A.G. 101
Elysium Colony
Leon Hartmann liked quiet places. Though quiet was rare in a space colony, there were spots along Dock Ring Seven where the hum of ventilation and the soft trickle of water through the terraces above could almost make him forget that war existed. The terraces spiraled in gentle arcs along the colony's inner walls, the greenery surprisingly lush for a human-made environment. Children ran along the promenade below, chasing a hovering toy drone, their laughter bright, careless, unburdened.
Leon leaned against the railing of an observation platform, a grease-stained cloth dangling from his hand. Behind the sealed doors of Hangar Bay Three, the RXG-01 Aegis waited, suspended in its maintenance frame. Its white armor was unfinished in places, the shield mounted, the beam rifle partially calibrated. To anyone else, it might have seemed like a project still in progress. To Leon, it felt alive. A promise. A responsibility.
"You're staring again," Mira Solenne said, stepping up beside him. She moved with the easy confidence of someone used to thinking faster than everyone else. "It's like you're expecting it to start talking to you."
"I'm not staring," Leon said, though his eyes lingered on the hangar doors.
"You're thinking," Mira corrected, grinning. "About the Aegis, probably. You always do."
"Maybe." He tightened his grip on the railing. "It's not ready."
Mira rolled her eyes. "You say that like it matters. They won't let you touch it for months anyway. You could glare at that door for the rest of the year, and nothing would happen."
Leon didn't answer. And then the colony shivered, faintly, almost imperceptibly at first, but enough to make him stumble.
"That wasn't structural drift," Mira said.
Leon turned sharply toward the observation window. Beyond the transparent alloy, the stars rippled, as if seen through heat. Space bent and twisted. And then came the first flash — a beam of light carving through the outer agricultural ring. The mirror array shattered, molten shards spinning outward.
Red emergency lights pulsed across the dock. Sirens screamed. Somewhere, civilians were running. Their screams carried faintly through the thin steel walls.
"They're here," Mira whispered.
Leon swallowed. The Unknown Enemy, the Vagan. Reports for fourteen years had warned about them. Fourteen years of destroyed colonies and intercepted transmissions hadn't prepared him for seeing them firsthand. The angular, black silhouettes gliding through space with unnatural precision seemed to absorb every simulation he had ever run.
He ran toward Hangar Bay Three, Mira at his side. The alarms echoed through the narrow service corridors, each footstep drumming in his chest.
Inside the hangar, Captain Rolf Brenner waited, calm as always. Hands clasped behind his back, he didn't shout. He didn't panic. He just looked at the Aegis, which seemed larger, more real than Leon remembered, even in its unfinished state.
"Captain!" Mira called.
"Colony defense pods are deploying," Rolf said, voice steady. "They won't hold for long."
Leon swallowed hard. "It's not cleared for combat."
Rolf's eyes met his. "Neither are you."
Another tremor rattled the bay, dust trickling from ceiling panels. The artificial sky cracked in reflected explosions above the colony. Thousands of civilians were running for their lives.
Leon's gaze shifted to the Aegis. This was not how it was supposed to happen. There should have been ceremony, briefings, protocol. Instead there was chaos, fire, and smoke. "Prep launch sequence," he said.
Rolf studied him silently. Then nodded.
Leon stepped into the cockpit. The smell of coolant and new metal filled his nose. He lowered himself into the seat, hands hovering over the controls. The monitors flickered to life, casting pale light over his face. Outside, the Valkyrie's engines whined as Mira's unit warmed up, thrusters glowing blue. Bastion's heavier red form came to life behind him, shoulder cannons rotating into firing alignment. Three machines. Project Trident. One chance.
The catapult rail extended. The hangar doors began to open. Through the gap, Leon could see the fractured outer ring of the colony. Debris floated in the void. Flames licked the edges of the broken mirrors. And beyond, the Vagan suits drifted, black and angular, moving like predators.
"Launch," Rolf said.
The catapult roared beneath him. Leon's body slammed back into the seat as the Aegis shot forward. The stars stretched past like ribbons.
Immediately, Valkyrie streaked past him, blue thrusters blazing. "I've got two enemies on your port side!" Mira shouted. Bastion's cannons fired, twin beams lancing through space and forcing the enemy to shift.
Leon aimed the rifle, hands shaking despite himself. The first beam struck a Vagan unit's shoulder. Sparks scattered across the void. The unit pivoted, returned fire. Heat flared in the cockpit. Leon jerked the controls to dodge.
"They're faster than simulations predicted!" Mira shouted.
A heavy Vagan unit emerged from behind the others. Thick armor, a cannon glowing with lethal energy. It ignored the Trident entirely and aimed at the colony's core.
"No," Leon whispered.
He boosted forward, shield raised. The blast hit, rattling the cockpit violently, alarms shrieking. The core remained intact, but barely.
"Bastion!" Rolf barked. "Full charge!" Twin beams slammed into the Vagan's flank, cracking armor. Mira darted in, daggers ignited, slicing across the unit's leg joint, then flipping away. Leon lowered the shield, aimed into the exposed breach, and fired. The enemy exploded, fragments drifting silently.
The remaining units paused. Then, almost reluctantly, they warped away.
Silence followed. The void glittered indifferently. Leon's chest heaved. His hands trembled. Mira spoke softly. "We… did it?"
"For now," Rolf said, voice flat, carrying the weight of someone who had survived far too many skirmishes.
Back in the Argonaut hangar, the Aegis docked with a heavy clang. Its armor was scorched, shield cracked. Technicians swarmed it, shouting over one another. Leon climbed down slowly. Mira jogged over, helmet under her arm, eyes wide and bright, but shaken.
"You blocked that shot," she said.
He shook his head. "Someone would've."
Rolf approached last. "You hesitated," he said quietly.
"But I didn't freeze," Leon replied.
He looked at the Gundam, silent now, more than a prototype. It had survived. So had he.
"It's not finished," he said.
"It never will be," Rolf replied.
Hours later, when the emergency lights dimmed and repairs began, Leon stood alone in the hangar. The Aegis loomed above him. It was quiet again, but heavier somehow, charged with presence. He reached out and laid a hand on its leg armor. It was warm. Solid. Alive in a way only someone who had piloted it could understand.
"I don't want you to become something terrible," he murmured, not sure if he meant the machine, himself, or the war.
Outside, the stars twinkled peacefully. But Leon knew better. The Vagan would return. And when they did, he and the Aegis would have to be ready.
He stepped back. His reflection in the hull of the Gundam stared back at him, untested, unproven, but not without hope. The day the sky cracked had changed everything, and nothing would ever be the same.