Technology & Combat Characteristics
The PMX-000 Messala is the first of five mobile weapons personally produced by the powerful Newtype Paptimus Scirocco on board the transport ship Jupitris. As the Messala was originally used to fly in the atmosphere of Jupiter, it is equipped with powerful thrusters to counter the planet's high gravitational pull. Because of this, when used under Earth’s atmosphere, it is extremely fast and agile. The Messala is heavily armed with a pair of mega particle cannons, two missile pods, two beam sabers, two arm claws containing grenade launchers and vulcan guns, and two leg claws. Thanks to these weapons, the Messala is a deadly enemy in both close and long range combat. While the total thrust of the Messala is frequently stated to be 96,000 kg, this value is only derived from the combined thruster outputs of the six main thrusters in the backpack, and does not include the output of the tail and leg thrusters. As such, the mobile suit's actual total thrust is unknown, with given figures ranging from a minimum of 196,000 kg to at least 200,000 kg.
History
The PMX-000 Messala was first seen when Paptimus Scirocco used it to attack the shuttle Temptation that was under the command of Bright Noa. During this attack, the Messala briefly fought against the RX-178 Gundam Mk-II piloted by Kamille Bidan, and the MSN-00100 Hyaku Shiki piloted by Quattro Bajeena. Scirocco later used the Messala to act as a vanguard for the Titans' fleet during the AEUG's orbital drop operation to attack Jaburo. With the Messala's incredible speed and power, Scirocco sunk a number of the AEUG's Salamis Kai-class cruisers. He then fought Kamille's Gundam Mk-II, Quattro's Hyaku Shiki, and a RMS-099 Rick Dias piloted by Emma Sheen, and the Messala's speed enabled him to avoid attacks from the three AEUG pilots. Scirocco eventually retreated in the Messala to avoid being pulled by Earth's gravity.
The Messala was subsequently piloted by young Scirocco follower Sarah Zabiarov, and later by AEUG defector Reccoa Londe. Towards the end of the Gryps conflict, with Scirocco piloting PMX-003 The-O, Sarah piloting the PMX-002 Bolinoak Sammahn and Reccoa piloting the PMX-001 Palace Athene, the Messala was left without any pilots, forcing it to sit out the final battle of Gryps 2.
After the Jupitris was sunk near the end of the Gryps conflict, the Messala was acquired by the Clan, a secret society established by remnants of Scirocco's loyalists. Later, Tonio Mannheim piloted it during his escape, towing a container that carried both the "White Grimoire" and the "base body" Shamal. The Messala was subsequently hidden among the "unopened containers" stored within the Side 2 colony Olympus, which were eventually recovered by the AEUG's Argama-class assault cruiser Yulong in July U.C. 0089.