Black Tri-Stars

The Black Tri-Stars (黒い三連星 Kuroi Sanrensei?) were a three-man mobile suit assault team in the classic anime TV series Mobile Suit Gundam. They are sometimes alternately referred to as the "Black Trinary", or less often, the "Black Trinity".

The trio consisted of Zeon ace pilots Lieutenant Gaia (ガイア Gaia?), Lieutenant Junior Grade Ortega (オルテガ Orutega?), and Lieutenant Junior Grade Mash (マッシュ Masshu?). The three men first met in May, U.C.0076 when the Zeon space forces began secretly practicing combat maneuvers in preparation for the upcoming war. The three were all assigned to the Mobile Training Battalion D Company, 2nd Platoon, and became good friends quickly. During the Battle of Loum on January 16th, U.C.0079, the three men first earned their notorious reputation when they captured General Revil. The three customized MS-05 Zaku I that they piloted, painted in a black-and-purple colour scheme, earned the trio the nickname "Black Tri-Stars". The Black Tri-Stars came up with their own unique tactical maneuver with the high speed and maneuverability of the Zakus, developing their trademark attack, the "Jet Stream Attack". Moving in at high speed, the trio lines up one behind the other, forming a lethal simultaneous triple assault in which two of the members attack with ranged weapons and the last one attacks with a melee weapon. The danger of this maneuver is that dodging one attack puts the victim perfectly in the sights of the second or third attack. The three members of the Black Tri-Stars were said to be more skilled than an entire squad of normal soldiers, and they proved it constantly with their ruthless attacks on the Earth Federation's space forces. In July, 0079, the Black Tri-Stars alone in their new High Mobility Zaku IIs destroyed an entire Earth Federation Reconnaissance in Force fleet near the Zeon asteroid fortress of A Baoa Qu.

In October, U.C.0079 the Black Tri-Stars are each given a new Dom and transferred to Earth by Kycilia Zabi where they join the 7th Terrestrial Mobile Division, 1st Mobile Suit Battalion. On November 6th, the Black Tri-Stars arrive at Odessa, Ukraine to shore up the defenses of the mining facilities against the Earth Federation's all-out attack. The trio immediately sets out to ambush the White Base, during which the Black Tri-Stars manage to kill Medea transport commander Ensign Matilda Ajan. However, Federation's Gundam pilot Amuro Ray is able to break through the deadly Jet Stream Attack by using Gaia's Dom as a jumping platform, and kills Mash in return, forcing the two remaining Black Tri-Stars to retreat in shock. Gaia and Ortega return to Odessa where they honour the death of their fallen comrade, Mash. They decide the best way to both honour and avenge Mash's death would be to destroy the Gundam and the White Base. On November 9th, the remaining two Tri-Stars attack the White Base during Operation Odessa (M'quve finds out about this and berates them as they attack but the remaining Tri-Stars still continue on). However with the triad broken, Gaia and Ortega are easily killed by the Gundam, putting an end to the legacy of the Black Tri-Stars. In the compilation movie the Black Tri-Stars battle against the Gundam is moved into a single battle, Mash was killed in the same manner as in the anime, then Gaia challenged the Gundam, but his Dom was stabbed by the Gundam's beam saber, and then as Ortega prepared to fire on Amuro, Sayla in the Core Booster blasted Ortega's Dom with her beam cannons. In the dub of the movie, Gaia commented, "They wiped us out! Those amatuers! They're not human!" as his Dom exploded.