"Retreat! And regroup!" a mobile suit girl screamed over the comms, pushing her thrusters to the limit as she fled the chaotic battlefield.
Fresh Zeon reinforcements had arrived, forcing the battered Earth Federation Forces to withdraw. Watching the retreat from afar, the Reincarnator made a grim decision. He would cease all offensive operations and focus entirely on defending Earth and a few remaining, highly critical Federation space bases.
Meanwhile, inside the newly reclaimed fortress of Solomon, a Gelgoog mobile suit girl materialized out of the shadows, saluting crisply. "My lady, Solomon has been successfully recaptured."
"Good," Lady Vertin replied, her voice echoing coldly in the command deck. "Leave a defensive garrison to hold the base. Order the rest of the fleet to hunt down and eliminate any remaining Federation forces on this side of the Earth Sphere."
The Gelgoog girl nodded sharply before turning on her heel, her thrusters flaring as she flew back into the void to relay the orders.
By the year UC 0087. On Earth, Zeon held overwhelming dominance, controlling Africa, the Middle East, the entirety of South America, and vast swaths of North America and Asia. The Federation clung desperately to their strongest bastions: Europe and Australia while still fighting zeon north America and asia.
Though the AEUG had stepped in to aid the Federation, the but the Titans remain on the sidelines. However, a major turning point occurred when AEUG intelligence exposed the Titans' horrific war crimes to the public, along with proof that they were secretly aiding Zeon. Left with no choice and facing execution or life imprisonment by the Federation, the Titans formally severed ties and defected to Zeon.
This unholy alliance birthed a monstrous technological leap. By combining Titan and Zeon engineering, they began mass-producing highly advanced mobile suits and mobile armors.
"Damn it! They have almost full control of the Earth Sphere!" the Reincarnator growled, slamming his fist onto the tactical map. "We have to push them back!"
"But sir, we must regroup," an officer pleaded, sweating profusely. "We only have 30% of the Federation fleet left. The AEUG isn't doing any better-only 40% of their fleet is still functional."
"Tsk..." The Reincarnator narrowed his eyes, a desperate spark igniting in his mind. "Wait. We still have the Solar Array we captured from Zeon. If we can lure them into a final battle, we can easily incinerate half of their fleet in a single strike!"
"But sir! Charging the Solar Array and assembling it will take an immense amount of time," the officer protested. "How are we supposed to buy that time with a battered, broken fleet?"
The Reincarnator stared out into the stars. "We always have time."
Desperate for numbers, the Federation resorted to extreme measures on Earth. Factories began churning out outdated One Year War mobile suits. They even dragged the infamous RB-79 Ball out of retirement, slapping on minor upgrades for space use, alongside ancient warships sent to the front lines with little to no modernization.
"Agh! I can't hit them!" a GM pilot screamed, frantically firing his beam gun.
Past his squad of archaic One Year War GMs, a cutting-edge Zaku IV streaks through the air like a demon.
"What is this, a walking war museum?" the Zaku IV pilot mocked.
With a fluid motion of his beam axe, the Zaku IV sliced one GM completely in clean halves.
BOOM!
"Eat this!" the Zeon pilot roared, pivoting to fire his beam rifle directly into the chest of a second GM, destroying it instantly. Without missing a beat, he launched a *Sturm Faust*, the rocket blowing a third GM to pieces. The final GM turned to flee in terror, but it was blown out of the sky before it could even register a retreat.
"Tsk," the Zaku pilot muttered, checking his radar. Multiple Federation ships were closing in on his position, deploying a swarm of mobile suits. He fired up his thrusters and fell back.
Through these brutal stalling tactics-utilizing cheap, fast-to-produce One Year War relics and salvaged Zeon and Titan suits-the Federation managed to keep Zeon from fully conquering the planet. Australia, in particular, stood defiant. Despite two massive Zeon offenses, the Australian defenses had successfully repelled the invaders twice.
Off the coast of Australia, a group of Zeon submarines waited silently beneath the waves. Inside the briefing room of a sub, a Zeon commander addressed his troops.
"Alright, no fooling around. The Lady wants us to wipe the Federation forces out of Australia. Some of our units are piloting captured Federation GMs to bypass their sensor net. The infiltration team will fire a flare. When you see it, prepare to launch."
Dismissing his team, the commander boarded his Zaku IV, waiting anxiously in the flooded launch bay. Minutes ticked by until a voice crackled over the radio.
"Sir! Flare launched!" a Gelgoog Marine shouted, pointing toward the surface.
"Operation begins!" the commander ordered.
The submarines breached, and Zeon mobile suits surged forward, riding small sub-flight craft across the water. "Take out the Feddies on the left!"
A barrage of missiles rained down, tearing the Federation's coastal defenses to pieces.
"Copy that, Commander," a Byarlant Custom pilot replied.
The massive suit touched down hard near a GM Striker. Cruelly, the Byarlant grabbed the GM by the head, ripping it off and tossing it violently at a nearby Aqua GM. Turning its mega particle cannons, the Byarlant opened fire on two more GMs attempting a counterattack, forcing them to raise their shields in a desperate, failing guard.
"Better scramble like an egg or get folded like an omelette!" another pilot laughed over the comms.
An Efreet erupted from the water, throwing a volley of heat knives that disabled the defending GMs instantly.
"This is Kilo 5," a pilot called out. "We have spotted a *Pegasus*-class ship and multiple jets approaching. Permission to engage?"
"Copy that, take out the ship if you can," the commander replied, firing another salvo of missiles at a squad of GM IIs.
The Zeon strike captain rallied his squad. "Alright, Kilo 5, our objective is the *Pegasus*-class. Tango Team, handle their air cover. Spacers, eliminate their aces!"
BOOM!
"Agh! Ambush! Aghhh!" a Core Fighter pilot screamed as a Zaku Cannon clipped his wing. Flak bursts filled the sky, tearing the Federation's conventional jet fighters to shreds.
On the bridge of the *Pegasus*-class ship, Captain Bright Noa gripped the railing. "Launch the Zeta Gundam!"
"Zeta Gundam, launching!" Kamille Bidan shouted.
The Zeta roared out of the hangar, instantly transforming into its sleek Wave-Rider mode. Standing atop the mobile armor was Quattro Bajeena, piloting a golden, heavily modified Hyaku Shiki Kai.
"It's the AEUG! ...Wait, is that?! It's the Hyaku Shiki!" a Zaku Cannon pilot shouted in panic.
"All Zaku Cannons, open fire! Fill the sky with flak!" the Zeon captain ordered. But before his line could form, a GM III slammed into their flank.
Realizing the tide had turned, the captain grid his teeth inside his Gouf Custom. "Damn it, retreat! We've dealt as much damage as we could!"
The agile Zeon suits turned to flee, but the heavy Zaku Cannons were too slow. Caught in the open, they were systematically picked apart by the overwhelming firepower of the Zeta Gundam and the Hyaku Shiki Kai.
"Agh! Sieg Zeon!" a Zaku Half-Cannon pilot roared, spinning his shoulder-mounted minigun toward the Zeta. The Zeta brought up its shield, absorbing the bullets, while Quattro's Hyaku Shiki Kai flanked the suit and blasted it through the back.
"Kamille, head back to the *Argama*," Quattro instructed calmly over a secure channel.
"Alright," Kamille replied, shifting the Zeta back into Wave-Rider mode. Quattro jumped onto the hull, and the two swept back toward their ship.
As the battle raged on, the shadows of the Australian canyons suddenly moved. A terrifying swarm of dark-blue RX-178 Gundam Mk-IIs and GM Quaels emerged, bearing the oppressive, feared crest of the Titans.
"Finally, Titan reinforcements," the Zeon commander breathed a sigh of relief, immediately firing a beam shot that destroyed a captured Federation Zaku II F2.
"Aghhhh! Help me!" a Federation Guntank pilot screamed. A Titan Gundam Mk-II descended upon it like a vulture. With two clean strokes of its beam saber, it sheared off the Guntank's cannon barrels before driving the plasma blade straight through the cockpit.
Just as the Federation lines were about to collapse entirely, the *Argama* arrived on the horizon, deploying a fresh wave of GM IIIs and Rick Diases to reinforce Kamille and Quattro.
Far above the war-torn Earth, inside the cold command center of Solomon, Lady Vertin stared at a tactical hologram of the planet.
"How much longer until the Solar Array is operational?" she demanded.
"Not long, Lady Vertin," an officer reported promptly. "With the Titans' engineering data, we've drastically accelerated the process. All five Solar Arrays are in position, awaiting final calibration and recharging. We are merely waiting on your command."
"Good. Keep me updated," Vertin said.
She turned her gaze to the vast fleet anchored at Solomon. Zeon controlled the majority of space, leaving the Federation cornered in the immediate Earth Sphere, hoarding their remaining ships for a desperate final stand at Solomon.
*I can't fully commit my army to Earth just yet,* Vertin calculated. *I need to completely cripple their space forces first, otherwise, this will just become the One Year War all over again.*
Thanks to the Titans, Zeon had mass-produced the Gundam Mk-II, incorporating its highly versatile Defensible Backpack System across their forces. Combined with the mass production of the advanced Zaku IV, Zeon's logistics were unstoppable. They deployed their newest models to the elite units while sending older, refurbished units to zeon remnants groups on earth and recycled parts to minimize costs.
Vertin closed her eyes, a confident smile touching her lips.
*One more year... UC 0088, and this war will be mine.*