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The Gundam Eclipse's frame rattled louder than Emily ever thought possible or safe as it soared through the atmosphere, clutching Rau Le Creuset's ruined GOUF under its right arm and shaking smoke off the beam shield on its left hand. Down below stretched the dark expanse of South America— a jungle at night, with few lights anywhere to guide the two mobile suits to the ground. Emily steeled herself and hoped she wasn't plunging into a city or something.

"IR flares," Rau spoke up suddenly. Emily glanced up at the display, finding a string of dots blazing in the infrared sensor's otherwise dark picture. "Hmm. A hundred and fifty kilometers west of Manaus."

"What does that mean?" Emily asked.

"The Alliance has a base in Manaus. They can undoubtedly track us from up here, and if they don't know we're here now, they will when we impact."

Emily gulped. "Impact?"

"That is the best way to describe what we're about to do." Rau paused for a moment. "Fire the forward thrusters again, continuous burst. Let's see if we can drop the speed a bit more."

As she complied and the Eclipse's speedometer slowly ticked down by a few kilometers, she glanced back up nervously at the IR sensor. "Who could have put those flares there?"

Rau stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment. "If the Alliance wanted to destroy us, they would have done so already. Those may be flares from Resistance forces." He consulted his map for a moment. "Ah, this is Ed the Ripper's territory. How fortuitous."

"Ed the Ripper?"

"You'll see. We're on the final approach. Bring us in as low as possible and drop the speed as much as you can before you touch down."

Emily braced herself. "I'll use the Voiture Lumiere, then. Hold on."

The Eclipse opened up its binders and a sapphire flash of light filled the sky as the Voiture Lumiere activated. Emily grunted in pain as the G-forces hit her, but the flight suit did its job and the Eclipse began to grind to a halt.

"Just get us over the river," Rau instructed. "We'll still be within a few dozen kilometers of the nearest inhabited locality..."

As she scanned up ahead, the black winding form of the Amazon River opened beneath her— and on the banks, amid the trees, a flash of light from the first of the IR flares. She slammed on the brakes, fired the forward thrusters, and cringed.

The crash, she suspected, was probably audible for miles around.

Tearing up the vegetation and soil as it went, the Eclipse slammed its feet down into the earth and ground a scar into the face of the jungle. The IR flares flashed by, the trees parted up ahead, the black depths of a lake stretched open in front of them—

"Stop us, now!" Rau barked; Emily ground her teeth as she seized the Eclipse's controls, twisted the Gundam around in the dirt, and fired the thrusters with the Voiture Lumiere system's assistance, throwing herself forward with a yelp of pain—

And, with a last roar of broken trees and topsoil, the Eclipse shuddered to a halt on the shores of Lago Anori, a few kilometers from the dim lights of a small city on the lake's northern shore. The black Gundam wearily pitched forward and supported itself with its free left hand on the ground, smoke still rising from its body, with a path of destruction carved through the jungle behind it.

"Well," Rau said quietly, "you certainly know how to make an entrance."

"I hope nobody minds that I just destroyed the rainforest," Emily muttered.

"It'll grow back. Lights, eleven o'clock."

Emily looked down nervously at the camera as the headlights of a jeep poked out of the darkness. The jeep itself slithered out of the jungle and came to a halt by the smoking trench the Eclipse had torn into the ground during its landing— and a dark-skinned man in a leather bomber jacket hopped out of the jeep, leaving his female companion and three well-armed fighters behind.

"See? Fortuitous," said Rau. "Meet Edward Harrelson, former pilot of the United States of South America." The GOUF's hatch popped open and Rau stepped out in his long black trench coat, a smirk on his face and a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. "Ed the Ripper! A fine welcome for us indeed!"

At the Gundam's feet, Edward Harrelson looked up in disbelief. "Rau Le Creuset, huh? How the hell did you wind up here?"

Rau gestured to the black Gundam as he lowered himself on the ruined GOUF's zip line. "I had a ride. Our apologies, by the way, for the mess."

Ed waved him off with a sigh. "Just helping some friends in need. So who's in the Gundam?"

The Eclipse's hatch swung open with a burst of steam and the zip line dropped down, with Emily clinging to it. Her feet hit the ground and she turned around, to come face to face with Ed the Ripper.

"Mr. Harrelson, meet Emily von Oldendorf," Rau said with a grin, "the Angel of Death."

For a moment, Emily squirmed under the taller man's intimidating gaze— and then he broke into a grin. "Not looking too deathly, I must say," he said, and extended his hand for a handshake hesitantly returned by Emily.

"I just crashed into a forest," Emily mumbled defensively.

"Oh, could've been worse," a woman's voice spoke up, and she stepped into view from behind Ed. "You could've landed in Manaus. Jane Houston, by the way. Good to meet you." They shook hands, and Emily glanced over questioningly at Rau.

"I'm sure we can all enjoy the ace pilot reunion later," the masked man spoke up, "but no doubt Manaus is scrambling forces to come inspect the crash site." He gestured over his shoulder, across the river. "Surely they heard the impact."

"True," Ed agreed. "The GOUF still any good?" Rau shook his head. "Then dump it in the lake. Emily, you'll have to hide the Gundam in the forest. Follow us; it'll be a few kilometers yet."

Ed and Jane turned back towards their jeep, and Emily returned to the Gundam with a feeling of dread gnawing at her from within.

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This was the part Meyrin hated.

"All hands, brace for impact! Water landing!" she shouted, and steeled herself in the captain's chair as the inky depths of the Atlantic Ocean at night sprawled before her. At least Stella would get to see the sea again— because the sea was about to be all over the place.

The Minerva landed amid a wall of water thrown into the air and drove along the ocean's surface, even as it slowed with each meter. The ship rattled as it came to a stop in the water; Meyrin kept her eye fixed on the speedometer as the vessel's speed inexorably clawed its way down to zero.

And then, with a shudder and a groan from the straining warship, it all came to a stop, and the entire bridge crew let out its collective breath.

"Abbey, start assessing damage to the ship," Meyrin ordered. "Burt, keep an eye on the sensors. There's no way we were missed on the way in." She pulled off her cap and ran a hand tiredly through her hair. They needed some more shore leave. "And for that matter, where the heck are we?"

Burt checked his console for a moment. "Um...about a thousand kilometers north of Ascension Island."

"And Emily's last trajectory?"

"Err, hang on...in Brazil...within two hundred kilometers of Manaus."

"Oh, shit," Roxy added.

"She and Rau can take care of themselves for the time being," Meyrin spoke up, hoping to crush the fear in the pit of her own stomach before it got any stronger. "First things first. Get the damage assessed and dealt with, and I'll plot us a course and figure out how to get our pilots back."

The bridge set to work, and Roxy turned her chair towards Meyrin. "Well, there is one bit of good news."

Meyrin arched an eyebrow. "What?"

"Our two sleeping beauties have finally woken up."

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The furious feeling of failure bubbled through Sven Cal Bayan's veins as he stepped out of the locker room, back in his black Phantom Pain uniform. There were repairs to oversee, reports to file, but for now he would have to simply stew in helpless rage at his latest failure— his twofold failure.

The Crusader Gundam was still the superior machine, but Sven had not been prepared for the mind games the pilot had used to level the playing field— nor had he expected Shinn Asuka's verbal barbs to be so precise. That would have to change. The first time could not have been simply surprise and momentum that had brought him victory. Shinn Asuka could not be that good.

Sven looked slowly over his shoulder as the source of all this aggravation— the real source— came drifting around the corner, and reminded him of his other failure.

"Last time you fought the Destiny," Yukiko said sternly, "you nearly destroyed it. What happened this time?"

Sven straightened up. "I do not know."

Yukiko frowned. "Sven, you're going to have to do better than that."

"I am aware."

"Not just for the Alliance," she continued, "but for everyone. Everything. The entire world." She paused for a moment, choosing her words. "This whole war...against the Resistance, against ZAFT, against the Coordinators...it has to be won."

"I am aware," Sven repeated. Especially after the gassing of Copernicus—

"That is what I built the Crusader for," Yukiko said. "That's what I named it for. This isn't just a war. It's a battle for our survival." She touched his shoulder. "If the Coordinators win, they're going to reorder the entire world. Do you understand?"

Sven eyed her curiously. "So says Blue Cosmos."

"This is beyond Blue Cosmos," Yukiko went on, and Sven blinked at the edge of conviction in her voice. "In medieval times, a handful of landowning aristocrats controlled entire nations and separated themselves from the masses by birth. But that could be changed. The nobles were ultimately just humans, same as the peasants. They could be overthrown. Peasants could rise to the nobility. Nobles could be cast into the peasantry.

"But this is different. The Coordinators will reorder everything. They'll be an aristocracy that can never be overthrown or joined. The medieval aristocrats weren't better than the masses because of their genes. Only the good fortune that their parents were aristocrats. But that won't be if the Coordinators win this war." She fixed Sven with a hard look. "If we have to sacrifice to prevent that from happening, then so be it. It's a small price to pay for our descendents' freedom, isn't it?"

Sven scowled back. "I am not interested in philosophizing," he said, and turned on his heel to march away.

"This isn't philosophizing," Yukiko said after him. "It's your purpose."

Sven clenched his fists, fought down the urge to whip around and strike her, and disappeared around a corner.

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The hum of the Aristotle's engines had a lulling effect that Nathaniel Hatias always had to fight. The Vosgulov-class never had engines this quiet, nor a hull this spacious or a mobile suit complement this generous— or a conn this well equipped.

Standing on the wide-open conn of his submarine as his crew set to work, Hatias glanced up at the map. The Minerva, sitting in the water a thousand kilometers off Ascension. The Aristotle approaching from the north, fresh from battle at the Alliance's sprawling naval facility in the Azores. The Aristotle had its orders to cruise the world's oceans, attacking any and all targets of opportunity. A major Alliance naval installation in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean was far too opportune to pass up. And this one...

Nathaniel came to a stop by the periscope. "Mr. Camwell," he said, "what did we pull together from the surviving ZAFT cells?"

"Forty mobile suits total," answered Camwell with a confident smirk. "Sixteen amphibious, the rest either aerial or on Guuls. Most of them out of Trinidade and St. Helena. They're all older models, but the commanders assure me they can get the job done."

"All they have to do is drive the Minerva northwest. We'll be waiting there with the second unit, and with the ship herself." Nathaniel looked back up towards the map, where the Fernando de Noronha islands loomed. "And make sure they're pushed into the archipelago, where they'll have less room to maneuver."

The conn doors slid open with a hiss. Nathaniel glanced over, greeted by a square-jawed, muscular man in a green ZAFT ground forces uniform, offering a crisp salute. "Ah, Commander Ladd. Was wondering where you went."

Alec Ladd smiled back tightly. "Preparations to the Proto Abyss are complete. We can launch within the hour."

"Easy there," chuckled Nathaniel as he turned back towards the conn, "this plan requires a delicacy of touch. Helm!" He stepped forward and put his hands behind his back, and steeled himself for battle. "Commence heading two-nine-five, depth at nine hundred meters, all ahead flank!"

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"So," the woman said as she slumped down into the rusty folding chair in front of her equally rusty metal table, "what the hell was that thing last night?"

Major Dana Barrak surveyed the scene outside her unit's humble barracks, her officers gathered around her in their mottled jungle uniforms. Black-haired, sharp-nosed 1st Lieutenant Andrew stepped forward and plopped a laptop down onto the table in front of his commander.

"Observation tower confirmed, it was that new Gundam the Resistance has, the one that's been making waves in space," he began.

"Oh, the Midnight, eh?" Dana asked with a smirk.

"So it seems. Cat's Eye recon plane did a flyover, and found this." Andrew called up an image of the landing site— or, rather, the vast and hideous scar ripped into the jungle by the hard landing of something moving very fast. "Just on the shore of Lago Anori. Stopped maybe five meters from the water."

Dana studied the image for a moment. "Telescopes caught them with a second mobile suit, though, didn't they?" she asked. "A GOUF?"

Andrew called up another image. "There's a crew heading out from Manacapuru to search the lake right now. The GOUF was in pretty bad shape, so they might have just dumped it. But the Gundam is long gone."

Silence descended over the troops as Dana looked over the map. "Anori, huh," she muttered. "Bunch of Resistance sympathizers probably hid the damn thing." She looked back up at Andrew, and the look in her eyes was unmistakable. "One of Ed the Ripper's rumored hideouts."

"So the rumors say," Andrew agreed with a grin.

"Major," another man spoke up, "they may be sympathizers but they've always backed down when we show up in force."

"And we might catch the Ripper this time," a third man offered.

Dana rubbed her chin as she stared at the images for a moment. "Ol' Kirisaki won't be that easy to catch. But that Gundam..." She looked up with a smirk. "I think we could use a road trip to Anori, boys and girls. Get our mobile suits ready to sortie and get Company B onto the barge. We have a field trip to take."

"Including the Buster Windam?" asked Andrew.

Dana stood up with an enthusiastic grin. "You have to ask? I gotta see this for myself. Move out."

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The songs of jungle birds filled the air as Edward Harrelson guided his jeep out of the rainforest and into the dusty, primitive streets of the little town of Anori.

"It's one of our havens," Jane explained from the passenger seat. "We can't stay for long, but they look after us and do what they can. They're USSA types who don't take kindly to the Atlantic Federation troops that still occupy the continent."

"Except you," Ed corrected with a grin.

"Well I'm different," Jane said with a haughty air. "Anyways, you'll be safe, but we can't keep you here long."

"Not without risking a fight," added Ed, and he nodded over his shoulder, to the northeast. "Manaus. And our old friend, Major Barrak."

In the back seat, Rau sat back with one leg draped over the other. "We will cause as little disruption as possible," he said, and glanced over at Emily, to his left. "We will have to find a way to contact the Minerva."

Emily frowned and looked down at the jeep's floor uncomfortably. "They must be thousands of miles away..."

"We can handle that," Ed interrupted. "All they've got to do is get to the river's mouth. We can slip you and the Gundam onto a barge or something that will take you up the river to Belém. But there's a catch."

"A catch?" mumbled Emily.

"Belém is a seaport on the mouth of the Amazon River," Jane explained. "We have sympathizers and agents in the city that could help smuggle you out into the Atlantic. But there's a small naval station at Belém, as well as a larger base just north of the city. The Minerva, and you, will have to deal with it."

"And there's Manaus," Ed added. "Barrak is probably heading over to inspect the crash site as we speak. And if that's the case, her troops will probably be swinging through Anori."

Emily's eyes widened. "Then everyone here will be in danger!"

At that, Jane only laughed. "Oh, the folks here put up with that shit all the time," she chuckled. "They know what to do. You just stick with the Gundam and get the hell out of here if they find you. We'll handle the rest."

"But...I didn't see any of your mobile suits around here," protested Emily.

Ed grinned wolfishly. "That's the point."

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The DOM Trooper hummed as its engines carried it over the rolling waters of the mid-Atlantic. There was nothing out here but ocean— endless fields of blue that glittered under the sunlight of a clear sky. If it weren't for the map, Trojan knew he would be completely lost out here— and, with all the peace and quiet, it might not have been so bad.

But Trojan Noiret didn't have just peace and quiet. He had the devil of worry, gnawing at him in his gut. Sure, Emily was a formidable pilot in her own right; sure, her Gundam undoubtedly survived reentry intact; sure, she had one of the greatest aces of the Valentine War with her; sure, she had landed in the territory of Ed the Ripper, another of the greatest aces of the Valentine War. That didn't stop him from worrying. Emotions didn't have to make sense.

He sat back with a sigh and struggled to push the thoughts aside. They had sent him out here on patrol while the ship finished off some feverish repairs. He was used to this, really; life in the jungle with Barry Ho for three years did wonders for one's sense of perspective.

He glanced at the clock and then keyed on the comm. "This is Trojan, western approach, ten klicks west. Nothing to report."

Shinn's face presently appeared on the auxiliary screen. "Nothing to the east either. Let's head back."

Trojan took the DOM's controls and turned the mobile suit east. "Did they say how the repairs are going?"

"Another couple hours and we'll get going." Shinn put on a reassuring look. "She's hanging out with Ed the Ripper, Trojan. Nothing's going to happen to her."

"I guess," Trojan agreed.

"Well, I'll put it for you like this. Before he became a mobile suit pilot, Ed was famous for close quarters combat with enemy mobile suits in a Spearhead."

Trojan paused. "Wait a minute, a Spearhead is a VTOL fighter."

"I know."

"...so...she's hanging out with a guy who is completely crazy, and that's supposed to make me feel better?"

"He's the good kind of crazy." Shinn sat back. "Anyway, it won't be for long. The bigger problem is getting her out of the interior. But we'll deal with that."

Trojan eyed Shinn suspiciously, knowing that there was more to this than the Coordinator was letting on, but decided to let it go. "Then I'll see you back at the ship," he said quietly, and cut the transmission.

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The conn was buzzing with activity as Nathaniel Hatias stepped through the doors and wove his way through the flow of deckhands to the periscope, where Camwell was speaking with the conn's various officers.

"Captain," Camwell said, exuding confidence, "we're twenty minutes out from our position outside Fernando de Noronha. Ziegler and the other cell leaders have launched all units north to target the Minerva."

Nathaniel glanced up at the tactical map. Hounds to the hunters. The Minerva probably didn't even know this vessel, the largest submarine ever built, even existed. They would be in for a difficult battle.

"Diving command, set depth for fifty meters. Flood the lateral launch bays and prepare all mobile suits for sortie." He paused and switched on the intercom. "Commander Ladd."

The square-jawed face of Alec Ladd appeared on a screen, showing the hulking man in the Aristotle's cavernous, bustling hangar. "You rang, captain?"

"You've been boasting about the Proto Abyss's performance for some time," Nathaniel said, and offered a challenging grin. "How would you like a chance to prove it?"

Alec smiled back. "I'd never say no to an offer like that, sir."

"Good. We will need one of our own in action with the others to ensure our tactical awareness. I don't want to rely on guerrilla cells and survivors anymore than I must. Go ahead in the Proto Abyss and offer your assistance to Ziegler and the others, and report on conditions as they push the Minerva northward. You'll be on your own amid the survivors. Try not to let them get killed."

Alec Ladd flashed a toothy grin and saluted. "Yes sir."

"Very good. Move out." The screen darkened and Nathaniel turned towards the conn. "All hands, Condition Red."

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Under the dense canopy of the rainforest, Emily von Oldendorf sat nervously in the shade of the trees and the dreadful shadow of the Gundam Eclipse, kneeling beneath the foliage, hidden from view. Rau sat on an exposed tree root nearby, looking far more amused than Emily felt, and they were all surrounded by a handful of grungy, well-armed fighters from Ed's retinue. Ed the Ripper seemed to have no shortage of guerrillas. Evidently he was a man of some charisma.

Emily glanced up awkwardly at Rau. "What's going to happen out there?"

Rau answered with a shrug. "With any luck, the Alliance troops will find nothing and decide to leave."

"And what if they don't?"

"Then Mr. Harrelson will take care of things. He is, after all, a famous ace from the Valentine War. He earned his reputation."

Emily frowned and looked back up at the Gundam, and pushed down the gnawing feeling that she should leap inside, take off, and drive off the Alliance troops. But that would change nothing. They would just come back again, probably in greater numbers, and bring down their wrath onto the town below.

"You seem to know a lot of aces," she murmured.

"Of course," Rau said with a smirk. "I was one."

"You were?" Emily asked, surprised.

"Did my reputation not precede me that far?" chuckled Rau. "'The White Knight of ZAFT?' I suppose that's not so bad. It was always a rather ridiculous nickname." He sat back comfortably against the tree trunk. "I was a ZAFT soldier, yes. I fought in the Valentine War and the Junius War. I had by all measures a successful career."

Emily pursed her lips. "Then why aren't you still with them?"

"I was stranded at the end of the Junius War, and besides," he spread his arms with a grin, "would I really fit in with them anymore?"

"I guess not." She glanced back down the slope, towards the town below— and the Alliance mobile suits clustering to the southeast, on the lake's shores. "I don't really know any of this stuff."

"There is much to know," Rau said, "and I make it my business to know it. Perhaps more than most."

"How come?"

"Because, I have always wanted to change the world, as you do, but I have always had to contend with circumstance."

Emily's brow furrowed in surprise. "What...?"

Rau smiled reassuringly. "I'll explain," he said, nodding to the fighters around them, "some other time."

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The sirens wailed from the sensor console as the Minerva's bridge sank down into its combat state. Meyrin held back a sigh and steeled herself for battle once again. Never a moment's rest.

"Burt, enemy count?"

"Twenty-five mobile suits in the air, four on the surface, and sonar is showing eleven underwater. They look like they're all ZAFT models, most of them from before the Junius War."

"Alright. Roxy, divide up the MS team. Stella will submerge and deal with the underwater units; Trojan will handle the ones on the surface; Shinn and Lily will defend the ones in the sky." She glanced over at Abbey. "Status of the engines?"

"Fully operational."

"And the weapons?"

"Ready for combat," answered Chen.

Meyrin sat back and let out her breath. Time for another battle. Emily and Rau would have to wait.

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