There was a time, in the era of great chaos, when the earth and the moon 
were at war with each other. A daredevil from the moon piloted a bizarre 
aircraft... it was feared and, because of its shape, called "Einhänder"

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Phases of the Moon part 2

Full Moon

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An Einhänder fanfic by Snapdragon

Snapdragon@videotron.ca

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[Music: Einhänder - 17 - Thermosphere] 

	What did you know, the witch was right...

	As the last spacecraft bound for Selene pummelled towards its earthbound 
doom, the three lunar fighters each took time to fill their lungs with air. 
They could still breathe, that was already something good. The last minutes had 
been frantic, and air had been a rare commodity indeed in the last hours.

	But they had not passed through earth's defence force without a scratch. 
The defenders had put their best unto them, and so damage had been inevitable. 
Michael's ship had taken a few direct hits on his left wing, and they were 
causing trouble. They had forced him to slow his right wing propulsion down to 
compensate, or he would have been a wall decoration a while ago. It had made 
dodging more difficult, but not impossible. If so, he would have joined his 
enemies along the rocky ground.

	The Martian girl was the one who had taken the least blows. Beside a few 
harmless hits along the armor of the cockpit, her Astraea FGA Mk. I had no 
other apparent damage. Her superior skill had shone true today, and would 
hopefully still shine on. Her surprising agility in the skies made her enemies 
think the pilot was a bird and not a woman. Few other females could hold 
against her.

	The worst off was James' Endymion FRS Mk. II, whose manipulator arm still 
held by the graces of the gods after the many hits it had endured. A few other 
blows donned his machine's hide, but they weren't slowing him down a bit. He 
feared the manipulator would drop at any time, wasting his precious Riot gun.

	Their were still waiting for Selene's Main Unit, which should have been 
there to demolish the latest spacecraft instead of them. But it had somehow 
been delayed, and the Einhänders had been forced to do without them. They had 
luckily been able to handle such a task with their limited numbers, and the 
moon was safe for now.

	Speak of the devil...

	Dozens of vessels appeared in the afternoon sky and stood still, seeking 
whatever target they could find. Their metallic blue skins contrasted with the 
clouded heavens, and they seemed to be an unlimited legion from the pilots' 
vantage points. They were the completed EOS, the result of years of work that 
cost the lives of so many other pilots. They were programmed to emulate the 
best pilots' abilities, and to replace the Einhänder program. This would be 
their first service.

	Then the message from the lunar satellite Hyperion came... and changed 
the course of their lives forever...

	Less than a second after its fateful transmission, three voices were 
heard over the com-net, drowning the sounds coming from outside the ships...

	"Those bastards ! ..." cried Caroline in blood red fury, eager and ready 
to crave her name in the EOS' armors. She boosted her propulsion to full, and 
charged head-on in the once-allied swarm.

	"Do they want to kill us ? ..." added Michael, also in shock that their 
country would do something like that to them. He sat there unmoving as the EOS 
sensors worked their way across the battlefield.

	"Why ? ..." was the only word that escaped James' mouth, and the only one 
on his mind. Why would their own country turn against them, them who just 
fought through the whole earth defense for their sakes... Why?

	However, the gods weren't answering this particular question now, and the 
sounds from his ships dragged him back to the situation at hand.

	Danger warnings flared everywhere in James' Endymion FRS Mk. II as it 
became the target of a hundred spacecraft. As the message from the moon had 
said, they were now the last test for the EOS and were considered enemies to 
their steel eyes. He barely dodged the dozen cannon shells that buzzed just 
under his right wing. His mind then sprang back into action, focused on the 
wave of heat-seeking missiles just ahead, and his question was pushed to the 
farther recesses of his brain, utterly gone for this fight.

	He would not go so easily...

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End of Chapter Two - Full Moon

Is followed by Chapter Three - Blood Moon

Notes : This will be the smallest of the Phases of the Moon series. The reasons 
for this is the time covered : Chapter 1 covered a day, Chapter 2 covers 30 
minutes of time, Chapter 3 will cover a month while Chapter 4 will cover the 
rest. 

This Chapter is set before the last stage of Einhänder. There are 6 stages of 
battle between Chapters 1 & 2. Chapter 3 will be set after chapter 2 before 
stage 7 and Chapter 4 will cover the part after the Final Battle.

Einhänder belongs to Squaresoft and is not meant any displeasure by this work

Snapdragon/Thierry Chartrand-Chamblay
October 2000