Hey guys here's the disclaimer: I do not own any part of Gundam wing, Seed, or any part of the Mobile Suit Gundam Franchise.
It's been a long week and I've been working like mad to get this to you guys but for good reason… I wanted to give you part of the changes that are coming to pass in destiny namely the first being in this chapter Phantom pain didn't really make an impact in the main destiny series… time to put the PAIN in their name…
As always please read and review
*Tap* "Oh Ald…"
Yes… Dorothy! OH GOD PUT THE SWORD DOWN!
"Making Quatre play with those harlots onboard the Minerva… you're a dead man! NOW DIE!"
*SLICE*
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A HARLOT!" Lunamaria blocked the attack with her own sword and started in on Dorothy
DAMN SOMEONE SAVE ME! *Duck*
*Sounds of battle*
xxxxxx
Ch 2
Cagalli sighed from her seat in the briefing room as she looked at the six ESUN pilots "Explain to me again why you didn't tell us…"
Hilde stood "Cagalli we were concerned that it would flair up the war again…"
"That's utter garbage and you know it, if you had told us we could have joined you on this and kept a closer eye on them now this happens!" Cagalli slammed her fist into the desk.
Athrun walked forward "Do you really not trust us that much? You could have at least told us of the situation so we wouldn't have been as shell-shocked and possibly killed…"
Heero stood "We did what we thought was right to get the mission done, your secret trip to the PLANT's was what caused the problem had we known we would have told you…"
Cagalli glared "Well what now, you said the Dominion should have warped in this morning correct?"
Nicol nodded "Yeah but we only have the coordinates to link up with them, we'll have to try to contact them…"
Trowa nodded "So Heero since we have authorization can we start acting like ourselves again?"
"Don't make friends… it's not worth…" Heero started.
"Awww relax Heero… it's not like we're enemies… we have the same mission to get those machines back…" Duo stretched before he got up.
Nicol nodded "I'd like to try to get to know them, besides I actually know the captain of this ship she attended many of my concerts with her husband…" he smiled as he got up.
Heero nodded "Fine, it's your call… and Athrun… Cagalli told me while you were out that you were acting like me for your cover… that's a terrible idea don't do it…"
Athrun shrugged "What I can't play the part of a not very talkative bodyguard?"
Heero laughed "No Athrun you stick out like a person in a pink suit at a funeral…"
Athrun laughed "Heero when did you get a sense of humor?"
"I always had one I just don't crack jokes that often…" Heero said.
Athrun nodded "Anyway why did you request this meeting in private?"
Nicol looked at Athrun "We don't trust Durandal… the original plan was to take the machines out or steal them ourselves…"
Cagalli blinked "Why, I mean he is a politician and he is pushing the limits on what we set for limitation of armaments during the treaty but so is the Atlantic Federation…"
"He was a doctor before he was a politician, one of his patients was Rau Le Cruset…" Trowa walked over from his seat "That's why…"
Athrun nodded "Good reason but he's done a lot of good things for the recovery both in the PLANT's and on Earth, he sent technicians to help the recovery effort for the Earth Alliance nations, and they sent aid to the Orb Union for its recovery as well… I think he's on the level, just because one patient is missing all the screw's doesn't mean that the doctor is…"
Quatre stood and walked over to Cagalli and Athrun "You're right Athrun that's why I still think we should give him a chance… Heero's the one dead set against him… Even Zechs thinks Durandal shouldn't be condemned by just one patient on a list, his political views are in the same line with the council aren't they?" he looked to Heero.
"I may hate to admit it… but Quatre is right he seems to check out but I still don't trust him…" Heero said as he made his way towards the door "Now why don't we go meet with them I think they'll have a lot of questions…"
Xxx
Shinn looked out the window as the Minerva's crew relaxed for a bit "So… what do you guys think they're talking about, the instant they landed the representative asked to borrow the briefing room and they have been in there ever since…" Lunamaria asked as she sat down.
Yolant looked at her "I don't know but they really have a different feel about them and their machines too… each one looks like a one of a kind custom… I mean that and the pilots all seemed like…"
"Veterans… not afraid to kill if needed to complete their mission…" Rey said and Yolant nodded.
"So what's the big news you had Lunamaria?" Shinn asked.
Lunamaria smirked "You know that aid of the representative? The one that was piloting that ZAKU…"
Shinn looked over "Yeah he seemed pretty normal what about him?"
"He said his name was Alex Dino… but that one girl with the Preventers… the one who pilots that black one without the shroud, she slipped and called him Athrun…" Lunamaria said.
Everyone in the room looked at her "No way… he's Athrun Zala?" Yolant asked.
Lunamaria nodded "Yeah… though he doesn't like the attention… and apparently he and the representative are together…"
Rey blinked "Yeah he's her bodyguard why wouldn't they be?"
"No… I mean they're an item… together, a couple Rey…" Luna said as she got up "I wonder why he hid himself away like that I mean he was a top ZAFT Ace he could have a full command right now like Commander Joule or even be amongst his team…"
Vino shrugged "So, guess he had a good reason to retire then…" he took a sip of his coffee "A lot of the aces from the last war retired or are now with elite teams like the Joule team…"
"So, what were they like Shinn?" Yolant asked "You know the preventers pilots?"
"They were…" Shinn thought for a moment "Well Duo at least was pretty friendly his girlfriend if she is was a real piece of work hell she nearly punched my lights out…"
Lunamaria blinked "What did you do to cause Hilde to…"
Yolant smirked "Oh I forgot that was her, so Duo's the pilot of the other black machine then?"
Shinn nodded "Yeah, the scariest one though I'd say has to be the blue one in the hangar… on top of the visible weapons that thing has four more chain guns mounted in its chest…"
"Yeah it also has eighty four micro missile launchers…" A voice said from the door causing everyone in the room to snap their attention over there.
A boy wearing a green and black uniform that came about mid thigh with knee high boots on walked in his brown hair over the one side of his face "So… where can I get some of that coffee?" he asked
Everyone was silent as Yolant pointed towards the vending machine and the boy walked over getting a can of extra strength coffee.
The boy leaned against the table next to Rey "Sorry I didn't get a chance to introduce myself, the name's Trowa… Trowa Barton…" he smiled.
Lunamaria smiled "Nice to meet you Trowa, I'm Lunamaria…"
"Before we continue with the introductions…" Trowa looked towards the door "Hay Quatre, Nicol why don't you come in they're not going to bite..."
Yolant started laughing as the two other pilots heads appeared at the door and looked in a little embarrassed.
Trowa laughed as the two others came walking over and Rey stopped cold "Nicol Amalfi!"
Nicol smiled "Nice to meet you Rey… I heard a lot about you from Quatre…"
Shinn looked over at him "So you're Nicol Amalfi… just how many aces…"
Quatre smiled "Lunamaria, sorry about how I acted before… we were told to act different than we would usually…"
Lunamaria blinked "So… you aren't a sarcastic lecherous ace pilot then?"
Trowa and Nicol both started laughing so hard they had to sit down "Oh man… Quatre I wish I could have seen that…" Nicol said as Quatre blushed
The other's looked at Quatre "You mean that was all an act?"
Quatre nodded "I actually wanted to apologize for umm…"
"THERE YOU ARE YOU! YOU!" Meyrin Hawke marched across the room and grabbed Quatre by the collar "YOU SON OF A…" she slapped him hard across the face "THE NERVE…"
Trowa and Nicol were both on the floor laughing "Oh man just what did you do Quatre, Duo was right we should have hacked the security cameras just to see this…" Trowa said.
Nicol had a red handprint on his cheek as he rubbed it Meyrin glaring down at him "I'd like to apologize for… umm…." His face went red "How do I say this without being killed by all the other's in the room?"
"Meyrin just what did Quatre do?" Lunamaria asked.
Meyrin had tears running down her face "He slapped my butt!"
Trowa got up from the floor and glared at Quatre "Quatre…"
"I got a little too into character…" Quatre said "I'm sorry Miss. Hawke I really do wish to apologize as best I can…"
Meyrin blinked "You mean…"
"Quatre, never do a complete one eighty on your personality again…" Nicol said as he sat up.
"Heero told me if someone got too close to do something…" Quatre said as he started to get up.
Nicol slapped him upside the head "And you thought that would…"
Meyrin walked over to Quatre "Umm… So you were putting on an act then to cover…"
Trowa nodded "We're members of the ESUN's Preventers Taskforce, and I'll have a talk with Heero about this…"
Nicol rubbed his temples "Quatre, if Dorothy found out your head would fly…"
Meyrin looked at him "Who's Dorothy?"
"His girlfriend… or is it fiancée now?" Nicol asked as he looked at Quatre.
"Fiancée… and I'd be ten times over dead if she'd found out hell every single one of my sisters would kill me…" Quatre said.
Nicol laughed "No kidding… all twenty eight of them would…"
Yolant blinked "How can he have twenty eight sisters?" all the others looked at Quatre.
Trowa smiled "The ESUN's medical technology is slightly more advanced… the use of artificial womb's for birth in space is commonplace, unlike the plants our colonies don't produce as high a level of artificial gravity so it makes normal birth's almost impossible…"
"So where is the ESUN anyway, I mean we've all heard the rumors but…" Vino asked.
Nicol got up "Does this room have any computers in it that will allow us to pull up a map of the galaxy?"
Xxx
Durandal and Talia sat across from Cagalli, and Heero as Athrun and Duo stood behind them Duo and Heero both in their preventer's uniforms.
"Words cannot express my regret… I apologize for involving you in all this princess, however please try to understand our position…" Durandal said as he looked at her.
"Have you been able to find out anything useful about that enemy ship yet?" Cagalli asked.
Durandal looked to Heero "Heero, the ESUN seems to know more than we do about the situation would you please…"
Heero nodded "They belong to the eighty first autonomous mobile forces, better known as Phantom Pain they work independently from the regular command structure being an elite special forces unit… the battleship we're currently in pursuit of is known as the Girty Lue, it's a prototype battleship equipped with a mirage colloid system that allowed it to get that close…"
Talia's eyes widened "They're using banned military technology!"
Heero nodded "As I said they work independent from the main command structure, all of their equipment is the best and the newest technology available…"
Durandal sighed "Well then, what would you recommend if you know the strength of their forces?"
"They're setting course for the debris belt, they're hoping to gain an advantage by setting a trap most likely, however we can set a trap of our own…" Heero said as he pulled a small book from his pocket and placed it on the table
Durandal looked at Heero "You don't trust me…"
Heero nodded "I would be lying if I said that I did… I'm a soldier first, and we're from two separate nations…"
Durandal nodded "So then… what is this?" he picked up the book "And why are you cooperating so much if you don't trust us?"
"My mission is to capture or destroy those machines, originally we were going to do the same but instead of destroying the armory just taking the machines or destroying them." Heero looked at the Chairman keeping his gaze fixed on the book.
"And this?" Durandal tapped the book.
"ESUN Preventer's field manual, inside it will tell you that currently even though I may not like it my team falls under the command of whoever is highest ranking in the preventers present…" Heero said with a cold tone.
Talia blinked "But only you and your men are with the Preventer's…"
Duo shook his head "Nope… we're just pilots the highest ranking member is the political officer assigned to each region… and that would make…" Duo looked at Cagalli "Representative Attha the highest in command, Orb Union's branch political officer."
Durandal looked at Cagalli "Though I'd say the Representative didn't know about your mission considering you had to brief her on it…"
Heero nodded "Our mission was limited to those who needed to know, namely the ESUN branch, and the ZAFT representative…"
Durandal blinked "ZAFT has a representative… I don't know of any…"
"Maxwell… would you mind patching us through to the Preventers ZAFT branch commander?" Heero asked.
"I still don't understand why you're cooperating if you don't trust us…" Talia said as Duo punched in some communications codes to the consol in the room.
Cagalli sighed "Heero's always…"
"I don't trust anyone, I'm only cooperating so long as I'm ordered to and it helps in completing my mission…" Heero said bluntly.
Xxx
Neo looked at the three pods in the center of the room where the pilots were sleeping each emitting a light golden glow "The lab really outdid themselves this time… they really are… something." "So, Auel used a block word on Stella…" he asked
"Yes sir, we're correcting her memories now so that she won't remember it..." The technician said as he looked at his commander.
Neo nodded "Just make sure they don't forget how to fight…" he started for the door "Oh and… is that other new system online, if that ships perusing us still we might have to use it…" he looked back.
"Yes sir, the mechanics are looking over the machines now…" The Technician said as he stood "But I still don't think that it will work…"
Neo smirked "Have a little faith, I watched the trials it works." He left the room and made his way towards the bridge.
"Who would have thought they would show up… The Preventers…" Neo smirked as he entered the bridge.
Captain Lee looked back over his chair at him "Somehow or other we've managed to pull this off successfully…"
Neo looked over at the navigations officer "How much longer until we reach point B?"
"About two hours sir!" the yelled over.
"You think that new ZAFT ship is coming after us?" The Lee asked.
Neo looked at him "I don't know… and since I don't know let's assume it is and keep on our present course. It's always a good idea to plan for the worse outcome especially on the battlefield."
Lee nodded "How are those three recovering?"
"They seem none the worse for wear, they're sleeping like little babies tucked in their beds…" Neo smirked "But it appears that Auel used a block word on Stella, that does bother me a little…"
Lee sighed "Pilots that have to be returned to their cradles every time something happens to them… Does the lab truly believe they'll be of any real use to us?" he asked.
Neo nodded "You have to admit they are better than the previous batch… These guys understand what we tell them and they know what they're supposed to do…" he said as he looked towards the forward part of the bridge.
Lee nodded as Neo made his way to his chair.
"It can't be helped… everything seems to be in the trial stages these days… This ship, our pilots… even our world…" Neo said as he took his seat.
Lee nodded "That's true, but Captain what was your opinion of the Mobile Weapons trial?"
Neo looked at him "It's superb, the Mobile Doll's are an excellent weapon… In fact I planned to use them for our little trap we have planned…"
Xxx
"So that's where the ESUN is…" Shinn looked at the map of the Milky Way where two dot's appeared on the screen across from each other.
"Needless to say we didn't take the long route to get here… the development of the warp drive was a major step towards making contact…" Nicol said "It also helped in the fact that my unit was hijacked along with the Archangel to participate in Operation Meteor…"
Lunamaria blinked "Wait so that's what happened to…"
Nicol nodded "The Le Cruset team was assaulting the Archangel when we were for the lack of a better term 'stolen…'"
Rey blinked "Then why didn't you object to helping and just force your…"
Nicol laughed "We had a good reason to help… one we weren't in our machines when we arrived, two the colonies were being oppressed by the United Earth Sphere Alliance, and an elite group known as OZ…"
"So you just went along with it fighting with an Earth Forces vessel?" Shinn asked.
Nicol shrugged "Sort of… We didn't have any reason besides they turned out to be…"
Trowa plugged in a small drive to the computer "Why don't we just show them…" he pulled up a video file.
Meyrin gasped "That's Commander Joule!" they watched as five pilots laid around the small room four wearing ZAFT uniforms one in a blue OMNI uniform.
"Who's the kid in the Earth Forces uniform?" Shinn asked.
"Kira Yamato, at that time he was the pilot of the Strike…" Quatre smiled.
"Nicol this isn't…" Trowa started.
"No this is fine… this is when we first met Kira and when we were told about Operation Meteor…" Nicol sat back and flicked the sound on.
The pilots groaned as they woke up as the door opened "Where are we?" Dearka asked.
The old man in the doorway smirked "A.C. One Nine Five, the L1 colony cluster hangar and manufacturing point one of the Colony Liberation Organization." He leaned on a cane with one arm behind his back.
The Pilots bolted upright as the old man smirked "I see you're all awake now, good…"
Kira spoke "Where is the Archangel, and why am I not in my machine?" he looked at the man as the other pilots looked at him.
"All in good time my boy… but first I think you should all try to get along you'll be working together for a while…" The old man said with a grin on his face.
"What do you mean by that old man?" Yzak glared at the old man who stood there.
Rey blinked "They have him outnumbered why don't they just…"
Trowa smirked "He's always was that eccentric as to let you figure it out for yourselves…"
They watched as Nicol's eyes widened on the screen "Uhhh… guys I don't think we're on earth anymore…"
"Good observation Mr. Amalfi, that's right you're not on Earth anymore…"
The other pilots eyes went wide as he spoke "You have been brought thanks to my one invention to this Earth where you have no reasons to fight each other… so play nice…" he said with a smirk
Dearka shrugged "What does he mean by this earth?" Athrun slapped him upside the head "Hay what was that for Athrun!"
"He means we're not on OUR Earth dumbass…" Yzak said "So why have you kidnapped four ZAFT Pilots an Earth Forces vessel and all its pilots?"
"To assist in Operation Meteor…" the old man said
"Ok so what's Operation Meteor and give us the details because I'm guessing this isn't just some off the wall hijacking…" Kira said.
The old man smiled "That will be later first get the bad blood out from your systems, some of you have a grudge against each other from what I can tell, and the Earth Alliance and OZ will chew you up and spit you out if there is a divide in our forces."
Trowa nodded "He's right they did that even when we were fighting together…"
Shinn blinked "So… what did you guys…"he stopped talking as Yzak got up and walked over to where Kira sat.
Yzak looked Kira in the eye and decked him in the face "That's for giving me this scar Strike!"
"Kira, you alright?" Athrun asked.
Nicol and Dearka looked at Athrun "Who's Kira?"
Kira sat up from the floor "I am… My name's Kira Yamato, I'm the pilot of the Strike, I should probably take his advice too…" he got up and punched Yzak in the gut so hard that he doubled over "That was for the shuttle in the atmosphere you cold heartless bastard!"
"What's he talking about Nicol?" Quatre asked.
"Just watch… it has to deal with when we followed the Archangel to Earth…" Nicol watched as they sat there Kira glairing down at Yzak.
"I did nothing wrong… I shot down a military shuttle in a combat zone…" Yzak choked out.
"That wasn't a military shuttle you bastard it was a shuttle trying to evacuate the remaining survivors of the Heliopolis colony to Earth!" Kira looked down at Yzak as he shrunk looking horrified at what he did "Give me one good reason why that little girl had to die…"
Shinn glared at Yzak "He killed civilians… how can they let him be in command of his own unit now!"
"Yzak didn't know at the time Shinn… after that we introduced ourselves to each other and Kira forgave Yzak, during the Eve war and the Bloody Valentine after we returned we all saw humanity at its worse, he protected as many people he could during both conflicts, he still doesn't think he's paid for the damage he'd caused... none of us do…" Nicol said quietly "It's different when you come face to face with what your actions have caused…" he thought back 'What do you want you coordinator piece of scum?' Flay looking at him through her doorway.
Trowa nodded "Come on Nicol don't be so hard on yourself…" he shook Nicol as he sat there silently.
Rey looked at Nicol his expression was blank like he had been remembering something "What happened… that ca.."
"I came face to face with the daughter of a man that I had killed… she was a resident of the Heliopolis colony, because of my actions she blamed all coordinators for what I had done… her family's blood was on my hands…" Nicol was quiet as he looked up "If you're a pilot, or you fight someone and kill them, be prepared to come face to face with the consequences…"
Quatre shifted on his feet "Nicol…"
Nicol stood and started for the door "I'm going to go check the Nebula Blitz try to clear my head…"
Lunamaria looked at Shinn "It really…"
Shinn looked at Trowa, "You fought at Orb right?" he asked.
Trowa nodded.
"Do you remember a green and white mobile suit that had a beam trident?" Shinn asked "I…"
Trowa smiled "It had a double ended beam trident, arms that could extend with heads that looked like dragons…"
Shinn's eyes widened "You know…"
Quatre nodded "The XXXG-01S-2 Altron, pilot Ensign Wufei Chang he's one of our fellow pilots…"
"I'd like to meet him, I owe him my life… he guarded me as we were evacuated after my family died…" Shinn said "He was one of the reasons I joined up with ZAFT, so I could fight to protect my friends and the people I care about…"
Xxx
"I'd like you to explain yourself councilwoman…" Durandal looked at the screen as Ezalia sat looking back at him.
"The supreme council and former chairwoman as you know were all amongst the preventers forces when the war ended… it was decided by the former chairwoman to keep the information about them secret until the ESUN decided that they would begin negotiations with the PLANT's, and Earth Forces…" Ezalia looked at him calmly "If it put's your mind at rest you'd be happy to know that Heero was one of the three pilots who stopped the peacemaker taskforce from performing a direct strike on the homeland…"
Durandal looked at him for a moment "That may be so but this is a matter that concerns the security of the entire nation councilwoman Joule…"
Ezalia nodded "It was with good reason that we trust the Preventers, members of their forces are even amongst ZAFT's ranks."
Durandal sighed "I would like to get in contact with the ESUN if possible, currently we are conducting business with an unknown factor in this…"
"ZAFT isn't unknown to the ESUN, we may not have a consulate in the PLANT's but the plants have a representative who has been negotiating on behalf of the council…" Ezalia pulled up a file on the screen.
Heero looked at the file "She's right, and besides Orb, ZAFT is the only one with a representative, the earth nations otherwise do not have all that good of a standing…"
"Who's our representative and how do I get in contact with him?" Durandal asked.
Duo blinked "You really have to ask… he's onboard this ship…"
Cagalli blinked "Wait you don't mean…"
"Nicol Amalfi, pilot of the Nebula Blitz, he's negotiated on behalf of the PLANT's during the month's he'd spent in the ESUN." Heero stood "If you want I can go get him now…"
Talia blinked "Nicol Amalfi, the pianist but everyone thinks he died during the war… his family remained quiet from the press after they returned, they acted as if he had..."
A knock on the door made Talia jump and the beep of the comm. built into the door "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting but Heero do you want us to give the Gundam's a once over?" Nicol's voice came through the comm.
Heero walked over to the door and opened it "No the others can do the work, you're being pulled into this meeting…" he steered him into the room and sat him down in his seat "Chairman… this is."
Nicol's eyes widened as he saw Talia and Durandal "Well it's been some time since my first concert… but I remember both of you." He smiled.
Talia smiled "Mr. Amalfi it's been some time but I must say everyone thought you were dead…"
Durandal nodded "It's good to see that someone as capable as yourself has been working on behalf of the PLANT's this whole time…"
Cagalli sighed "At least it's Nicol… maybe now I can push Relena to open that trade route if negotiations open with the PLANT's"
Ezalia smiled "Well then, now that ambassador Amalfi is present how should we go about this?"
"I would like to start by asking what exactly is our stance in the ESUN?" Durandal asked as he looked at Nicol.
"Well, ours is on the same ground as the Orb Union's stance, Heero is the acting Orb representative, our nation has a treaty with the ESUN that will allow the establishment of trade route's and technological exchange for non military uses, the same follows suit with the Orb Union if I'm correct…" Nicol looked at Heero who nodded.
"Alright and I was informed that we had our own branch of the Preventers as did the Orb Union. If I may who is in command of ours?" Durandal looked at Ezalia "I can guess it would be someone who fought alongside the Preventers in the war…"
"The unit is Commander Yzak Joule's squadron, all of its members are handpicked members of ZAFT's Preventer's" Ezalia looked at Durandal and sighed "As you know both Yzak and Dearka were pilots of two of the Gundam's that were taken from the Earth Forces…"
"Good then I know that they are in capable hands of a commander with a spotless record." Durandal smiled.
"Could I be wrong about Durandal… he gave Dearka and Yzak promotions even though they defected… most militaries shoot deserters…" Heero looked at Durandal as he talked to Nicol and Cagalli "What would he do… what would Odin do?" he thought 'The only good way to live your life is to act on your emotions…'
Duo blinked "Hey Heero…" Duo leaned over the couch and wave his hand in front of Heero's face "Earth to Heero…"
Heero grabbed Duo's arm "Maxwell… you have three seconds before I hyperextend your arm."
Duo pulled his arm back as soon as Heero let go "Geese… you were spacing out did you even hear the…"
"Mr. Yuy are you interested in taking a tour of the ship with the representative and her aid?" Chairman Durandal asked.
Heero smiled "Even though I infiltrated this ship and know it's layout from top to bottom, certainly I'd love to." "That's not normal… letting my guard down like that… I'm getting to comfortable around friends…"
Xxx
Vino looked up at the blue and white gundam "Wow… what are the spec's on it Trowa?"
"Classified… though I can tell you its name and about the armament known already and visible… XXXG-01H Heavyarms Custom." Trowa said as he floated up to him.
Shinn floated past and stopped next to Quatre "So… what are those swords made of they weighed almost nothing…"
Quatre smiled "Sorry Shinn, classified, we aren't allowed to disclose anything about our machines unless we have the authority to though I can tell you the name this is the XXXG-01SR Sandrock Custom."
"So why is it a custom are there more?" Shinn asked as he looked at the blue white and silver Gundam.
Quatre shook his head "The original Sandrock was built by another, each of the pilots improved upon the base design after the Bloody Valentine war, though some haven't changed at all because the upgrades weren't complete in time for the mission…"
Shinn looked over at the other machines "So each one is one of a kind…"
Lunamaria floated up "So, Quatre what's with that one?" she pointed towards the Nebula Blitz.
Quatre smiled "That's the Nebula Blitz, Nicol's machine…"
"Blitz… wasn't that the gundam that used the mirage colloid system that took down Artemis?" Lunamaria asked as she looked at the black and red machine.
Quatre shrugged "We haven't found out much about the prior history of the suits or what Nicol, Dearka, Athrun, Yzak, and Kira did before Operation Meteor… though the Blitz complies with the Junius treaty…" he pushed off towards the ground where Hilde had floated in at.
"Quatre, the Noir was handling a little sluggish in the battle we should tune the reaction time a little higher…" Hilde said as she caught him.
The ZAFT pilots floated down next to them and Hilde smiled "So Shinn it seems you've met the others so far…" she smiled at him.
"Yeah… but I've still got some…" Shinn stopped as Durandal's voice echoed through the hangar.
"The ZGMF one thousand you're probably familiar with it as the ZAKU at present it's the main mobile suit of ZAFT…" Durandal said as their group reached the railing.
"And then there's the Impulse, with it's unique launch system perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Minerva…" Durandal said as he looked to Cagalli "You must have seen it in action at the arsenal…"
"Uhh.. Yes…" Athrun said as Quatre looked up at them.
"From what our engineers tell me this is supposed to be a completely new mobile suit system with remarkably high efficiency…" Durandal smiled at the lift's for the Impulse launch system.
Heero looked at it "All that for one suit seems a bit excessive… granted it's a prototype but usually wouldn't you want more than one suit to be able to use it?" he asked.
Hilde smirked "That's Heero alright… analyzing its usefulness and its efficiency and weighing them against each other for a tactical situation…"
Durandal nodded "It does seem a bit much for just one suit but like you said it is a prototype."
Cagalli sighed and Durandal looked at her "I take it you don't much care for it, do you princess?"
"Well you seem happy with it Chairman…" Cagalli said as she looked at him.
"Happy isn't the word I would use… my feelings stem from the though of how hard everyone has had to work to come so far from such chaos and to gain such strength…" Durandal smiled as he looked around the hangar at the maintenance crew's working hard on the machines.
"Such strength… you said strength was necessary because there would always be conflict Mr. Chairman." Cagalli looked at him.
"Yes…" Durandal said.
"Then how can you rationalize what has taken place here… as a result of your new mobile suits your nation has suffered an appalling amount of damage!" Cagalli stated as she looked at him her voice echoing through the hangar.
"Representative…" Athrun started.
Durandal smiled "And therefore you believe we shouldn't seek to acquire strength?"
"Why would you need it in the first place especially at this time! We made a vow to not repeat the tragedies of the past; we were committed to following a path that we could walk on together…" Cagalli glared at him and Heero stepped between the two.
"Representative this isn't…" Heero blinked as Cagalli glared at him "Good grief that's the same look Relena gives me…"
Hilde looked at Shinn as he clenched his fists seething with anger "Shinn you…" she took a step forward as Shinn spoke.
"Making excuses has always been a specialty of the Attha's hasn't it…" Shinn's voice echoed up to the catwalk cold and filled with loathing he looked over his shoulder at them his eyes hard.
Rey pushed off from his ZAKU "Shinn!" he reached them and made an attempt to grab him but Shinn pushed off getting out of his reach.
"Chairman do you mind if I handle this?" Heero asked.
Durandal blinked as Heero lept over the railing and kicked off towards Shinn grabbing him and dragging him back to Rey "You have a reason to back up that statement?" Heero looked into Shinn's eyes as he tried to pull himself free from Heero's grip "Answer me."
"HEERO THAT'S ENOUGH!" Cagalli ordered as she landed near them with Athrun and Durandal.
Trowa put his hand on Heero's shoulder "Heero, he lost his family at Onogoro…"
Cagalli's eyes went wide as she looked at him "Heero put him down this instant!"
Heero let go of Shinn as his feet touched the hangar floor "Ensign Schbeiker has the Noir's reaction time been tuned yet?"
Hilde shook her head "No but…"
"I'll go tune it then, Trowa you come with me…" Heero kicked off towards the Strike Noir standing next to the Deathscythe
Chairman Durandal walked over "Shinn, that's the last thing I would have expected out of you apologize to the representative immedeatly."
Shinn's breathing was heavy "What's his deal I mean… Sorry…" he coughed out.
Cagalli walked over to him "Are you ok, Heero can be a little rough on people…" she placed her hand on his back.
Shinn looked at her "She's his daughter… it's their fault Mom, Dad, Mayu… why is she so... is she worried about me?" "I'm fine…" he straightened up "I'm sorry if what I said offended you representative…"
Durandal nodded "Now then, why don't we continue with the tour…" he smiled as he looked at Cagalli.
Xxx
Heero sat in the cockpit of the Strike Noir as Trowa stood at the cockpit hatch "So, mind explaining…" Trowa asked as he nodded towards Shinn still bent over.
"There is nothing to explain he deserved it…" Heero said as he typed.
"Heero he still is Mayu's brother…" Trowa leaned on the open hatch and blinked as Heero looked up.
"There's nothing to explain, we know what happened, we also know that Lord Uzumi sacrificed himself despite Cagalli's protests…" Heero said as he sighed "How sluggish do you think…"
"Up it by a half second, it's probably only a quarter but she'll catch up quick enough… So you think that got through to him?" Trowa looked down towards the group Cagalli had her hand on his back.
Heero glared at Trowa "I looked up his records he has a strong hatred of Orb, and more specifically the Attha's he blames them for Orb falling when we know that it would have taken three times the defending forces to hold the line."
Trowa shrugged "Yeah, but remember he was a civilian and ZAFT was on the sidelines for that battle… he also thinks his sister is dead…"
"Meilan isn't dead…" Heero said as he pulled a keyboard from behind the seat.
"Meilan is dead… Mayu is not you know that Heero, why did you let…" Trowa stopped as Heero looked at him.
"The reason is simple enough, we have enough reason to say that Shinn was handpicked by Durandal to pilot the Impulse, we also have enough information to suggest that Durandal also handpicked the captain and pilots of this ship… in other words this is his ace in the hole this was going to be his Archangel." Heero spoke with a calm tone "Meilan was the one who chose her codename because she thinks her brother is being manipulated… I do as well and Wufei coached her on how to act the part."
"It's Nataku remember…" Trowa said with a smirk.
Heero smiled "Good you remembered she nearly ripped Duo's head off when he called her Meilan."
"Verbally or literally?" Trowa looked at Duo who was heading towards the Deathscythe Hell.
"A bit of both…" Heero said with a light laugh "She had him by the hair and pinned to the ground in an arm lock…"
Trowa opened his mouth to start to talk when the ships alarms started blaring "Time to go…"
Heero nodded "The Noir isn't done Hilde will have to sit this one out…" he got up and started out of the cockpit as Trowa kicked off towards the Heavyarms.
Xxx
Ian Lee smiled "So they followed us after all…"
"Yes, well just goes to show you ZAFT isn't slacking off either… Let's finish them off here… All hands to battle stations, pilots to the briefing room, Lee ready the Mobile Dolls." Neo ordered as he got up.
Lee smiled "We'll get to field test the new equipment then."
Neo nodded as he left through the door.
Xxx
"I don't expect the enemy to enter the debris belt on purpose but it's a dangerous area for fighting so be careful, helmsmen I'm counting on you." Talia said as she took her chair.
"Yes mam!" the helmsman yelled back.
"Shinn and Lunamaria can go out first, is the crew ready?" Talia looked up towards Meyrin's seat.
Meyrin looked down at her "Yes mam!" she smiled.
"Six thousand five hundred to target!" The radar operator said as the door opened.
Talia looked back "Chairman…" She blinked as he took a seat on the bridge being followed by Cagalli, Hilde and Alex.
"May I ask a favor, I would like our honored guests to join us on the bridge of the Minerva…" Durandal smiled at Talia.
Talia blinked "But that's…"
"I'm sure you're aware that the representative is an experienced veteran of many battles and actually took command of a warship in the previous war, I would like to have her perspective as she observes our combat methods." Durandal looked at Hilde "Miss. Schbeiker also was wondering if she could assist in controlling the mobile suits seeing as her suit is still in need of adjustments…"
Talia nodded "Very well then Mr. Chairman if that's how you feel, Miss. Schbeiker if you want take a seat next to Meyrin."
Meyrin looked over and Hilde took the seat next to her "I'll be adding and controlling the preventers so you only have to worry about this ships machines then… also I'll add the IFF codes of our machines to mark them as friendly." Hilde plugged in a small drive and loaded the data up and Meyrin watched as she started to type.
"The Preventers will follow out Lunamaria and Shinn how many…" Talia looked up at Hilde.
"Trowa you stay back in Defense, Duo, Quatre, Nicol and Heero launch after Lunamaria and Shinn." Hilde said as she spoke into her headset.
"They're deploying all their suits… I'll have Rey stay in the Hangar no sense in him launching unless we need it…" Talia thought "Alright then, distance to target?"
"Six thousand to target mam!" the radar operator yelled over.
Talia nodded "Lower the bridge, prepare for ship to ship and anti mobile suit combat!" she ordered and the bridge shook as it started to lower into it's armored interior and the metal bulkhead sealed itself over them.
"I was wondering why they had such large windows on a warship's bridge it makes a target that screams shoot here… and they can defend their entire bridge crew by sealing it off with a bulkhead." Hilde thought as the bridge locked itself into its lowered position.
Xxx
Auel zipped up his flight suit and looked over at Sting "It's that new ship of theirs…" he smirked.
"Yeah… I wonder if we'll see that combining bastard again…" Sting smiled back at Auel as he closed his locker.
"If so let's capture him or at least bust him up…" Auel smiled as he shut his locker.
Sting nodded "Either way we're gonna have some fun today aren't we… Stella…" He looked to the other side of the flight prep room as Stella finished zipping up her flight suit.
Stella looked over at them and nodded.
Xxx
The Mobile suits and Mobile dolls flew out of the hangars of the Girty Lue and started to break off into the debris taking cover.
"Fire anchor, cut engines after firing, launch decoy's, get the timing right on this!" Neo ordered as the crew readied the rocket anchor's targeting.
The Anchor launched and speared into a large asteroid above the ship and it slowly tilted upward around the asteroid.
Xxx
"Lunamaria, ZAKU warrior standby to launch all systems online!" Meyrin's voice echoed through the headsets of the pilots as the Red ZAKU was loaded into the catapult "Commencing launch sequence!"
Hilde smiled "Duo, Deathscythe Hell Custom standby to launch, making final checks on active cloak and hyper jammers, all systems green Duo you're clear to launch."
Duo smirked on her screen "Death launching!" the Deathscythe flew out of the hangar and rolled visible on the main camera's it's cloak opened and spread like jet black wings as the scythe activated the beam an acid green illuminating the black Gundam "It's time for the God of Death to fight again!" the suit virtually disappeared on the camera's as its cloak shut again.
Lunamaria blinked "God of Death… what earned him…" "Lunamaria Hawke, ZAKU Launching!" she flew out of the hangar and into open space.
Meyrin nodded "Standby to launch Impulse, Blast module selected, opening silhouette hanger three, platform setup complete. Central catapult online, linear launch system engaged."
"Heero you'll be launching directly after the Impulse." Hilde smiled as Heero appeared on her screen.
Xxx
"They've deployed their mobile suits and are using the asteroid as an ambush point." Catherine looked down to Noin.
"Alright then, all hands level one battle stations remain in active cloak move to blue eighteen delta, activate Gottfried's and Valliant's, load missile tubes one through four with Sledgehammers!" Noin ordered.
Sally smiled "Target enemy warship, as soon as we've fired launch the Leo's unit to engage their mobile suits." She looked up at Catherine "Contact Ensign's Asuka, Chang, and Colonel Zechs inform them that it's starting."
Catherine nodded "Colonel it's starting."
Xxx
Zechs sat reading his book in the cockpit of the Tallgeese 3 "Understood…" he flipped a page in his book "Wufei, Meilan did you hear that?" he turned another page.
"Yes Colonel…" Mayu responded "Any idea on how many?" she asked as the blood red Scorpio floating amongst the wreckage of the debris belt.
Wufei kept his eyes closed "Does it matter? They're mass produced models piloted by weak pilots." The Altron floated amongst the broken rocks on the asteroid's surface.
Xxx
The Impulse rolled as it flew out of the hangar and Durandal smiled "Girty Lue… I wonder if that's a code name or even if it's the true name of that ship… a name reflects its owner's nature… but what if its name is only a fake…" he looked back towards Alex who shifted a little in his seat.
"Heero might be right… Durandal is a little too sharp…" Hilde thought "Wing Zero, you're clear for launch!" she said.
"If something goes by a false name, would it mean that thing is fake… false by nature, is that what it would mean… Alex… Or is it Athrun Zala." Durandal smiled as Athrun looked at him
Meyrin looked over at him.
Xxx
Heero nodded "Heero Yuy, Wing Zero, Launching!" the Wing Zero flew out of the catapult of the Minerva the suit rolled over the bow and transformed "Duo, Nicol, Quatre spread out Nicol go with Quatre, Duo follow me." He ordered as they flew into the Debris belt, "The Dominion should be close if I know Zechs they've deployed already."
Lunamaria watched as they readied to break off "I didn't score very well in debris field simulations…"
Heero grit his teeth "Alright then… we'll move as a group."
"The enemy's probably already noticed we're in here… stay on your toes." Shinn said as they pushed deeper into the floating wreckage.
Lunamaria glared at him "I know that… You know you're starting to sound like Rey its throwing me off…"
Quatre blinked "Heero… something's not right…" he readied the shotel's "Don't you think they would have changed cour…" he stopped as his eyes widened.
Xxx
"Anything new on the enemy ship?" Arthur asked.
The radar operator shook his head "Nothing sir, course and speed remain the same."
"Alright, launchers one through with despairs, activate CIWS and Tristan's, we'll get them this time!" Arthur said as the Minerva entered the Debris belt.
Cagalli looked at Durandal "Chairman he's not…"
Durandal smiled "There's nothing to be concerned about representative Attha, I'm not accusing him of anything, I understand what happened and all I want to be certain of is that I'm talking to the real you… Athrun." He looked at Athrun as Athrun looked away.
Hilde looked over "No sense hiding it now then Athrun… and Heero was right you did act way too stiff it blew your cover…" she smiled as she turned back to the consol and blinked "What the a text only message what the hell Heero…"
"Impulse fourteen hundred from bogey one!" The radar operator said and Athrun blinked.
"What it hasn't changed course yet!" Arthur asked.
"DAMN IT!" Talia yelled.
"A Decoy!" Athrun said as he glared.
Talia looked up at him as he shifted in his seat "Ensign Hilde… is the Dominion in the area?" Athrun asked.
Cagalli blinked "Athrun… you can't…"
Hilde nodded "The Dominion should be in this region, I'll attempt to make contact with them but with all this debris it will be hard…"
Xxx
Sting glared "Right… Let's do it!" he said as the Chaos flew out of the wreckage.
"Ok…" Auel said as he smiled and the Abyss followed.
Stella nodded and the Gaia launched.
"Let's just see what those mobile dolls the Lab came up with can do…" Sting said with a wicked grin as he launched the weapons pods after the GuAZI R types following behind the Gundam's and smiled as they fired through the first one.
xxx
The group broke apart "SHAWN!" Lunamaria yelled as the GuAZI blew apart killing the pilot she flew back.
"Scatter, take them one on one!" Shinn yelled as he flew through the beams from the weapons pods as they fired "Damn… they were waiting…"
Heero grit his teeth "It's the Girty Lue, they're above!"
Xxx
"I've lost Bogey One!" the Radar operator said.
"What!" Arthur looked up at him.
Meyrin's eyes widened "I've lost the signal from Shawn's machine! Three heat sourses at yellow sixty two beta."
Hilde glared "it's them, Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss."
Talia glared "Find that ship, find it now!"
Xxx
Neo raised his hand and smirked "It's time…"
"Activate the Mobile dolls, and deploy Dagger team!" Lee ordered "Start the engines, fire missile launchers five through eight, target that battleship with the main guns"
The ship shuddered as the Dagger's launched with heavy anti ship weapons.
Xxx
"Heat source at blue eighteen mark nine Charlie! It's Bogey one mam distance five hundred!"
Arthur looked up at them "What!"
"Along with… twenty mobile suits!" the operator yelled.
Athrun looked at him "How many did you say!"
"Twenty, how the hell do they have…" Talia looked at him.
Athrun grit his teeth "I have a bad feeling about this…"
Hilde watched the movements "These movements they're moving in… They're mobile dolls!"
Athrun glared "Target those mobile dolls, get Trowa out there now!"
Durandal blinked "What's a mobile doll?"
Talia looked up at them as Cagalli spoke "Mobile Dolls are mobile suits that are computer controlled, they were developed during the Eve war. They…"
"Their reaction time is higher than most pilots, even the pilots of the Gundam's from the war, when they were first deployed their use caused the capture of myself, Duo, and the pilot of the Strike Kira…" Athrun spoke as he watched the Heavyarms land on the catapult "If the other's hadn't rescued us we were going to be executed the next day by firing squad."
Xxx
Heero rolled through the shots and fired a burst of the chain gun's into a wave of missiles from the Chaos "Duo close on the… what?"
"Heero we need you back here, they have mobile dolls!" Trowa said as he looked at Heero "They're Daggers converted into mobile dolls!"
"Alright, we'll keep an eye out and if we need to I'll head back and help…" Heero said as he drew his beam saber and charged the Chaos "Damn it… we should have looked harder for any remains of the strike… all we found were the head and a leg it looked as if the torso was obliterated…"
Xxx
Trowa opened a line with the bridge "Cover your eyes if you don't want to suffer from temporary blindness…" he flipped a switch and the two inner leg panels opened revealing two launchers "I'm launching high strength blinding flairs that will temporarily cause their computers to malfunction this trick will only work once..."
"Understood all hands near windows and or outside ports shield your eyes!" Talia ordered as the Heavyarms launched the two rockets at the center of their formation.
Trowa closed his eyes "I hate being back in the smell of blood and gunpowder…" the two blasts became as bright as the sun itself turning the entire battlefield into shades of black and white
Xxx
"What was that!" Shinn said as the debris was illuminated.
Duo grit his teeth as he took a swing at the Abyss "It was Trowa launching two D class flairs, they're a hybrid of white phosphorous and gundanium…"
Xxx
The bridge crew opened their eyes and Athrun smirked "Game over for them…" his eyes adjusted to the still slightly illuminated bridge "Trowa didn't just make a few upgrades…"
Talia's mouth dropped open as the Heavyarms stood there both arms holding the twin Gatling guns the chest open with the four mounted inside the shoulders both front and back sides open and fully extended "That thing's a walking arsenal…"
Cagalli laughed "Trowa hasn't changed one bit…"
Trowa glared as he opened fire the wave of micro missiles each locked onto a stationary mobile doll as the Gatling guns ripped through the remainder of the stationary machines "That isn't all of them… make for that asteroid we have some closing on the port side use it as a shield!"
The Minerva flew down along the Asteroid as the Heavyarms opened fire on the closing mobile dolls "Damn it, we have incoming anti ship missiles!"
Talia grit her teeth "Arthur return fire! Launch anti beam depth charges! Meyrin call Shinn and the others back we're sitting ducks like this!"
"Launcher five, launcher ten Despairs fire!" Arthur yelled as the asteroid shattered behind the ship
Xxx
Shinn and Lunamaria flew through the Debris as the Abyss fired on them just narrowly avoiding the shots.
Auel smirked "Gotcha!" he fired all the beams at a pile of wreckage blowing it apart along with the GuAZI behind it.
Lunamaria's eyes widened "Dale!" she yelled.
Shinn grit his teeth as he dodged shots from the weapons pods of the Chaos "Damn it!"
"They've already taken out two of us!" Lunamaria's voice shook with fear of their opponents as she dodged shots from several Daggers just barely keeping ahead of the shots.
"Don't lose concentration you fool!" a voice yelled as a blur flew past and rammed the Chaos knocking it back.
Shinn rolled and looked to see the green and white mobile suit launch its arms into the Dagger's chasing Lunamaria "Only weaklings use mobile dolls!" the male voice said with a cold tone as the flamethrowers on the arms activated
"Wufei…" Shinn said as the Altron retracted its arms and drew the beam trident the double ended green beams activated illuminating the machine.
"Don't just float there fight damn it!" Wufei ordered as he drove the trident through a mobile doll that charged him.
Xxx
"Neidhardts FIRE!" Arthur ordered as the anti mobile suit missiles fired after the mobile dolls.
Trowa grit his teeth "Damn it they're using the debris as a shield!"
"We can't do anything with them behind us like this, can't we turn!" Talia asked.
"No mam, their attacks are cutting us off!" the helmsman yelled back as the ship shuddered from a missile impact.
"What about Rey's ZAKU!" Arthur yelled up to Meyrin.
Talia grit her teeth "There's no way to launch right now!"
Xxx
Lunamaria flew past the Gaia as it transformed and started to run along the wrecked mirror block from a colony chasing her "I've got the Gaia on me!" she yelled as she turned and took aim with the launcher of the gunner ZAKU and fired.
Stella jumped as the beam blew apart the mirror block "Too slow!"
"Who do you think you are anyway!" Lunamaria yelled as she took aim again "You're nothing but thieves!" she fired as the Gaia activated its thrusters and ducked under the shot.
Duo rolled "Damn it, Quatre, Nicol we gotta get rid of these things faster Heero and Wufei can't hold off those three from getting a lucky shot in!" he cut through a mobile doll and took off after another.
"Just how in the hell…" Nicol started as he fired the lancer darts through the cockpits of the three dagger mobile dolls "Did we miss this!"
"Heero was right, they are as hard to track as we were… the only difference is they have an entire battalion." Quatre said as he sliced another mobile doll apart.
The Gaia ran the length of a destroyed space station as Lunamaria flew back away from it right past the three Gundam's.
"Nicol, go after the Gaia, we'll hold off the mobile dolls Luna's machine wont last against it…" Quatre said as he threw a shottle at the mobile doll he was fighting the red hot blade carving its way down through the machine.
Xxx
The Impulse and the Altron flew into the open hangar of some colony debris as the Abyss and the Chaos fired on them.
"Get behind him Auel! This time we'll take his head for sure!" Sting said as he flew towards the hangar entrance.
Auel smirked "Doesn't matter to me, but whatever…"
Shinn grit his teeth as they flew at high speed through the enclosed section "Where'd they go…"
"Don't ask check your sensors, they should be… what the!"
"SHINN!" Luna screamed as her ZAKU crashed through the glass ceiling of the colony block and hit the floor crushing the thrusters and destroying the energy converter for the launcher.
Shinn slid sideways and flipped the twin high energy beam rifles into their firing position and forced the Gaia back only to see more machines closing "Son of a…"
Wufei glared as the Chaos closed from behind "Shinn I'll say this once… don't underestimate them those suits are mobile dolls."
Lunamaria blinked "Mobile dolls… what's…"
"Computer controlled mobile suits, their reaction time is faster and they can fly as fast as their thrusters can output and turn on a dime with no pilot they are deadlier than most ace pilots." Nicol said as he crashed through the ceiling and fired the lancer darts into one of the suits.
Sting grit his teeth as he dodged the attacks of the Altron "Auel where the hell are you!"
"SON OF A…" Auel roared as his suit crashed through the wall "WHERE THE FUCK DID THIS THING COME FROM!"
A large red mobile suit launched what looked like a whip at the Abyss and pulled it off it's feet. "Wufei you alright?" a female voice asked as she launched the Abyss at the Gaia through the glass.
Wufei smirked "about time Meilan…"
"IT'S NATAKU I'VE TOLD YOU I DON'T HOW MANY TIMES!" Mayu roared into the headset as she transformed the large suit into a clawed mobile armor and caught the remaining mobile doll in one of its claws and carved it in half.
Shinn blinked "That sounded like… Mayu…" "Just how many…"
Mayu grit her teeth as the Gaia opened fire on her "You think you can take me!" the whip of the machine raised high over the back like a scorpion tail and launched the tip glowing a bright red aiming for the Gaia.
"Oh crap!" Stella yelled as she pulled up right as the whip pierced right in front of her machine making a hole.
Wufei smirked "You seem to be enjoying the Scorpio Nataku…."
Mayu smiled "Yes dear I am… now quit standing around and let's do this!" The Scorpio started to chase the Gaia back through the debris belt.
Xxx
The Minerva shuddered as the mobile dolls and Girty Lue opened fire on the asteroid.
"Half of our firepower is wasted like this!" Talia glared at the machines.
The gunner looked up "Drifting rocks are getting in the way mam, our shots aren't reaching the enemy!"
Trowa glared "Damn it… at this rate if we stop moving we're finished I won't be able to hold this many machines off…"
Xxx
Lee looked at Neo "It's still in this…"
"Indeed it is… but if that ship stops moving it's finished." Neo got up from his seat and smiled "Fire some missiles into the asteroid that ship is clinging to, I think we should treat them to a little shower of rock fragments, enough to bury their whole ship!"
The gunner smirked "Yes sir!" he started imputing the targeting data aiming directly in front of the Minerva.
Neo looked down at Lee "I'll go and finish them, take over for me!" he ordered as he left for the hangar.
"Yes sir!" Lee said as the Girty Lue opened fire on the asteroid.
Xxx
"incoming missiles six of them!" the radar operator yelled.
"Intercept them!" Talia ordered.
The operator blinked "They're not…"
"They're not shooting at us…" he looked at the monitor displaying the asteroid surface and his eyes widened "MOVE IT! YOU HAVE TO GET AWAY FROM THE ASTEROID RIGHT NOW!" Athrun yelled.
Talia looked up at him as the first missile impacted the asteroid and the ship started to get hit by the rock being dispersed around them.
"Our starboard, Captain!" Arthur yelled.
Meyrin covered her head tears streaming down her face and Hilde looked at her "Get up damn it we're still in this crying wont solve anything, Trowa try to take some of those missiles out!"
"It's no good, my shots aren't getting to them!" Trowa yelled.
"Get us clear, raise bow fifteen!" Talia ordered.
"Second missile wave incoming!" Hilde yelled.
Talia grit her teeth "Cut thrust twenty!"
Xxx
The Exus flew out of the hangar of the Girty Lue and flew towards the Minerva Neo smirked "I know you haven't even had a launching ceremony yet… but I have no choice…"
He targeted the Minerva as two large rocks crashed into the asteroid blocking their flight path and preventing their escape "Mobile dolls follow my targeting data." Neo ordered "I will destroy you!"
Xxx
"Thrusters four through six are damaged, captain at this rate we'll be trapped in here!" Arthur looked at Talia, fear evident on his face.
The helmsman decelerated "Our path is blocked!" he yelled as two large chunks of the asteroid broke off and crashed directly in front of the ship.
"Incoming mobile dolls and a mobile armor!" Meyrin yelled.
Talia picked up the phone "Aves, get Rey out there to help Trowa."
"It's no good the catapult is covered in rocks..." Aves said.
"Then walk him out!" Talia ordered "We need him out there.
Hilde grit her teeth "Damn it… damn it damn it all to hell!" she closed her eyes.
Meyrin looked at her "We're finished… aren't we…"
Hilde opened her eyes and looked at the screen "What the…They're here…"
Xxx
"Damn it the Minerva…" Shinn said as he fired on the Chaos "Where the hell did Heero…"
"Heero's on his way back already he'll help defend them with Trowa." Wufei said as he launched the Altron's arm at the Abyss.
"If we don't get back there it's finished two suits can't hold off these things!" Luna yelled as she dodged shots from a Mobile Doll.
Xxx
"How many starboard thrusters are still functioning!" Athrun asked.
Talia looked up at him and then to Durandal who nodded "Six working, but if we go out into open space we'll be a sitting duck we'll be used as target practice."
"No we won't!" Hilde cheered "I've gotten through!" she looked over at Cagalli and Athrun.
Athrun nodded "Fire all the starboard side guns with the thruster's right against the asteroid."
Arthur looked up at him "What!"
"The resulting explosion will push us away in one motion along with the surrounding rock." Athrun said as he looked at Arthur.
"That's insane imagine the damage to the ship's hull if we did that!" Arthur gaped at Athrun.
Athrun glared "It's more important that we get out of here… we're nothing but a target and it will only get worse the longer we stay."
Durandal nodded "Talia…"
Talia sighed "You do have a point… very well we'll give it a try."
"Good… I was worried I'd have to help Trowa move all this rock." A voice echoed through the bridge as one of the rocks in front of the Minerva was split in half by a beam saber as it collapsed a white and blue mobile suit flew up next to the Heavyarms carrying a large cannon and shield both mounted to the shoulder armor.
Hilde pulled open a line "It's good to see you again Representative Attha." A pilot appeared on the screen wearing a blue and black flight suit he said.
Cagalli smiled, "Likewise Colonel Zechs."
Durandal blinked as Zechs nodded "Chairman, after this is over the officers of our unit would like to meet with you, more specifically the political officer aboard the Dominion."
"So long as we survive this I'd be happy to…" Durandal smiled.
"Alright then, Trowa let's deal with these mobile dolls." Zechs said as he took aim with the large beam cannon the two rails split and energy sparked down the length of the weapon as he locked onto the mobile dolls
xxx
Rey blinked as he looked at the mobile suit Zechs was piloting before launching after the mobile armor.
Zechs smiled "Don't bother kid… that mobile armor's mine." He fired the large yellow beam streaked through the debris and just barely missed the Exus.
Rey rolled around the mobile armor and fired "I wont let you!"
"You're really something else, white baldy!" Neo roared as he fired the shots just grazing the white and grey ZAKU.
Xxx
Luna rolled out from her cover and fired on the Abyss forcing it towards the Scorpio as Shinn turned to face the Gaia and fired a wave of missiles from the pods on the launcher pack after it.
Stella glared "This guy… this guy he's so…" she fumed as she fired at the missiles taking them out as she fell back.
Sting rolled as he dodged the Altron's claws "Damn it it's like last time these guys… we can't shoot them down!"
Xxx
"Now for the finish." Lee said
"We might not get a direct hit sir… there are too many rocks in the area." The gunner turned to look at him.
Lee nodded "As long as they're incapable of pursuit that's all that matters, it's not really what the captain wanted but it's the best we can do considering our mobile suits are starting to run low on power."
Xxx
"Girty Lue closing on the Minerva mam." Catherine said as she looked down at Noin.
Noin smiled "Deactivate the active cloak… target the Girty Lue class battleship with the Gottfried's and Valiant's." she ordered as the Dominion's active cloak deactivated.
Sally nodded "Target, Girty Lue range two hundred and closing on Starboard side aim for their guns and engines." She ordered as the bridge crew started locking onto the targets.
Xxx
"All hands brace for impact." Talia ordered "Starboard thrusters to maximum!"
"Starboard side weapons, FIRE!" Arthur ordered as the heavy guns and missiles fired into the asteroid causing a massive explosion pushing the Minerva out into space turning it towards the Girty Lue.
The ship shook as it flew out into space with the Tallgeese and the Heavyarms flanking it.
"Fire at the Girty Lue." Talia ordered "Turn bow thirty!"
Arthur held onto his post as the ship shook "Aiming Tannhauser at the Girty Lue!"
Xxx
Alarms blared on the bridge of the Girty Lue "Prepare to evade!" Lee ordered as rocks flew past the bridge the Minerva shrouded in dust from the explosion.
"Sir detecting enemy warship off the starboard side, they're tracking!" the radar operator yelled.
"HARD TO PORT NOW!" Lee roared as the ship slowly turned.
Xxx
"FIRE!" Noin ordered as the Dominion opened fire with it's main armaments.
Xxx
Talia glared "FIRE!" she ordered and the Tannhauser mega particle cannon opened fire streaking down the port side of the Girty Lue just biarly missing the main bulk of the ship.
Xxx
Noin smiled as she watched the ship falling back "Head for the Minerva they still have those mobile dolls after their ship."
Xxx
Neo grit his teeth as he fell back "Damn it, we had them on the ropes and now they're back in the game!" he locked onto the Minerva as he flew closer.
Rey flew up and opened fire forcing the Exus to fall back he fired after it chasing it towards the Girty Lue and away from his ship and only stopped when the mobile armor fired the retreat signal.
Lee glared as the Minerva flew past and the Dominion pulled alongside her "Fire the retreat signal for Oakley and the others, we're leaving this area now."
Neo looked over at the monitor showing the white ZAKU "I suppose this is goodbye, for now but I look forward to our next encounter… farewell for now white baldy and your little friends…"
Xxx
The Chaos Gaia and Abyss slowed as the retreat order was fired "Damn it, game over with only two kills!" Auel complained.
"It's out of our hands. Stella, Neo's calling us!" Sting said as he flew past "he says to come back."
Stella nodded "Understood."
Xxx
Shinn glared as he watched the suits retreat "Damn it we didn't…"
"No use complaining now… what's done is done…" Quatre said as he flew up to the Impulse.
Lunamaria opened a line with the Minerva "I'm detecting a unknown ship near the Minerva mam…"
"It's alright…" Heero said as he flew towards them "It's the Dominion, Wufei, Nataku… let's go we have to debrief Noin and Dorothy on the situation."
"Debrief nothing Heero, we could have almost caused an international incident…" Duo gaped.
"Oh and Duo…" Heero opened a line with him "Zechs says to watch your mouth around Hilde it's rubbing off on her…"
"Hay I don't swear that often!" Duo complained.
"Enough Maxwell!" Zechs ordered "We have a meeting with Chairman Durandal and according to a possible report we have a problem that we might have to deal with."
Heero glared "What kind of problem?"
Xxx
"Wha… that can't be right…" an operator said.
"It's true… look…" another said "Even though it's slight you can tell it's moving…"
"That's impossible Junius Seven is supposed to be in a stable orbit…"
Xxxxxxx
Well then… RIP to the two generic pilots of the Minerva who never had a scene or line in the entire series…
Junius seven has started to move… will the preventers do anything about it?
"Do you need to ask that question really Ald…" Zechs asked as he walked over.
Well it's part of the … oh hay Quatre…
"You… YOU DAMNED!" Quatre leveled a sword at Ald's face "HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME DO THAT!"
Now Quatre… come on it wasn't that bad…
"YOU MADE ME!" Quatre's face was bright red as he readied to strike
*Swipe*
SAVE ME! *Ran over to the couch*
Trowa you've gotta do something Quatre's gone mad.
"Your fault you wrote him to do that I'm not saving you…" Trowa said as Ald ducked from another slash
"GET BACK HERE ALD!" Quatre roared as he chased Ald down the hall.
See you next time… if Quatre doesn't kill me!