Chapter.01 To Axis

Bright learns that Judau launched in the Core Fighter without authorization. He had a rough idea who had a hand in things and orders the kids to be rounded up in the Captain’s quarters. Torres tries to tell Bright that Acting Captain Emary wants to talk with him, but he’s already left the bridge.

As he’s heading back to the captain’s quarters, he’s musing over the fact that Judau went to rescue Leina by himself and that there is no limit to how reckless he can be. Still, he cursed his own inability to persuade Judau not to go it alone. Heaven forbid they wait for resupply before going. Judau was that damn impatient.

As he was grumbling to himself in his quarters, Bright remembered that he had tried enlisting the help of Elle, Beecha, Mondo, and Iino to make sure Judau didn’t go out alone (taking note to himself how the kids needed a lesson in etiquette given how they were eating at the time).

The door to his room opened and Iino and Elle walked in. They confessed to helping him escape. Elle had no remorse for doing so. Iino apologetically admitted that Judau had taken the core fighter while the Double Zeta was disassembled. Beecha and Mondo, however, were cleared of all wrongdoing since they were happy to be docking the Double Zeta.

Just as Bright’s anger was about to reach its peak again, he’s interrupted by the intercom. Answering it, Keithron tells him that there’s a flying object approaching them. Perplexed, Bright asks whether it’s the Core Fighter and if Judau has come back. Unfortunately for him, it’s a suit carrier from Granada. Bright runs out of the room. Iino and Elle look at each other and don’t say a word and follow Bright.

Madchar Mucha has arrived on the ship with orders from AEUG Staff HQ. He’s described as a small stature middle-aged man who looks more like a greedy moneylender than a commander. He gives Bright their new orders: an assault on Axis alone. Bright’s complexion changes as he questions this, only to have Madchar rebuff him by saying that they’re at the La Vie en Rose for that purpose before asking how the installation of the High Mega Cannon is going.

Unaware of just what that is, Emary comes floating into the launch deck. Saluting him, Madchar chides her for not telling Bright a thing. She apologies and explains that she was bringing in supplies. Confused, Bright inquires about what they’re talking about. They explain that they’re converting the Argama’s main cannon into a high mega particle cannon, one that is on par with the colony laser.

She also informs him that they’ve brought along a second Hyaku-Shiki. Milly Childer, a young female engineer, is in charge of offloading the new cargo. From among it, Astonaige asks her where the equipment for the Hyaku-Shiki is as she rushes down to help him. Bright tacitly tells Madchar that he’ll accept the orders, but that the situation is what it is. Madchar says that only the former captain of the White Base can break through.

As he tries to protest, Madchar asks who the Newtypes are on board the ship. He points to the kids. Bright says they aren’t, but that you never know when an ordinary child will turn into one (and that he’s willing to bet on that possibility). He didn’t dare tell him that the one with the most promise of being a Newtype had gone off on his own with parts from a brand new mobile suit.

Emary tells Bright that she’ll do her best to outfit the Argama, her chest touching up against his back. Confused, Bright thought he smelled something familiar: the citrus perfume that she was wearing reminded him of his wife Mirai back on Earth.

Meanwhile, on the bridge, they were attempting to search for the Endra, but the thick concentration of Minovsky particles was making it next to impossible. With the information that Madchar had brought them, they were able to guesstimate the direction Axis was taking and that the Endra was likely headed there. Since they completed their operations at Side 1, they were heading back. Milly’s report revealed facts that seemed to support this: en route, they observed a light that appeared to be heading towards Axis and a smaller light that looked like a mobile suit.

Axis, on the other hand, was slowly moving into an orbit around Earth. Axis was originally oval in shape, but mining for mineral resources made it take on a sharp, strange shape. Aside from the main body, a spherical meteorite called Moussa is connected via a series of pipes. General Staff HQ for the Neo Zeon, as well as the palace of their actual leader Haman Karn, was located Moussa.

The Endra arrives at a port built out of Moussa. The harbor was lined with the same type of cruisers as the Endra as well as a Gwazine-type massive battleship. The harbor was bustling, as workers hastily loaded mobile suits onto each ship.

Confused, Chara Soon wonders whether they’re preparing for an all-out attack. Gotton says he hasn’t been told anything. Chara is more interested in eating a thick steak as opposed to what is going on. Gotton thinks that she should maybe report to Lady Haman first, but Chara waves it off saying to leave that to Glemy. Gotton wonders if she likes babyfaces like him, but Chara again is more interested in the steak. Gotton asks if he can join her and she says she’ll buy him a steak since he’s not getting paid much (this is new?).

As those shenanigans are going down, Glemy arrives at the palace. It’s noted here that a massive skydome was set up around it, with a projection of a blue sky and clouds with the occasional bird moving across it. You could even hear cicada chirps. Haman’s quarters were located on the top floor of the palace. Outside on the balcony, Haman sat in a wicker chair, her hair fluttering in the breeze.

A guard announces Glemy’s arrival. Glemy enters, dressed in his military uniform. He knelt down in front of Haman and bowed. Haman asks him how his first battle went, saying that she hears he had some trouble with the AEUG’s new mobile suit. He concurs and says that Mashymre had been killed in battle. She says that it was a pity and that had he lived he would’ve made a fine soldier.

As they head back out onto the balcony, Glemy comments on the activity in the port. Haman tells him that they’re ready to send the main force down to Earth and that she’s going this time. This confuses Glemy. Haman explains that she’s doing it to boost morale and that with the Titans wiped out, the AEUG is in shambles. Now would be the best time to take down the Federation government.

Glemy tries to flatter her but gets shot down. She tells him that while they’re taking a variety of mobile suits to Earth for the local battles, there’s one she has her eyes on: the Psycho Gundam. She has, as it would seem, plans for it. Glemy asks whether there are pilots who can use the suit, considering the psycommu system places a severe burden on the pilots, with a number of them suffering mental breakdowns piloting them.

She informs him that they’ll be using the technology to develop new mobile suits for their military and that by the time they take control of the Earth and return to space, their new mobile suits will have swept through and crushed the resisting AEUG forces. Haman says that Glemy will come to Earth as well, and he agrees, once again trying to flatter her. She curtly cuts him off again as she walks back into the room. Glemy senses that he was being pressured by Haman.

Returning to the residential area, he goes and visits Leina. Following a brief checkup at a military hospital, she was injected with a tranquilizer and fell asleep. As she lays in bed writhing around from a nightmare muttering big brother, Glemy is told by the attending doctor that she’ll calm down soon.

Magany is a pathetic looking man: completely bald with several front teeth missing. Had it not been for his white lab coat, no one would believe he was a doctor. Given his disheveled appearance, he looked more like a researcher than a doctor. Glemy scolds the doctor, saying he hopes he doesn’t conduct any unnecessary testing on the girl and that he has no intention of turning her into a Cyber-Newtype.

Magany laughs dryly, saying he’s got to be joking before pivoting to the fact that Glemy lost his father’s photo. Surprised, Glemy asks who told him and finds out that it was Rakan. Magany says that he believes he already met him and he confirms it, saying they met at the harbor when he saw a girl being carried out on a stretcher, asking if she was a failure of the Newtype Corps.

Magany laughs again saying that the Newtype Corps will be deployed into combat soon enough. Glemy asks whether Haman knows and Magany responds that she can’t speculate on their true objective since many of the Flanagan institute survivors are bothered by the way Haman has been treating Mineva. He asks whether he’s hopeful for Haman’s downfall, but Magany only laughs, making him uncomfortable.

Glemy learns that they’ve sent out one of the Newtype Corps soldiers, a young woman. She’s been imprinted to look up to him as her “older brother.” She’ll essentially be a test case. Glemy wonders whether she’ll be an asset but Magany says that’s entirely up to him. As Glemy dismisses him, Magany walks up to him and whispers that he should be the true heir of the Zabi family.

Glemy says that he’s heard that many a time and that’s why he’s on the ship. Before he goes, he turns to Glemy and says that he can get him another photo of his mother and father. Glemy declines, saying he’s not a child anymore. Glemy felt like he was treating him like a child again.

He had been exempt from military service as a special student and was attending university within Axis. Magany had approached him and told him the shocking secret behind his birth: he wasn’t from the Toto family, that was just his mother’s side. He had Zabi blood flowing in him. He was given a disk print that showed his mother holding a blond baby in her arms. Although his mother was dead, she was still young in the photo. Beside her was Soverign Degwin, founder of the Principality of Zeon.

Glemy’s life changed that day. He joined the Neo Zeon army as a volunteer, passed the most competitive test for pilot candidates and was assigned to the cruiser Endra with Chara Soon. All this happened within mere months of him joining the army. The speed of his promotion was astounding. Of course, he had the backing of the old Zeon faction who weren’t that pleased with Haman’s prominence, but that alone wasn’t enough to account for his rapid rise.

His own personal dedication led to Haman noticing him and thus getting an audience with her. This, of course, led to some scrambling by the former Zeons to come up with a new plan since they had originally depended on him amassing more power first before doing anything (they even hid his existence as a soldier). Their first step was to put the elite Newtype Corps under his command.

Glemy mulls over some thoughts about Leina and comes to the decision that he’s going to transform her into a proper lady, thus proving that he wasn’t just some rugged soldier. He apparently had some aspirations to become a teacher in college. For whatever reason, he was given the role of educating society itself. He somehow became drunk off his own determination of changing Leina. She was, however, completely oblivious and continued to sleep.

Back at the harbor, meanwhile, a meteorite drifts in. But it wasn’t just any meteorite, it was a dummy with Judau inside of it. He had successfully infiltrated Axis in his search for Leina.