The Pilots had now been on Camelot for about a week. In that time, they had become very skilled at piloting their Mobile Suits. They had trained non-stop, going over formations and attack patterns, learning every single aspect of the powerful weapons. They had all started to get to know each other more as well. Shinta had started to learn a lot about all of his new comrades. Koran always seemed to try and joke about. It was almost like he wasn't capable of being serious unless he was inside a Mobile Suit. Baren was the direct opposite. He was very serious, all the time. Shinta wasn't sure what his problem was, but there was definitely something that was troubling him. Then there were the girls. Tian actually seemed very similar to Baren on the outside. She was very serious, calm and quiet. But there was something more to her. Shinta felt like unlike Baren, she was just putting on a show, hiding. From what he gathered from Lazen, she had a pretty tough time at the Colonial Academy that she had come from, being the only girl in the academy. It was a pretty small academy, so there weren't that many people there to begin with. She'd really had to deal with a lot there. Lazen was somewhere in between. She was quite relaxed when she was just talking to the other Pilots, and she did seem to struggle to keep secrets; she was very talkative. But whenever anything to do with piloting or fighting came up, she'd become incredibly serious, sometimes even more than Tian. Shinta thought that it probably had something to do with proving herself to her mother. They were quite a mixed group, to Shinta. But they were starting to grow as a team. Now they just needed a mission.
Shinta walked down the corridor towards the recreational area. They didn't have any training sessions planned, and he still had to pay Koran back for that last loss at the Simulator. When he got there, the only one there was Tian. "Hey. Where's everyone else?" he asked. Tian turned around. It looked like she'd been crying. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" He asked, trying his hardest to be sympathetic. "Nothing, I... I'm just feeling a little homesick." Shinta wasn't convinced.
"Okay. Just, make sure to tell me if there is anything you need to talk about. I'm supposed to be the leader of the team. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I ignored you knowing that there was something wrong." He reassured. Tian forced a smile. "Anyway, I was just going to head down to the mess hall and get something to eat, if you want to come." He offered. He felt somewhat obliged to offer. He wanted to do all he could to help his team. "Yeah, that would be nice." She smiled.
Koran was in his room, looking over some old files. He flicked through a few photos from home. There were plenty of pictures of him and his parents. Then, there was an older photo. Not that you could really tell the difference, the level that saving images was even 300 years ago hardly left bad photos. The photo showed a boy, very similar looking to Koran. He was standing in front of a blue and white Mobile Suit. The boy in question, obviously, was Bellri Zenam, and the Mobile Suit, the legendary G-Self. "I wish I could have known you, Bellri. But, don't worry, I'm carrying on the mantle. I am a Zenam, after all." He turned the computer off. His face was serious. He always put on a mask of jokes and silliness, but he took his mission just as, if not, in some ways, more seriously as the other pilots. He was proud of his heritage. But, from the second he told his parents he wanted to become a Mobile Suit pilot, the comparisons to his ancestor wouldn't stop. That was the problem with modern data-saving. There were far too many details on the life of this incredibly influential pilot, that whatever Koran did, it felt like he wasn't doing enough to keep up with his long-dead predecessor.
Shinta and Tian walked into the Mess Hall on the base, to meet Lazen and her mother. "Hey Lazen, Professor Solax." Shinta greeted. He gestured to two empty seats on the table. "Can we?" Shinta asked. "Of course." Professor Solax agreed. She was another person who Shinta was struggling to get a picture of. She seemed like she was able to skip between the gentle mother that was sitting here to an incredibly authoritative mentor they'd seen in their training. "Where are the others, Shinta?" Lazen asked. "I dunno. I assumed they were in the Rec room, but only Tian was there." He explained.
"I saw Koran going into his room. I have no idea where Baren is." Lazen shoved another bite of her food into her mouth. "He kinda creeps me out, if you ask me. Does he ever speak outside of training?" She wondered. "He's a good pilot, but I do agree that he seems way too quiet." Tian decided.
"I wonder what his problem is. Where's he from again?" Lazen asked her mother.
"I can't remember. Gondwan, I think. I looked at his file before you all arrived, but I don't recall-" She obviously lied, before she noticed Shinta and Lazen staring at her judgmentally. "Fine..." She gave in. "I'll tell you what I know." She opened her mouth to speak when Koran walked through the door. "Koran? I was wondering where you were, actually. You okay?" Shinta asked. Koran sat down next to them. "Yeah, I was just looking through some old files in my room. What're you all talking about?" he asked. "We were trying to work out what Baren's problem is. You got any ideas?" Lazen explained.
"I got no idea, but he's definitely got something wrong with him. What were you saying?" He asked. "Mom was just about to tell us what she knows about him." Lazen filled him in. Professor Solax stood up. "I'm sorry, but I really can't tell you anything. The only people who have clearance on all of your personal files are me, Captain Venera, Commander Kulhue and a few others. I'm really sorry." She apologized. "It's fine, Professor. We probably shouldn't poke around too much anyway. It's not fair on Baren for us to harass him about it. We should probably-" Shinta was cut off by an alarm sounding. "What the hell? Are we under attack?" They ran out of the room, towards the briefing room.
When they got to the briefing room, Captain Venera looked worried. Shinta, Koran, Tian and Lazen ran into the room, where Professor Solax and Baren had already arrived. "Okay, I know this is your first mission, but we need to launch as soon as possible." He started. "We recently received a distress signal from the UAC Settlement Colony-9. We don't know what will be waiting there, past a squadron of some kind of Mobile Suit. I know that there are only five of you, but with the advanced abilities of the Mobile Suits, I'm sure you will be fine. You will be transported there using this:" He showed a large ship on the screen. "This is GKS-909-EX Pendragon, the ship that you will be using for any missions. It will be captained by Commander Kulhue." The ship appeared on the screen. It was a medium-size Battleship, containing two Linear Catapults as well as various average strength weapons, mostly standard issue. "That is all. We will be launching the Pendragon in 30 minutes, so make sure that you are in your Pilot suits and ready to be on standby in the Mobile Suits. Dismissed." Venera finished his briefing.
It took the crew about 20 minutes in total to get all the personal and Mobile Suits onto the Pendragon. That left 10 minutes for final preparations. "Okay, Commander. Is every ready?" Venera asked over the comms. Commander Kulhue sat down in the command chair. "Affirmative, Captain." She turned to the helmsman. "Okay, we're moving out to engage in the mission. GKS Pendragon, Commander Monra Kulhue in command, moving out." The ship moved foward out of the dock in Camelot. "Mobile Suit Pilots on standby, move Lancelot and Gawain onto catapult." She ordered. The pilots sat in their Mobile Suits. Shinta opened a communication channel to the rest of the pilots. "Okay guys. This is our first mission, and I don't want anyone coming back in pieces. We're all good pilots, and these Mobile Suits are incredible, but anything can happen out there, so be careful." He tried to reassure his team. He wasn't quite used to being a leader yet, but he was doing his best to create confidence. It took the Pendragon about 1 hour at full speed to get to Colony-9. When they got there, they saw smoke coming out of the colony. "Damn it, I hope we're not too late." Kulhue muttered to herself.
"Okay, prepare to launch Mobile Suits. Are you ready?" Kulhue called through to Shinta and the rest of the pilots as they approached the colony.
"Yeah, we're ready to go." The catapult passage opened, showing Shinta the vast expanse of space. "Okay, we're ready. Shinta Gosa, Lancelot, Launching!" The Lancelot was thrown out of the ship.
"I'm following behind. Koran Zenam, Gawain, Moving out!" Koran called as his Mobile Suit followed Shinta out of the other catapult. The Galahad and Tristan were moved to the catapult. Professor Solax spoke to Lazen through the radio.
"Be careful, okay." She asked her daughter.
"I'll be fine, mom. Lazen Solax, Galahad, Launching!" Lazen's Mobile Suit fired out of the suit as the Percival was quickly loaded behind it. Tian was next.
"Tian Karista, Tristan, Engaging." The Tristan fired out of the Pendragon, meeting up with the rest of the Mobile Suits.
"Preparing to engage. Baren Colg, Percival, moving out!" The final Mobile Suit launched out of the ship as the five machines went to protect the colony.
"Okay, you all know the plan. We don't know how many enemy Mobile Suits there are, so don't go in all guns blazing. Koran, Baren, you two are with me, we'll directly hit the Mobile Suits. Lazen, try to take any out that break away from the group. Tian, get inside the colony and find out if there are any other groups. Everyone got that?" Shinta asked. The confirmations of the rest of the pilots were heard through the comms. "Okay, team. Let's do this!"