Gundam:  Dragon Wars
Episode 5:  Flying Fate
	As the Gundam Force's Gundams are flying along to the next colony base, 
thoughts were running through my mind.  The Force had faced workers of the New OZ 
over and over again.  Now, who would they have to face now in the next base that they 
had?  The next base was one that I had known from my past experiences.  It was a base 
located on a planet like Jupiter.  The base that they had there was set in the skies and 
could release special mobile suits known as the Falcon II suits.  The suits were specially 
built for sky combat because they had special wings built into the Mobile Suit that could 
act like normal bird wings.  They were used with special jets to keep the Mobile Suit in 
the air and to have it be stable when it was not in its flight mode.  He had been there 
when he was studying in the academy, but he never really understood how to pilot one of 
the Falcon II Mobile Suits.
	However, I knew everyone else was very skilled in most of the Mobile Suits, even 
the Falcon II.  In training, that was one of the reasons that I was kicked out of the 
academy because he couldn't master most of the Mobile Suits presented before them.  I 
know that James was a very talented pilot on the Falcon II and was almost asked to run 
routine duty around the planet if it wasn't for the fact that he excelled in all of the Mobile 
Suits.  That was the main reason he was chosen over myself.  He was way too good to 
say no to.
	As we entered the atmosphere of the planet, we started to adjust our engines to 
burn on a lower flash point.  If they burned on a higher flash point, the atmosphere would 
be on fire because of all the gases in the clouds around the planet.  On the lower flash 
point of the engines, they could run the same, but they wouldn't affect the different kinds 
of flammable gases in the atmosphere.  The Falcon II's were always on this system, 
which made it very dependable not to set off the gases of the planet.  However, if it did, 
then they could use the wings on the Gundam to still keep in flight and not set off the 
gases.  The Falcon II was made for the planet's conditions, so it was perfect for the pilots 
there.
	Once we landed in the hanger, it seemed that everyone still knew me from when I 
was studying at the academy many years ago.  Commander Falya was there first to greet 
me.  "Welcome back, Mike"
	I replied, "It's great to be back.  Too bad I wasn't here sooner."
	"Yes, I know.  Well, because of the confusing controls of the Falcon II, you 
weren't here when the attack took Dev's life"
	"Speaking of the Devil, I have one amazing thing to tell you."
	"What is it?"
	"Dev is alive."
	"That can't be.  I even seen the other 3 Gundams take him on and destroy him on 
the moon here."
	"Well, he is now also the leader of the New OZ."
	"A pilot from the academy as the leader of OZ?  This is going to be the death of 
us all."
	"Not really.  If I know Dev, there's one thing he's afraid of."
	"And that would be?"
	"Me."
	Just as I said this, a squadron of specialty Talgese models started to attack the 
colonial base.  As one few by, I recognized that one of the Gundams had the same 
symbol of the Diablo Gundams.  That only meant one thing.  Dev was here and he's back 
with a vengeance. He knew that I had made sure all of his operations were unsuccessful, 
so I had to take him down at his own game.  It was the only chance I had to make sure 
that the colony was safe.  The general alarm went off and it sent me and the other pilots 
out to our Falcon II's and get ready to head out there.  Of course, I was fitted properly 
and given a short walkthrough by the Squadron's captain.
	We all launched out and pulled out our beam sabers and scythes.  I had mine 
equipped with a special dual-sided beam scythe that pointed out in opposite directions.  I 
knew that it was one of the weapons that I could excel at, but the older controls on the 
Gundam meant fast as lightning reflexes.  But I was part of Gundam Force.  There was 
no can't but only will do.  Everyone had that mentality about us.  No one was willing to 
give up even if the odds were stacked against us because we always knew that we would 
come out on top of this to make sure that we were the best out there and were not short-
come by our weak points.  Of course though, this was my weak point, and Dev knew that.
	Just as the Squadron started to attack, I decided to single out the head of the 
enemy's squadron.  I targeted him and sliced right through the arm of his suit, sending it 
to the planet's core.  Then, by using a kick, I made sure that he was out of the way so that 
we could make an easy pick up of him later on and debrief him on the exact whereabouts 
of the New OZ's headquarters.  But he probably knew this and was prepared to take his 
life for the cause that he loved.  However, one thing did pass through my mind during the 
battle.  What type of pilots are we facing?  Just lackeys or are we facing some of the lords 
and counts of the New OZ.  If these were lackeys, then we had a long battle ahead of us.  
Otherwise, this thing will be over in a week.
	As the rest of the squadron started to break down in their formation, Dev started 
to drift off and go toward the station. I seen him heading there and made a quick course 
correction to intercept Dev before he got there.  I turned on by dual beam scythe and held 
it up to him, making sure that he knew I meant business.  Of course, he pulled out his 
twin beam sabers to try and show off the way that I did.  But no one could compare to the 
suit's excellence.  It was uncompared to the power of any suit if it had the computer 
system that was installed into my Gundam network.  However, with the older controls on 
it, it gave me a good challenge to move it around.  Dev's mobile suit was also made so 
that he was operating from the older system, so we were evenly matched.
	The battle started when he came at me, trying to split my dual beam scythe in 
half.  However, I was able to move out of the way and get in a good kick to send him 
back a little bit.  He recovered with a low-burn boost from the engines in the back of his 
mobile suit.  He tried another charge, but this time, I was able to get move my mobile suit 
lower and get a good slice at his legs.  One came off right away, but the other was just 
singed from the blast of the first one coming off.  I was then facing Dev from the back, so 
I came around and made a quick slice at the back of his mobile suit.  I then looked out to 
the suit to see the effect.
	NONE!  I had missed completely!  Dev turned around and got a good shot at my 
one arm, but he was only able to but a black mark on it because I got to the controls right 
away and was able to move far enough away that it wouldn't effect me as much.  He 
started to come in faster now, as if he had gotten control of it better now that I had made 
my mistake.  I twisted my dual scythe around to create a very powerful slice barrier so 
that his slices could be deflected easier.  That didn't stop him completely though.  I had 
to go for the kill or I would have to be killed.  Once he sliced down with both of his beam 
sabers, I got lower and gave him a good kick backwards so that he was knocked off 
guard.  I then was able to get two good shots at his arms, slicing them off almost 
instantly.  Dev knew he was defeated, so he started to run off along with the remnants of 
the squadron.  He had to go back into hiding to lick his wounds for a while, but we knew 
that he would be back.  He would always come back.  But we would be here waiting for 
him just in case he decided to come back.
	We came back into the hanger and let the salvage crews pick up some of our parts 
and some of the pilots from the other side.  Guy and James came up to me as James said, 
"We seen the way you were battling out there.  Great job."
	Guy added, "Yeah, who would have thought that you would have been able to be 
that good on a mobile suit that you weren't so good at in the academy."
	I replied, "It was just a matter of flying fate.  Once a bird's wings are singed, he'll 
never fly again.  But once a bird learns how to avoid the fires of hell, he will be the best 
flyer out there ever to grace the skies."