Chapter 2: Recovery

“Captain Starbuck, the Shadowscythe are headed for the robot dragon corpse.” Tek warned.

“Admiral Odessa, what are your orders?”

“Recover the Dragonguard Gundams. I would like to think this robotic beast had a plan to keep them safe from the Shadowscythe...but we must be sure.”

With that the remaining four SDF Warriors and the Blade of Valor flew back towards the corpse. They arrived and soon after the Shadowscythe approached the ship.

“Watch the ship, Ensign Lisa.” Starbuck commanded as he headed for the hangar.

“Captain, what are you doing?” she asked running towards him.

“I’m going to recover one of the Gundams.”

“Sir, that is too dangerous-” she tried to say.

Starbuck would not listen to her. “Ensign, you do realize our only hope of winning this war is in there, don’t you?”

“I know, but this just seems foolish.”

“I will be fine. Once I get control of a Gundam...there should be nothing that can stop me!”

Starbuck went to the hangar and entered a small fighter ship. As he exited the ship, Shadowscythe mobile suits had arrived. They began shooting at him and Starbuck dodged with skill. As they began to swarm towards him, he commanded the Ensign to take the ship back to LOS-7.

“Alright Shadowscythe, let us see your true skill!” he yelled as he dived down and began to fly along the surface of the corpse. The mobile suits jumped down towards him, but dodging they had their blades stuck in the metal. Surprisingly they began to dissolve once touching it.

This gave Starbuck enough to time to enter the chest and fly towards the Dragonguard Gundam. The other Shadowscythe waited outside. They seemed almost afraid to enter. He stopped the fighter ship and exited with a space suit on. Starbuck pushed against the ship and moved towards the large Dragonguard Gundam. Upon closer inspection he saw almost every detail of this mech involved dragons from it’s shoulders down to the trim.

Climbing inside the open hatch, it looked very familiar to a human mobile suit, which was odd to him seeing as how it was most likely created by a draconic race. Starbuck pushed the power button.

“Greetings Captain Starbuck.” spoke the machine in the dragon robot’s voice. Starbuck was taken aback a bit by this.

“I am called a Dragonoid, one of ten superweapons created by the dragons before their disappearance. I have left these recordings of my memory to guide you.”

“How did you know my name?” Starbuck asked.

“I learned your name right before my downfall. While communicating with you I scanned the computer systems of the SDF and Shadowscythe. Now on to the current task. Shadowscythe approach.”

Looking at the monitor he saw Shadowscythe heading for the ship and heading inside the dragonoid towards him. “What do I do now?”

“The unit you are in is called the Phoenix. Lift the control panel and flip the switch.”

Starbuck grabbed the control panel in front of him and found it very light. He lifted upwards and found another control panel beneath. This one had a single switch marked with draconic glyphs he could not understand. He flipped the switch and a panel opened on the back of the Gundam. From it two large wings made of light were created. The wings pointed towards the enemies and flapped releasing large orbs of light.

The orbs flew towards the Shadowscythe mobile suits and attached themselves to the mecha. The orbs repelled the Shadowscythe and pushed them away from the Gundam. As the Shadowscythe were pushed farther away the orbs then exploded and badly damaged, if not destroyed, all of them.

“What kind of power was that?”

“That was the Phoenix System. Shadowscythe are creatures of darkness and so are their mecha. This mode repels them by launching orbs of pure light at them. That is one of the functions of this unit.”

“One of?” Starbuck asked excited. The ability to repel Shadowscythe would come in handy in the future. But what other secrets were inside this Gundam?

“In time you will prove yourself and gain the secrets of the Dragonguard Gundam Phoenix. For now you must return to your allies and bring the other two units with you.”

---

On a Shadowscythe base in a distant galaxy, the leader of the Shadowscythe Lord Valoth awaits a report from one of his commanding officers. Valoth knew the humans were about to fall once LOS-7 was destroyed and then they would be able to take the planet. The sound of a mech entering the room was heard.

“Gundam Ravager, good to see you are here. Has LOS-7 been destroyed yet?” he said in a deep voice that made his minions tremble in fear. He was no ordinary Shadowscythe, he himself was taller than the Shadow Gundams.

“My Lord, we failed to destroy the station.”

“What? Failure is unacceptable!”

“There is more to the story.” Ravager said not even believing it himself. “There was a dragonoid.”

Valoth’s eyes widened in surprise and anger boiled inside him. “A dragonoid?! It escaped it’s prison?”

“Yes. I was attempting to corrupt it, but one of the human starships blasted a weak point and it shattered, however the dragonoid inside soon experienced power failure. It was very damaged.”

Valoth was now confused. “A broken dragonoid stopped your invasion?”

“The warp vector it entered through was just behind our troops. As it entered space it destroyed many of them and there is more. It brought with it the Dragonguard.”

“Dragonguard Gundams?! Those disgusting creatures managed to create more...I want them reclaimed.”

“We attempted but it was impossible. One of them was equipped with a Phoenix System.”

Valoth jumped forward and grabbed the Shadow Gundam and punched through it’s body. He grabbed the pilot and crushed him. A simple mission to destroy LOS-7 and now the Dragons were involved. Those creatures had left long ago, but their influence had awakened again. This made their job more difficult but not impossible.

“I destroyed those beasts once long ago, and I will do the same again.” Valoth said before pushing a button on the wall.

“My Lord is there something you need?” asked a female voice.

“Yes Maria-9, I need you to gather a team and repair Ravager...he was damaged in battle.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Oh and we are going to need an upgrade to fight against dragons.”

“Dragons? I am afraid I don’t have any information on them other than the history the Shadowscythe have experienced with them.”

Valoth laughed. “I will have a talk with your employer about giving you access to the records stored at EvilCorp.”

---

Mr. Z, the CEO of EbilCorp sat in his chair in Station Thirteen. This station was above the planet Westion and was being used to harvest Crystallized Dragon’s Breath, the fuel used for the Gundams. It was extremely rare and added extra power to the Gundams. If there was more and it could be used on mobile suits then the Shadowscythe would be even more powerful.

“But that would be highly unnecessary.” Mr. Z said into the phone.

“You will not give Maria-9 clearance?” Valoth said angrily.

“There is no need. We don’t have enough information on the dragons to warrant giving her access to Above Top Secret level information.” he said knowing what was locked within those archives.

“Well what other solution do you have?” he asked remembering the type of person Mr. Z was. He was often arrogant and narcissistic but if he was denying the request, it meant he had another plan.

“The Dragonguard Gundams are programmed to not hurt their own kind, yes?” Mr. Z asked with evil thoughts filling in his head.

“That they are.”

“All we have to do is coat the Shadow Gundams with a layer of CDB.”

“I see. Send over a shipment immediately with technicians to apply it.” Mr. Z always attempted to bring up Valoth’s weakness. Crystallized Dragon’s Breath was poisonous to Shadowscythe which is why they needed EvilCorp to manage and gather it for them. It was a very powerful tool when used within mechs, especially Shadow Gundams.

“Oh and it is EbilCorp now. The Board has decided to give me full power.” Mr. Z laughed before hanging up the phone. In front of him were the dead bodies of the other five board members.

“Maria-13, I’m going to need some clean up done in my office.”

With that the robot entered and began to dispose of the bodies as Mr. Z walked down the stairs towards his private elevator. He took it down to the fiftieth floor, the Research and Development platform. There a human stood watching through a window as EbilCorp employees were working on a large metal device.

“Is the starship ready yet?” asked the man.

“Almost. We are finishing the Purge Cannon.”

“And you are sure this will allow me to destroy the Shadowscythe with ease?”

“Yes, Artix. I am very sure.” Mr. Z laughed, the profit he was making from playing both sides was incredible. “Just remember our agreement.”

“Of course. Once it is done I will recover her immediately.”

“Maria-5 soon you will be with us again. Then you will know the true punishment for escaping.”

Next Time in Gundam: Shadow....Funeral. The Dragonguard Gundams are in control of the SDF, but now the consequences of the battle will be examined. Time stops for no one.