Chapter 1: Hope

The year is 3007 and the war between the Shadowscythe aliens and the humans of Loreon, that began years earlier, rages on. The war is looking grim for the humans as the Shadowscythe have begun to surround their planet. The Soluna Defense Forces fight using their mobile suits, but it is useless. The aliens possess a stronger type of mobile suit known as the Shadow Gundam.

The Shadow Gundam are far superior in every way and piloted by the best of the Shadowscythe. They are more resilient to all forms of attack: explosive, laser, fire, ice, electrical. The Gundams are faster and are equipped with stronger weaponry. Their victories are mainly due to a new technology they have recently developed for the Gundams, the Corruption Cannon.

The Corruption Cannon harnesses the power of the aliens themselves and their natural ability to infect organisms around them. The power is greatly magnified and used to infect large areas and to increase the speed of transformation into Shadowscythe.

Every day their ranks grow and Loreon loses territory. All but one Loreon Orbital Station have been destroyed. The story of how humanity will either be saved or destroyed begins on LOS-7.

Inside the command room of LOS-7 Admiral Odessa stands looking at a monitor showing the surroundings of the station.

“The enemy has begun approaching.” she stated with authority. Odessa was a respected leader of the SDF. Her entire life she had worked for this position and was an excellent leader. Even in losses against the Shadowscythe she made sure they were as minimal as possible. “Prepare all of our mobile suits and prepare them for launch.”

Captain Sys-Zero looked at Odessa uneasily. “You seem very nervous Admiral. This is unlike you.”

She turned around and looked at him fiercely. “Captain, you do understand this is the last Orbital Station of Loreon? If we fail to protect the planet all of humanity could be destroyed.”

“Then why aren’t we receiving more support from the military?” asked one of the officers.

Odessa angrily said, “It was a direct order from the Kingadent that we not receive any additional support. Apparently his advisors have a plan.” The Admiral never liked Kingadent Slugwrath and thought he was not fit to be a leader. His decisions were foolish and often hurt Loreon. “An idiotic ruler may be responsible for our deaths...”

“That is heresy!” yelled Sys-Zero shocked. This was not like the Admiral at all. She was not thinking clearly at all.

“Will it really matter, if we are all dead? Now, are all the mobile suits ready?” she asked looking at the monitor. “How long until they get within battle range?”

A female officer spoke up, “We have seven minutes at most.”

Odessa had now noticed Sys-Zero and realized she needed to calm down. This situation was too tense even for her, but if she was weak now there would be no future for this world. “Captain, get to your ship. Prepare to assist the mobile suits in the battle. Get Captain Starbuck too. ”

The Captain accepted the orders and saluted the Admiral before leaving. He strode down the hallway as quickly as possible. The artificial gravity was not perfect and allowed for a slight bit of weightlessness. Keeping an eye on his watch he continued towards the hangar.

“4 minutes until the battle.” he muttered to himself. Sys-Zero approached Starbuck’s room and pressed the button for the intercom.

The door opened and the young captain stepped out. Starbuck was newer to the SDF but was very capable. His ship, Blade of Valor, had been in seven battles thus far and was only damaged moderately once.

“Ready to fight?” Sys-Zero asked not pausing at all. Once the door opened he continued on.

“Of course.” Starbuck responded following him. The two made their way to the hangar as the timer reached 30 seconds. They boarded their respective ships and prepared to take-off.

“This is Admiral Odessa Pureheart.” spoke the Admiral over the communications channel. “Mobile Suits, the Shadowscythe are now in battle range. Launch controls have been handed over to you. Valor and Spirit follow after them.”

The mobile suits launched one by one with the two ships following. The mobile suits were standard SDF Warrior units. They were a dull white with golden trim that carried a large energy sword in one hand and an energy shield in another. On the shoulders were small missile launchers and the heads were equipped with emergency EMP burst technology.

The ships and suits flew towards the Shadowscythe which had stopped advancing preparing for battle. Something was different. Sys-Zero opened communications with the technical officer, Tek.

“Tek, do you detect anything odd? These Shadowscythe are in a more defensive formation.”

“Checking...there seems to be a wormhole opening up behind them.” she said surprised.

“A wormhole? How large?”

Tek began to sound alarmed, “Bigger than your ship Captain. I’d advise staying away.”

The command was given to everyone and they halted their advance and witnessed the wormhole open. There was a large burst of energy from behind the Shadowscythe. A large portal opened and from it came a large asteroid adorned with large red crystals. Crashing through Shadowscythe mobile suits it halted between the two forces.

Tek began to advise the fighters, “I am detecting an active energy signature inside the asteroid...and behind it there is a Shadow Gundam. It’s heading for the asteroid.”

The SDF witnessed the Shadow Gundam they called Ravager move onto the asteroid and beginning to fire the Corruption Cannon at it. It wasn’t using any of it’s other weapons.
Admiral Odessa spoke to the forces, “The Ravager isn’t destroying the asteroid, but it is trying to corrupt it which means it is something powerful. Move in and don’t let the
Shadowscythe take control of it!”

The SDF moved in and landed on the asteroid and the Warriors lunged towards the Ravager. From it’s shoulder missiles shot up and moved in on the Warrior units. Several of the thirty units were destroyed, but the others moved towards the Gundam.

Alien chatter was heard as the Gundam looked up and swung its sword at the approaching mobile suits. In one fell swoop all the attacking units were split in half and exploded.

Half of the units were left and they took a defensive stance launching the small missiles they had from their shoulders bombarding the Gundam. It fell down and was soon assaulted by several Warriors. The claw on the Gundam shot out and grabbed a solider and began to drain its energy. Using the blade it smashed two Warriors together. The energy empowered the blade and the Gundam went after the last of the Warriors.

“Warriors, move out of the way. I’m providing support from the Valor!”

Sys-Zero tried to warn Starbuck, but it was too late. He fired the cannons from the ship and created a large crater in the asteroid. The surface began to crack and the red crystals separated from the rock.

“Energy within the asteroid is increasing greatly. Everyone get out of there!” warned Tek.

The SDF and the Shadow Gundam retreated back towards their allies. The asteroid began to glow as the energy gathered. With a large crack the asteroid split apart sending shards of red crystals everywhere. The two ships dodged the crystals heading towards them.
“Captain Starbuck! That was an extremely foolish move, you-” Sys-Zero yelled angrily.

“Sys-Zero watch out!” Starbuck warned.

A smaller shard from the asteroid impaled the ship and stuck the generator. Electricity crackled around it and within a few seconds it exploded. Starbuck watched in horror, but continued to guide the Blade of Valor towards LOS-7.

When they were finally safe he turned around and saw it. “Starbuck to LOS-7...are you seeing a gigantic robot dragon?”

“We are.” Odessa responded awestruck.

The gigantic metal beast was impressive, but the Captain soon saw how badly damaged it was. The wings were severed and the head cracked. It turned towards them and their communication channel began to change.

“Greetings humans...I do not have much time. I am merely a messenger now...within my body I have hidden the tools you need to defeat the Shadowscythe. They are Gundams...the Dragon Guard Gundams. I have stored all my knowledge within them and based upon the ability of their pilots they will begin to unlock that information.”

“Tek, can we communicate with it?”

“I’m working on it....wait, no! Ugh...I lost the signal. It’s fading.”

The metallic dragon’s eyes began to fade and all signs of movement and power flowing through disappeared. The chest opened and the three Gundams were revealed. They were unlike anything the SDF had ever seen.

“Hope.” Odessa said looking at the Gundams. This was the first sign of survival, and the best sign or survival, she had ever seen in this war.

Next Time in Gundam: Shadow....Recovery. With the introduction of the Dragonoid Gundams, both sides will compete for their power. However only Fate can choose who wields the power of the Gundams.