: Jake. Damn!

"I say old chap, I think you'd better give up now," a British voice suddenly suggested over the open communications channel, much to the surprise of Horton.

"****! We've been found again..." Picton started.

Horton gritted his teeth. No! Not now! Not when freedom was only a few miles away and...

"If you were hoping to get onboard the Helium 3 Carrier San Francisco Maru, then I think you had better think again," the voice continued as the black-violet GM Quell stood in front of their damaged machine, "She's currently being guarded by an entire Federation Task Force, and her skipper is already under our custody. I'm afraid that there is no escape for you now..."

And with that Horton suddenly felt his heart sink. The San Francisco Maru HAD been the ticket out of here to get to Axis, and how the Feddies had found out now was beyond him. But now... there was no hope again. None certainly for Jake. None for him and Picton. Even none for Ming and Yun. It was really over...

"I would really prefer not to shoot you, but if you don't surrender, I will be forced to do so," the voice warned, "Make the smart choice, soldier of Zeon."

"Might as well end it now..." Picton decided.

"Yeah..." Horton agreed, "I'm sorry..."
-----------------------------

"Oh I should have been expecting this..." Eaton Hawkins thought as the rebel GM Kais began to raise its machine gun towards him. Such a bloody waste...

Horton thought that maybe he could at the very least take the Titans' GM with him, but he never got the chance. Hawkins fired a shot long before he did, which punched a hole right through the GM Kai's cockpit. Horton and Picton were both killed instantly.
-----------------------------

"Damn it... where?" Ming thought as he kept moving. This was now a cat and mouse game, and he was the mouse. That damn b***** was good, never showing enough of herself to shoot at, never shooting unless ready... so much like that b******* sniper he had killed three years ago...

But at least Jake and the others had probably gotten away. He had heard the alarm claxons go off a few seconds ago, indicating Jake had found a way to breach the airlocks. At least they were probably be safe now and...

"How does it feel now to be the mouse, Captain?" the voice taunted, "Are you afraid now?"

"Damn it! Why don't you come out then and fight honorably?!" Ming bellowed back.

"Honor?" the voice asked, "What honor is there in war? It's only murder."

"It's not murder!" Ming shotback, "It was for justice! It was for independence!"

"Oh right..." Sylvie answered as she began to laugh, almost hysterically, before recovering and saying, "And just because one man decided that the whole world was a threat, all of you fools from Zeon decided to throw your lives away, using your "justice" and "independence" as perfect excuses. Fools."

"And why don't you listen to yourself you B****!" Ming growled back, "You're nothing but an insane monster! What do you know of the pain and suffering I've had to go through?"

"Pain? I once felt that..." Sylvie answered, "When I was still a human being... When I still had a soul... Oh I tried... I tried hard to preserve my humanity... To keep it for those I loved..."

"...And then YOU took him away..." Sylvie continued on, this time hate and spite now creeping into her voice, "You took away the only man I could ever love... Leaving me only with my pain... I tried to fight it... Hoping I could live my life again someday..."

Ming now felt a chill go through his spine. Who WAS she?! Who the hell was she?! Some psychopath obsessed with killing him?! What was...

"But I couldn't make the pain go away... I kept losing to it... So I just gave in to it... And I didn't care if it warped me into an evil monster anymore. At least the pain is gone..." Sylvie continued on, thoroughly enjoying tormenting Ming and releasing all the anger she had been carrying but could not release, until now... "And now here I am... A killing machine. Unable to love. Unable to find any hope. And I have only one purpose left: Your death..."

"My death?" Ming shouted back, "What the hell are you talking about anyway?! What have I..."

"Oh you poor blind fool..." Sylvie continued on as a wicked smile now played on her lips, "You don't even realize what you've done have you?"

"What?!" Ming asked, now giving in to his frustration, still unable to find where she was hiding...

"I'm a ghost that has come back to haunt you, Captain Ming Chow," Sylvie replied as she tightened her grip on the trigger and aimed her GM Custom's machine gun right at the GM Quell's cockpit, "You took him away from me, and I died. But my mortal shell still lives on, trapping my soul and forcing me to live through my very own Hell. Trapped and warped me to be nothing more than a harbinger of death. And now the one who created me will now face my wrath. YOU."

Ming now began to feel himself tremble. This was insane. In fact, he couldn't believe anymore that it was real... How? How could she have known him? How could he have made someone like her? Weren't people like her born in the Federation just to kill his countrymen? What was...

The answer never came. Instead, Sylvie fired.

Notice: This story and all related material is copyrighted by Thomas E. "Zinegata" Ting, no part of this story may be taken by any other person. If you wish to use any material, please contact me first. Gundam and all related trademarks are owned by their respective companies.