Here's another project we've put together.  We've tweaked this since last
year, but we still haven't moved forward.

Essentially, I'm looking for style C&C, but if any Gundam fans out there
wish to comment about my assumptions, I'll be more than willing to listen.

_______

*  *  *
_______

The Fourteenth Day
by Presley H. Cannady
E-mail to revprez@mit.edu

Kido Senshi GUNDAM : 0079
____________________________________________________________

This story is copyright 1995 Presley H. Cannady.  All rights reserved.  Any
profit-intended publication of this novel without authorization of the
author or current copyright holders are strictly prohibited.

Copyright 1996 Anime Manga Development Group

Mobile Suit Gundam, Z Gundam, Gundam ZZ, Char's Counterattack, Gundam 0080:
War in the Pocket, Gundam F91, Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, and Gundam: The
08th MS Team are copyright Sotsu Agency, Sunrise and TV Asahi.
____________________________________________________________


Author's note:

The AMDG is involved in numerous original and fan fiction projects which
include the Robotech: New Era, Bubblegum Chaos and Casualty, the Kungfoolery
series, Horabue 23, and Valkyrie Seed.  However, Kido Senshi Gundam (Mobile
Suit Gundam), probably the most memorable mecha show of the early 1980s,
never once crossed our minds.  Unlike the era previous to 1979, this show
did not involve an annoyingly young boy genius and his stupidly overfunded
uncle's gigantic toy robot fighting against some evil being hellbent on
destroying the world.  Instead, the viewer encounters a rich, complex
universe where hardship and weariness add a measure of realism previously
unheard of in anime.  Thematic representation permeates every aspect of the
story.  Tomino Yoshiyuki presents us with a story that discusses war, love,
and the course of human evolution.  The presentation of the culture of the
future--its political intrigue and advanced technology--also plays an
important part in storytelliing.
    The character interaction also helps Gundam stand out above its peers.
Characters such as Char Anazeble (Mobile Suit Gundam), Anavel Gato (Gundam
0083: Stardust Memory), Korozo and Zabine (both from Gundam: F91) as well as
many others, provided a memorable view of characters caught up in their
situations and beliefs to fight against what they viewed to be the evil
enemy--the "Federation."  On the other side, Amuro Rei and Bright Noah
(MSG), Kou Ukari (G: SM), Shiro Amada (Gundam 0079: The 08th MS Team), and
Seabook Anro (G:F91) were the inadvertant and hapless heroes that the
audience grew to admire and care for; fighting for an ideal of unity--one
clouded in the alterior motives on the part of the protagonists'
superiors--between Earth and her colonies.
    The Fourteenth Day marks the first of possibly many AMDG Gundam
fan-fiction fanfics.  Considering the restraints inflicted by the Robotech
and Ranma fiction projects already in production, this will not be completed
anytime soon, and will be updated once pre-production begins.  The prologue
and possibly the opening chapter will be the only part available for some
time.  The story recounts for a small part of the Earth-side history of the
One-Year War not discussed either in Gundam 0079: The 08th MS Team, or the
original Mobile Suit Gundam.  Taking place in western Australia, South
America and Asia, The Fourteenth Day will recount the war's effects on
soldier, irregular, and civilian lives together.
    As for Gundam, it continues with such alternate timeline sequels as
Gundam Wing and G Gundam, and in the minds of those fanfic writers who
followed...

*  *  *
_____

 
PROLOGUE
The Sun's Field

The One-Year War (originally The One Week War) was the most devastating
event in human history.  Within two weeks of the Zabi Duchy of Jion's formal
declaration of war against the Earth Federation Government, half of the
entire human population--spacenoid and earthnoid--had been literally snuffed
out of existence.  However, if what the scientists of the previous era is
true--that evolution is born out of catastrophic and often violent
change--then the One-Year War may have been the human equivalent to the
catastrophes that forced dumb animals eons ago to change and adapt; to
improve both physically and intellectually.  It may be that this most
terrible event--atrocious and vile in every possible way--may have been the
inevitable wave of change mankind was destined to face.

-preface to Rear Admiral (ret.) Bright Avalon Noah's A Better Man: The
Biography of Amuro Rei

*  *  *

15 November UC 0079

SHEILA DOUBTED WHETHER SUCH MAGNIFICENCE COULD EVER BE DUPLICATED WITHIN the
confines of the orbiting cylinders she had known all her life.  The rushing
waves of amber raced beneath her as the small, single-prop airplane dashed
across the this field in North America's midwest.  For nearly four
centuries, since North America's plateau-situated, western
locales--collectively referred to as Nebraska--had been colonized,
brown-golden fields of grain covered the central flatlands, stretching from
the fertile, aged, and weathered Appalachian range to the far younger,
obstinate, bleak peaks of the Rocky Mountains.  
    While the young "spacenoid" woman fiddled about with the digital video
camera she had brought along with her, the pilot--an "earthnoid" mechanic
who, like most inhabitants of the rural and third-world areas of the world,
had escaped the forced immigration of billions into space--banked to the
south.  The gentle turn allowed her to capture each straw of waving grain as
it glittered against the afternoon sun--her strong safety belt holding her
from the forces that would readily eject her through the open side-door.
The heads of wheat began to pick up in a brisk wind from the north-east; a
sort of reminder of the early autumn--and undoubtly early winter--that would
arrive to the Nebraskas.  The fly-by currents induced by the Piper Cub's low
altitude pass also made for good footage; Sheila ecstatically recorded as
much as she possibly could with her digital camera.
    "Beautiful!" A broad grin spread from cheek to cheek; it was all that
could be seen of her face, as the rest was largely hidden behind her video
camera.  Sheila McMerron raised her angle a bit, as to see the sun's
illuminating effect on the seas of wheat against the back-drop of a small
range of foot-hills to the south-east.  Not even Ohio's rich forests and
expanse of vacant interstate highways could compare to the raw, natural
appeal of the Mid-Western Plains.  Keith, her pilot, merely cocked his head
over his left shoulder and nodded and nodded.  Turning to concentrate on his
flying, he found it amusing that a "spacenoid," like Sheila, would find such
incredible fascination and beauty in what he and his community often took
for granted; the land was little more than a source of income to his
family--soybean and corn farmers in the Ohio corn-belt for nearly over two
hundred years.  This was wheatland, hundreds of miles from his own farm, but
within reach with his small aircraft.
     "Hold on back there!" he shouted over his shoulder, angling his left
wing towards the ground.  The airplane descended to less than sixty meters
above the wheat fields, causing the amber stalks to wave as they buzzed over
the grain fields.  Sheila eagerly sponged as much footage as she could; she
was overwhelmed by an almost child-like fascination for everything she saw.
Although the pastoral fields of the colonies were magnificent and beautiful
sights, there was very little in the way of wind; the meteorological
patterns of an Island 3 colony were controlled to produce the most temperate
and "perfect" climatic conditions possible.  Most often, those climatic
parameters were partitioned within a station to suit the needs for different
agricultural production allotments throughout an Island 3's interior.
Cotton, wheat, barley, rice, indigo, and some tobacco were the primary
agricultural exports of the space colonies.  "What do you think now?"
    "I never thought I'd ever see anything like this," Sheila put down her
camera for the moment, climbing into the front passenger seat from her rear
observation position.  "Wind, clouds gathering randomly, billowing fields of
grain.  There's NOTHING like this back home!"
    By "back home," she meant the space colony of her birth.  Green Noah
One, in those days, was a vibrant civilian colony in Side 7--a most loyal
and productive collection of libration Space Island colonies--with a
"spacenoid" population well over seven million.  Her father, Attucks
McMerron, had led the Fifth Scotch-Irish Immigration into space some
eighteen years ago; the same year the Federation closed the immigration
program forever.  Largely a settlement of Aberdeen and Edinburgh patricians,
Side 7's Green Noah colonists had almost unlimited access to the planet's
surface, a privilege denied to most other space colonies a decade earlier.
Sheila had been amongst the first generation born on those massive space
habits.  As such, she had also grown up during the darkest and most pivotal
developments in human history.
    The world in UC 0079 was a very different place, but the grim realities
of war had not changed.  It had been several months since the Jion forces
had dropped a colony from Side One on Earth--their failed Operation British
succeeding in maiming the planet's Australian continent permanently.  The
reckless exchange of destructive firepower had extinguished half of the
human population in the space of two weeks--a reality so frightening it
forced both sides to realize that certain measures needed to be taken to
ensure that such destruction would never be revisited in the future.  The
devastation had relegated the fighting to a brutal stalemate for now, but
rumors had sparked up indicating that the hostiles were once again gaining
the initiative.
    As of late, Side 7 had become an Earth Military Forces stockpile, with
scores of ships under construction within the new Gale and Hampton Bunch
colonies.
    Sheila was about to retrieve her camera for a second round of vid-shots
when suddenly, a sharp screech emanated from the distance.  It began to drop
in pitch, but it grew steadily in volume.  At the same time, towards the
east, she could see two faint dark spots against the aquamarine sky draw
closer.  "Keith?  What's going--"
    "What?" the specks against the size were quickly approaching the plane.
"Shit!  Hold on, back there."
    Keith executed a hard-right, letting the nose drop down a few degrees to
avoid stalling.  Sheila continued to focus on the dots--which were rapidly
growing larger and taking shape.  It almost seemed--from a distance--as if
two people were flying--and fighting--at the same time.  Confusing as it
was, Sheila was not so distracted that she wouldn't heed Keith's warning.
Gripping the crossbar of the sliding door, she pulled it shut and quickly
applied the rest of her safety straps.  
    Just as the last buckle snapped in place, the dueling ghosts suddenly
buzzed just above Keith's dipping nose; Sheila nearly twisted her head off
trying to follow their movements.  Erratic and crazed, she quickly leaned
towards the right-side view-port, hoping to catch a glimpse of some
spectacular battle.  "Goddamn!" she whistled, eagerly following the paths of
the battle.
    "Fucking mech-jocks!" Keith grumbled to himself, bringing the aircraft
level to the ground again.  "Why can't they just take their damned business
elsewhere?"
    "What are you talking about?"
    Keith simply grumbled, "Listen, kid.  We're going to have to turn around
now."
    "Why?  What's going on?"
    "Because," Keith was losing his patience.  He had dealt with spacenoids
before, and quickly gained a distaste from the pro-Earth aristocracy that
had arisen in the Side Seven bunches, "in about five minutes, those
sons-of-bitches are going to turn everything within ten kilometers into
little more than smoke and ash."
    Sheila quieted down, showing no sign of disappointment--only a ominous
feeling distantly related to concern.

*  *  *

*  *  *

+-----------------+-<The Badass Reverend of Funk Prez>---+
|    Presley H.   | Political Science / Computer Science |
|    Cannady II   | and Electrical Engineering Undergrad |
|<revprez@mit.edu>| at the Mass. Institute of Technology |
+-----------------+-<Anime Manga Development Group>------+
+-------<http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/1731/index.html>-+
|_|"The art of war is of vital importance to the state"|_|