MSG-ANT 2

Mobile Suit Gundam-A New Translation

Episode 2: The Precipice

            Onboard the White Base, Ensign Bright Noa is close to panic. It seems he’s the only senior command officer left, everyone else in either a non-com or has a different specialization. Technically the ship’s Chief Engineer heavily outranks him but is needed in engineering and can’t command the ship at the same time. One of the bridge operators spots the Gundam and Bright opens a channel to it. He is shocked to see Amuro and Fraw inside and even more shocked to learn that Amuro single-handedly defeated the Zakus. He orders Amuro to bring the Gundam to the ship immediately. At the same time, he contacts the Ball squadron outside the ship and learns that Connor is the only one left. Connor says that the attacking Zakus have retreated and his squad was only able to damage them some but not destroy them. Bright tells Connor to continue to patrol the colony and alert them if the Zakus or their mothership attacks again.

As the White Base lands those on the bridge suddenly notice a large crowd of civilians rushing towards the ship. They seem to want to come onboard the ship through the open hatch but the sight of the Gundam gives them pause. Bright and some of the ship’s crew come out and demand what the civilians are doing there and not in one of the colony shelters. A dark-haired young woman answers that damage to the colony’s infrastructure has resulted in them being locked out from the shelters. They were trying to get into the Federation military base but a warship is a good prospect too. Initially Bright doesn’t want to let the civilians onboard and wants Amuro to get out of the Gundam. Ensign Ryu Jose arrives in an RX-75 Guntank and explains that only an RX-77-5 Guncannon and a bunch of spare parts have survived the Zeon’s attack. The Chief Engineer points out that White Base is severely short-handed after most of the crew was killed in the ambush. Without many options, Bright makes a difficult decision and tells the civilians that he will let the aboard the ship if they agree to become temporary crewmembers. Some people are opposed to this, especially Kai Shiden, but the dark-haired woman reminds them all that their chances of surviving are much higher aboard a brand new Federation warship than in defenseless shelters/life boats. Kai and a few others aren’t convinced but Bright points out that the Zeon have destroyed plenty of colonies over the last few months and surely won’t hesitate to do it again. Kai, ever the snark, shoots right back that if the Federation hadn’t been developing weapons onboard the colony then the Zeon wouldn’t ever have come here. Bright gets up in his face and says that he really doesn’t care to blame the blame game, Kai can go or stay, he’s not forcing anyone to come aboard the White Base. Technically he shouldn’t even let civilians on the ship anyway. After this only a few people decide to try and seek out functioning lifeboats and remarkably Kai stays. Bright thanks the dark-haired woman for her help and asks her name. She says its Mirai Yashima.

Meanwhile, Char has escaped the colony and flown back to his Musai with his normal suit maneuvering pack. He informs Dren as to what happened and curses the Denim team for their recklessness. He mentions the Gundam and how it wiped out the three attacking Zakus but says that the pilot is obviously not trained. Dren wonders if they should make another attack or request reinforcements. Char scoffs at the idea, saying that if they called in backup it would tarnish his reputation as the Red Comet and everyone else on this mission as well. Besides, he is still extremely confident that they can win, especially as he’s now going to sortie personally.

Onboard the White Base, controlled chaos reigns. The Federation base survivors load up the Guncannon mobile suit and all the spare parts from the V Project that survived. The remaining crewmembers try to find appropriate jobs for the civilians to do. Hyato, after getting over the shock of seeing Fraw and Amuro in the Gundam heads up to the bridge with Marker and Job John. Bright introduces Amuro to Ryu. Bright wants Ryu to take Amuro’s place in the Gundam but Ryu is reluctant, having not had any training piloting the Gundam. Bright asks Amuro how he even got into the Gundam and Amuro tells a half-truth that he knew because his father is Tem Ray. This makes sense to Bright as Tem was one of the principal designers of the Gundam but he’s still a little suspicious. Ryu asks if Amuro was the one who defeated the Zakus and he says he was. Both Bright and Ryu are impressed, as Amuro is apparently a civilian with no training. They decide that Amuro will pilot the Gundam after all, reminding him not to detonate any more MS reactors. Amuro is a little reluctant but he does want to help everyone get off the colony and escape. Just as they’re about to close the hangar, a blond girl stumbles into the hangar covered in dust. Amuro recognizes her from the racetrack and helps her onboard. He introduces himself and she tells him her name is Sayla.

Char boards his custom red Zaku and gives the order for them to move out. Char and the other Zakus will go into the colony and destroy the Federation ship and the rest of the mobile suit project while the Musai’s provide backup. Connor sees their thruster exhaust and warns the White Base they have incoming.

On White Base, Hyato is helping out with engineering and Fraw and Sayla are working in the CIC. Kai doesn’t seem to have a clear job yet as he asks Job John why the ship is called White Base as he thinks it's a stupid name. Job says that it's a codename as the ship hasn’t been formally commissioned yet. Bright notes that they need someone who’s actually trained in piloting to fly the ship. Mirai steps forward and says she’s a trained pilot although she’s never flown anything quite like White Base before. Bright finally remembers why her name is familiar and asks her is her family lives in the neutral Side 6. She replies that yes, she is a member of those Yashimas and the reason she’s on Side 7 is kinda complicated. There’s no time to ask as Bright receives Connor’s message that Char’s forces are incoming. Looking around at his rag-tag crew, Bright orders Ryu and Amuro on standby and tells Mirai to launch White Base. Down in the hangar, Amuro climbs into the Gundam in a newly acquired pilot suit. The White Base lifts off to fly into battle.