”Bastard…!”

　Quentin turned his back to the R-Jarja that stood before him and fired at the mysterious mobile armor charging toward him. He swerved around the massive red figure as it rushed toward him as if to tackle him.

　”What the…?!”

　 The mobile armor refused to shoot for some reason; as it swung its colossal body around, it pursued the Tristan piloted by Quentin.

　”What do you think you’re doing?!”

　Quentin evaded, but the stabilizer on the back of the mobile armor swung like a tail and snatched Tristan’s armed base – Kurewenal’s container – as he passed.

　”Ugh!”

　 The violent impact from the collision of the massive frames hit Quentin as he sat in the cockpit.

× × ×

　Arlette frantically ran her fingers along the console of the Ahava Azieru as she made repeated desperate battle cry at the Gundam Type in front of her.

　 The Ahava Azieru had been abandoned in the middle of production, so most of its armaments were unequipped. She managed to get the mega particle cannon working, but the barrel, which had fired a high heat beam without being adequately adjusted, had sustained considerable damage. Plus, its energy was not yet fully charged, and she did not know how many more shots she had.

　She was left with no choice but to force a dogfight. But, that was not the way this machine was designed to fight. Whatsmore, Arlette knew almost nothing about being a pilot.

　Her enemy, the Gundam before her, was different from the one she had seen inside Axis and was like a cluster of weapons, with its entire frame covered by a weapon unit.

　She did not know how long she would last in this situation.

　Arlette began sweating beneath her normal suit.

× × ×

　Quentin Fermo was calmly analyzing the battle situation as he fought off the incoming red mobile armor.

　The unit appeared to be incomplete.

　With such a huge body and without any kind of manipulators, it was unlikely that it was designed for combat.

　Much like the Kurewenal, it was probably designed initially to raid bases and overwhelm them in one go with its abundance of armaments.

　But its weapons appeared to be mostly unusable.

　The pilot operating it also seemed to be lacking in skill as they could not control the unit’s high output at all.

　”You think you can control such a beast with skills like that!”

　There was no need to panic or flee. Their next charge would be their last.

　”So you won’t give me any fun, huh?” Quentin muttered, bored, as he focused on the light of the thrusters burning in his monitor.

　He moved his finger on the trigger slightly.

　The hatch on the Kurewenal’s container opened, and countless missiles blasted off toward the mobile armor before him, dragging trails of smoke behind them.

× × ×

　”…!”

　Arlette didn’t have the skill to avoid the barrage of missiles raining down toward her. Countless missiles struck the Ahava Azieru, and tore into its armor.

　”AAAAAAAAAAAH!”

　 Inside the cockpit, shaking violently by the impact, Arlette could only scream.

× × ×

　”And that does it.”

　Quinten Fermo thought to himself as he stared at the red mobile armor engulfed in flames on the monitor. He manipulated the console and magnified the two mobile suits on the edge of the panoramic monitor.

　One was the Byarlant Isolde, his little brother, Walter’s, unit.

　It had lost one of its shoulder thrusters, a significant part of its appearance, making it a sorry sight.

　He’s good, though not as good as I am.

　He never imagined his brother would have so much trouble.

　This one will show me a good time.

　With a ferocious grin, Quentin laid his piercing eyes on the other mobile suit.

　A knight-like appearance, colored white and purple. The R-Jarja, was it?

　It was an Axis mobile suit used during the First Neo Zeon War. It wasn’t this unit he had fought before, but there’s no mistaking it.

　He’s the pilot.

　Their encounter lasted only a few minutes, but it was the first time in a long while time that Quentin’s heart filled with excitement.

　He had no doubt.

　This pilot was one worth fighting.

　He had been looking for such an opponent since the first time he pulled the trigger in a mobile suit.

× × ×

　Quentin and Walter Fermo were born in an impoverished part of Earth. The two were orphaned at a young age after losing their parents in the One Year War. During the Gryps War, they were admitted to a Federation research institute because of their Newtype abilities. They were excited to become Titans pilots and worked hard in training, but eventually, the Gryps War ended, and the Titans fell apart.

　They had nowhere else to go, so what they found was a way of life as mercenaries. Their employers ranged from weapons development companies to informants who traded secrets between nations. They took care of the illegal requests from clients that needed to be kept from the public. While there was fulfillment or delight, and though they earned a lot of money, their hearts remained empty.

　The two were picked up by Buch Concern, which was planning to expand from a junk shop to become part of the military industry at the time. Meizter, the son of Scharnhorst, the founder, believed that it was necessary to use illegal means to obtain the aircraft and technology that would form Buch’s base to move into full-scale mobile suit development.

　They created the Birnam Special Forces for this purpose.

　In a sense, it was inevitable that Quentin and Walter, who were already known as skilled mobile suit pilots in the underworld, would be chosen to be key team members.

　And so the two came to work for the Ronah family. The Ronah family were originally commoners but used their wealth to attain status as nobles.

　This fact provided the orphans with some hope.

　If they could make a name for themselves as pilots, they could attain wealth and glory even without any backing.

　For the pair, the word “strength” represented everything that was.

× × ×

　Quentin turned his gaze toward the white unit in front of him once more. Their mission to obtain information about the psycho-frame had failed.

　But he would defeat this thing.

　The word loss being carved into their track record was unacceptable.

　The red behemoth was already on its last breath.

　Now all that was left was to finish it off.

　The Tristan’s twin eyes let off a sharp beast-like glean as he gently turned toward the R-Jarja.

× × ×

　”…Shit.”

　Danton bit his lip in the R-Jarja’s cockpit as he rushed to try to get his heavily damaged unit back up.

　The monitor showed the wrecked Ahava Azieru.

　”Arlette… You…”

　You started that beast.

　You aren’t even a pilot.

　Just to save me.

　Her actions weighed heavily on him.

　What could she be doing?

　She was his daughter.

　She had no place on the battlefield.

　She should be behind him, tinkering with weird machines and laughing, as she always had.

　But now, she was a wreck.

　”You got some nerve, missy!” He pressed the throttle, irritated.

　The R-Jarja responded, lifting its face. She may not know her limits, but her smile had saved him countless times. He was able to love mobile suits purely as a machine rather than as a tool for killing because she was always smiling next to him. Char had told him to protect her because she was a talented engineer.

　That may have been the only reason.

　But by protecting her, he was able to remain himself.

　Just as I protected her, she protected me.

　There was only one thing to do!

　The R-Jarja’s monoeye emitted a bright light, and its main thrusters screeched violently.

　”What!?” Quentin reacted slowly to the sudden movement of the R-Jarja.

　”Get back, Arlette!”

　The white knight unsheathed its saber and lept at its enemy.

　”I’ll protect you.”