A Baoa Qu

A Baoa Qu is a space fortress in Mobile Suit Gundam, and was Principality of Zeon's last defense line in the One Year War of the Universal Century. The name (variously spelled Abaoaqu or A Bao A Qu by fans) is taken from an obscure Malayan legend A Bao A Qu which is about a monster who guards the "Tower of Victory".

A Baoa Qu was the Principality of Zeon's largest and most powerful asteroid base. A Baoa Qu was a fusion of two asteroids into one, forming an "umbrella"-like shape, its size is about 13.5km tall and 9km in diameter.[1] A Baoa Qu was built in the opposite L2 point orbit, placing it directly opposite from the Zeon Homeland in Side 3. A Baoa Qu provided rear defense, while the Zeon's Solomon space fortress provided frontal defense.

The space fortress served as the Zeon Military Force's general headquarters for their space fleet. It also was used as a mobile weapons production factory. It was the scene of the titanic Battle of A Baoa Qu, one of the greatest battles of the One Year War. Unlike the earlier battle of Solomon, this one was a hard-fought victory for the Federation.

After the One Year War, A Baoa Qu was kept by the Republic of Zeon following the signing of the Treaty of Granada. Later, in June U.C. 0087, the Zeons would hand over A Baoa Qu to the Earth Federation's Titans special police force, who would rename it the Gate of Zedan. The space fortress was completely destroyed in U.C. 0088 when the mobile asteroid base Axis rammed it and broke the Gate of Zedan into two.

Battle of A Baoa Qu
Following the firing of the Solar Ray, Rear Admiral Kycilia Zabi, aware of her father's secret meeting with the Federation's General Revil, learns that his ship the Gwazine-class Great Degwin was on the Geldolva line at the time of the Colony Laser's discharge. Only she and her brother Supreme Commander Gihren Zabi know of their father's negotiations and true fate.

The disarrayed Federal forces quickly regroup, using the Pegasus-Class Assault Carrier White Base as their rally point. While the Federation reorganize, Gihren Zabi meets with the A Baoa Qu defenders and gives a speech that the Zeon are a superior race, that the Earth Federation's remaining forces are now halved thanks to the Solar Ray System, and that they win this battle as to "rise up to the future".

The Federation launches an attack on A Baoa Qu's N defense field with the second and third mobile suit battalions, while its remaining fleets use the Magellan-Class Battle ship Luzar as its flagship to penetrate the S field. The White Base spearheads an assault into the F line, A Baoa Qu's crossfire aiming point but also its weakest defense point, all the while when a small fleet, rumored to have been led by the assault carrier Pegasus, attempted to breach the V line, guarded by Zeon's Dolowa carrier. Gihren Zabi's counterattack plan relies heavily on his mammoth Dolos-Class Heavy Carrier Ship and the MS-14A Gelgoog, Zeon's latest mass-production mobile suit that rivals the Gundam in strength and weaponry. The Federation attempts to use beam-dispersion smoke again, but Gihren Zabi launches a counterstrike of missiles, all the while keeping his mobile suit forces held back.

Kycilia's Mobile Assault Force arrives as the Federation begins to penetrate A Baoa Qu's lines. While Kycilia Zabi orders her fleet to position itself along the N field, she provides Char Aznable with the MSN-02 Zeong, a new mobile suit using Psycommu technology, which would allow him to pilot using his Newtype mind. The Psycommu was used originally in the Elmeth, another psychically controlled mobile armor, piloted by Char's protégé, Lalah Sune, but was destroyed shortly after the Battle of Solomon. After Char sorties in the Zeong, Kycilia confronts Gihren with the news of their father's death, and, after hearing him confess to killing him, executes Gihren Zabi for the crime of patricide. After his death, it is discovered that Gihren miscalculated the effectiveness of his fighting force. The three Dolos carriers are destroyed, depriving their large numbers of mobile suits of fuel and munitions, and the Gelgoogs, Rick Doms and Zaku II are piloted by conscripted students who have barely enough training to properly use their mobile suits. Many of Zeon's ace pilots also are killed or missing in action, such as Thomas Krutz and Johnny Ridden, hurting the Zeon's attempt to hold A Baoa Qu. Also, angered by the execution of the Supreme Commander, the Delaz fleet (a battle unit loyal to Gihren Zabi, led by Aiguille Delaz), resigned from the battle, further reducing the number of ships and mobile suits in the Zeon lines.

As A Baoa Qu's N field was overwhelmed by the Federation's mobile suit battalions and the Zeon's S field was on the verge of collapsing thanks to White Base's Gundam, the Zeong is sent to reinforce it and keep the Federation from penetrating the S field. The fighting becomes so thick that Amuro's Gundam and Char's Zeong are soon engaged in close combat inside the fortress, and the fight continues after both pilots have destroyed the others' mobile suits. The White Base is forced to beach itself on the fortress and fight Zeon infantry in close quarters combat.

Federation forces also sent token troops to assault E Field which was defended by Col. Kuspen's combat battalion, under engineering Lieutenant Oliver May. The diverse force consisted of Oggos piloted by new recruits which only have a few day of training, the Big-Rang mobile armor piloted by Oliver, Zakus, and Gelgoogs. They managed to force the first wave of federation forces to retreat, but suffered heavy casulties.

As the battle for A Baoa Qu enters inside the heart of the fortress itself, Kycilia Zabi begins preparations to flee from the collapsing A Baoa Qu. Her plan was to escape to a rally point and meet up with fleets from the Zeon's Granada lunar base and continue the war. She orders Twoning, the base commander, to wait 15 minutes after her exit then surrender the base (he will be exchanged later for Federal POWs, according to her plan). However, her plan is interrupted by Char Aznable, who assassinates Kycilia before she can leave the asteroid fortress. Her Zanzibar-Class Mobile Cruiser is soon destroyed by Federal forces.

The remaining forces in S Field retreated to Side 3 from A Baoa Qu thru E Field when the ceasefire order was given down by A Baoa Qu Defense Command which stated that all command structure is lost and all forces must ceasefire. Captain Prochnow of the Jotunheim suggested that defending E field for 30 min could allow the remaining fleet to escape from A Baoa Qu. Under Colonel Kuspen, Captain Monique Cadillac and Lieutenant Oliver May's lead, the defenders managed to hold off the federation long enough for the fleet in S Field to successfully escape.

A Baoa Qu falls to the Federal forces. On 1 January U.C. 0080, Zeon's Prime Minister Darcia Bakharov signs the Treaty of Granada, ending the war. Under the conditions of the treaty, A Baoa Qu is the only asteroid base kept by the new Republic of Zeon. However, on U.C. 0087, it was transferred to the Titans, as their new mobile headquarters, after the Titans lost the support of the Federation Assembly council, thanks to Char's speech at Dakar, which he persuaded the Federation Assembly to renounce the Titans for good.

Axis Zeon's Betrayal
On January 18th, U.C. 0088, Axis Zeon, led by Haman Karn, rammed A Baoa Qu with Axis, causing A Baoa Qu to be crushed, as a part of the negotiations dealt with the AEUG. The Titans were shocked by such sudden betrayal, not to mention how much the Titans lost, including the murder of their leaders, Jamitov Hymem and Bask Om. Afterwards, the colony laser on Gryps was seized by Zeon, and seized again in turn on February 6th, by the AEUG.

Mobile Suit Gundam Novelization
A Baoa Qu appeared in the novelization of the Mobile Suit Gundam series and served the same purpose that the base did in the anime. However, unlike the anime, A Baoa Qu was obliterated by the Solar Ray laser, it also destroyed the remains of the Federation Space forces and a good portion of the remaining Zeon army.

Gundam Build Fighters
A 1/144-scale physical replica of A Baoa Qu, materialized when Chairman Mashita's Arista reacted with the giant one hidden underneath the Gunpla Battle stage. Even at Gunpla scale, the fortress was big enough to break through the dome of the stadium. The fortress was guarded by a large number of Mocks, and possessed a massive particle cannon which was powered by the Arista hidden in its core.