Prologue — Jegan, Standing Upon the Earth.
Flames burned without end, as if they sought to reduce everything to ashes.
"Ha… ha… ha…"
A man ran down a corridor, clad in a red and white pilot suit that resembled an astronaut's uniform. A red unicorn emblem gleamed brightly on his right chest, and in his hand he gripped a pistol tightly.
The man in the pilot suit slammed open a door and took in the sight before him.
Inside the room, a man wearing a white lab coat lay on the ground, a massive wound torn across his abdomen. Blood gushed from it endlessly, froth spilling from his lips as he struggled for breath.
When the wounded man saw the door burst open and the pilot appear, relief flashed across his pained face.
"R–Roz…"
The dying man, his strength fading, produced a data storage device that continued to run on its own.
Even without any external power or cables, the device was operating independently.
"Your storage unit… it's remarkable… Their data… their consciousness, all of it is inside. The institute's research—everything—has been destroyed."
The injured man extended the device toward the pilot named Roz Links.
"Ryan… I came too late…"
Roz's face tightened with grief as he accepted the storage unit—only for Ryan to seize his hand with surprising strength.
"It's… not too late. In the cargo bay… there's a batch of freshly removed brains. They haven't been installed into the wetware yet."
With a final surge of fading life, Ryan pulled Roz closer.
"Take them… take those brains away…"
"Leave this place. Don't… don't return to the Federation. Be wary of Blue Cosmos."
"Change this twisted world… That's my… final request…"
Ryan's strength ebbed away, and his body slumped to the ground.
In his dying moments, he looked at Roz—his gaze filled not with pain, but release and peace.
Roz looked down at his arm, streaked with Ryan's blood, and clenched his fist tightly.
"I'll change the world… You'll see it, Ryan."
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"Zzz… The research institute has been attacked. Assailants unknown. No further information yet."
Six armed helicopters and six tanks advanced toward the burning research facility, their crews' faces calm and unreadable.
"No matter what, headquarters has decided this institute will be scrapped anyway. We're to destroy everything—both the attackers and the institute itself!"
"Understood. Alpha Team One, accelerate."
On the other side, Roz Links climbed into a gray mobile suit, placing the hard drive into a storage compartment.
Gripping the familiar control stick, Roz took a deep breath.
"Even if it's just a Jegan A-Type… it'll be enough."
"Roz Links, Jegan A-Type—launching."
Amid the flames and smoke, a twenty-meter-tall machine rose to its feet, its visor gleaming with blue light.
"Wait a second… something's not right."
The cleanup unit approaching the facility seemed to sense it too. Some primal instinct within them screamed a warning.
The next moment, a beam of light tore through the fire and smoke, striking one of the armed helicopters dead-on.
The helicopter melted instantly, exploding into a bright flower of fire in the sky.
"Evasive maneuvers! It's a Mobile Suit!"
The remaining helicopters dumped flares in a frenzy, twisting through the air, while the tanks on the ground fired off thick smoke rounds.
"MS? Could it be ZAFT?"
"Is it a mono-eye? Ah—!"
Another beam lanced through the smoke, melting steel midair, and a second helicopter erupted in flames.
"Retreat? Don't even think about it!"
Whether it was the hellish research facility or Blue Cosmos's experiments conducted here, Roz's fury burned like the inferno around him.
The Jegan's shield rotated 180 degrees, revealing small missiles housed along both sides.
"Missiles—launch!"
With a burst of smoke, four missiles shot from the shield, curling into the sky.
"Release more flares!"
Though they had already used some during the first evasion, the helicopters still had enough for two or three more attempts.
"I won't let you escape!"
Roz tightened his grip on the controls. He could feel it—somehow, he could sense the trajectory of the missiles.
He wasn't truly controlling them… but just a slight adjustment in their flight path—
"I can do it!"
The missiles weaved through the air with subtle, unnatural turns, slamming precisely into the helicopters' rotors.
"Alpha Team—all units down! Romeo Team, alternate fire and begin retreat!"
Had the helicopters all survived, the six tanks might have been able to hold their ground against the unknown MS—perhaps even destroy it.
But the veteran commander inside one of the tanks knew better. Tanks alone could never defeat a Mobile Suit.
"Alright, continue—"
He never finished the order. The Jegan dodged an incoming shell and, in the same motion, fired a single beam shot that pierced the furthest tank.
"Sorry… but I can't let you report back to Blue Cosmos."
Roz knew exactly where these tanks and helicopters came from—a nearby military base completely under Blue Cosmos's control.
"So this is how it ends for me?"
The tank commander watched helplessly as the MS effortlessly destroyed the last of the retreating tanks. A strange calm settled over him, as if he had accepted his fate.
"Damn… if only we had our own Mobile Suits…"
A beam of scorching light cut through the air, melting the tank's armor and igniting its ammunition rack in a violent explosion.
"Ha… ha…"
Roz gasped for breath—the sudden firefight had stretched his nerves to their limit.
"Zzz… Beta Team, move out. Confirm target's position. Possible ZAFT spy…"
The voice over the radio came from the nearby Blue Cosmos military base.
Roz had hacked into their communications.
"Blue Cosmos…" he muttered.
Activating the charges he'd planted earlier, Roz triggered explosions across the burning facility. Inside the cargo bay, he found what Ryan had spoken of—
A blue shipping container bearing the Blue Cosmos insignia.
The Jegan carefully lifted the container, activated its backpack thrusters, and rose into the sky, leaving the blazing ruins behind.
Moments later, the explosions consumed the entire research facility, erasing it from the world.
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C.E. 69 — The "SmartBrain" armored vehicle AI combat system, led by Blue Cosmos, was officially canceled for unknown reasons.
C.E. 70 — The "Boosted Man" project, also under Blue Cosmos, achieved its first successful results.
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(A/N: This story is one of my personal favourites. I am still waiting for it to update so i thought why don't I translate it.)