Chapter 03: Silent Run
"Mina Sahaku?" Murdoch called out amazed to see and hear what Samuel told him.
"The lady of the Sahaku family?" Flay wondered, hearing of her, as Kira was also shocked to hear who was with them.
"Hey, you go tell the captain, you have a VIP aboard the ship!" Someone said from the pod coming on out. It was just some body guard for her.
"Easy S2." Mina ordered with a serious tone, as she turned to Samuel. "Sam, what are you doing here, and where are we?" She asked him.
He turned to the Jade Frame. "Something came up at the Colony, I had to commodere the Jade Frame, and now we are onboard the Earth Forces ship Archangel." Samuel told her, as Kira came closer seeing Mina for the first time in person.
"And you are?" she wondered noticing the young mans gaze upon her.
"Uh. . uh. . ." Kira tried to get out.
"M'lady Sahaku, you were on Heliopolis?" Flay asked her as Mina nodded.
"Oh, Miss Allster One of the richer familys to have a state at Orb, And yes I was on Heliopolis, what has happened?" Mina asked the three teens.
"I'm sorry M'lady." Samuel told her with a bow, "But Heliopolis is no more." Samuel told her.
"Oh Joy, I guess my brother and I will have to explain this to those Athhas back home." Mina told them rolling her eyes. "Samuel, please take me to the bridge, I would like to speak with the commander of this ship."
"Of course." Samuel told her, as he jumped towards the door, with Mina, and four others that seemed to be body guards for her, each one wearing a hood hiding their faces.
"Samuel, I am glad you found our pod, from what I could hear from the transmissions, and hearing our state. The Air supply was leaking?" She asked him.
"Yeah, I'm just glad I was in the area my friend." Samuel told her as she nodded.
"Well, I know the Earth Forces, and they are racist, and I know you, so as long as we are on this ship, can I ask you to add into my body guard ranks." She told him, as the dark hooded men continued to follow them.
"Of course, But what of the Astray?" he asked her.
"Hmm, I know, you will still fly it, when this ship comes into battle, you will pilot it, protecting ship, and protecting me with it." She persuaded him as Samuel nodded.
"Your brother was right, you sure do have a way of words." Samuel told her, as they came to the door to the bridge. "Here we are." Samuel told her, as the two of them, and two of the other body guards went into the bridge, while another two stayed outside.
In the bridge, the Earth Forces Officers of the Archangel, were thinking of a plan. "What are you doing on the bridge?" Natarle asked, as Samuel came aboard.
"Oh, I'm sorry Ensign, but my own superior ordered me to come here." Samuel told her, as Mwu noticed two men with hoods on, walk in as well.
"Whoa, who are these people?" Murrue asked, as she could see that each of the hooded men were carrying semi automatic pistols.
"These are my body guards." Mina told the bridge as she came into the picture.
"Excuse me and you are?" Natarle asked as, Murrue put two an two together, seeing the family resemblence between Mina, and her twin brother Ghina.
"Mina Sahaku!" Murrue called out with shock. Natarle went wide eyed with surprise because of this.
"And are you the captain Miss?" Mina asked.
"Lieutenant Murrue Ramius, acting as catpain of the Atlantic Federations Earth Forces." Murrue told her.
"I see, well I thank you for letting Samuel here bring my lifepod aboard the ship. Now, what seems to be the situation?" Mina continued.
"Ahh, Miss." Natarle began.
"Please, call me Mina, you people are the rulers of this ship, I just wish to voice my own opinion, but what is the current situation?" She asked again.
"Well, we are concerned about the ZAFT ships outside." Mwu began to tell her. "Like us, neither side can detect the other, which gives us some stealth, however we are low on supplies." Mwu continued to explain. "Our best chance would be to go to Artemis." he told her.
"I see, well to bad that, well never mind, so what is your plan?" She asked them.
"We are to send a Decoy out, we were about to being the operation when the well four of your came in." Natarle answered.
"Alright, Samuel go get ready with the Jade Frame, they may need its help." She told the silver haired youth.
"Yes mam." Samuel told her, and left the bridge for the hangar.
"Excuse me Captain, but could I stay on the bridge and see how the Jade Frame performs?" She questioned.
"Well as Morgenrete decided to help with this, I don't find anything wrong." Murrue replied, as Mina took stood looking out into space.
As this was happening, Samuel went back to the hangar, as down in the Cafeteria, Kira took Flay to the cafeteria, as the two arrived, Flay instantly saw Mir, Sai, Kuzzey, and Tolle all siting in the same spot. She instantly after seeing them, and wrapped her arms around Sai's neck. While on the bridge, Murrue began the operation to take them to Artemis. "Ready to fire the Decoy!" Murrue ordered. "Once it fires, head on course to Artemis." Murrue ordered, as Mina leaned against the wall behind her. "And then engage the main engines." she continued. "Go to level two battlestations." She ordered.
"ETA: for the Silent Run to Artemis." Mwu began. "Two hours flight." he informed the bridge. "Its now all up to lady luck." he commented.
"Launch Decoy!" Natarle ordered, as the ship fired a missile from one of the missile pods.
Giving the Decoy a few moments to do its job, Murrue went into action. "Alright, Engage Engines, Maximum output!" Murrue ordered. "Set course for the military fortress Artemis!" she continued. And with that, the entire ship went with full throttle towards the space Fortress. With this, Samuel climbed into the Jade Frame, still yet to sustain damage, however, that is only thanks to the Phase Shift armor.
"My friend, we are going to be protecting the ship, that will be all that matters." Samuel told his machine as he waited for the battle alert to come on. Even though, level 2 stations have already been ordered.
Although, in the crew quarters, Kira and all his friends were in one of the rooms. "So where are we heading, as it seems we just changed course." Sai wondered. "Are those ZAFT forces still around?" he asked.
"Who knows, and as this is an earth Forces ship, we might be going into combat again." Tolle commented. "So it is a high chance we are being chased, as they wanted that mobile suit."
"What?" Flay asked. "Being on this ship is even more dangerous than being in the lifepod?" She asked.
"Are you sure being on the damaged lifepod be any better?" Miriallia asked the frightened Red Head.
"No but!" Flay calmly said bracing onto Sai.
"Kira Yamato!" Mwu la Flaga's voice echoed throughout the room, as he stood at the doorway.
"Y-Yes?" Kira asked him, wondering what this man was doing here.
"It seems Murdoch is a bit angry, we do not seem to have enough pilots for the Strike and the Astray. And even though Mina has body guards, they do not have the capabilities to fly it either." Mwu told the coordinator teen. "Samuel also has his hands full with the Jade Frame, so you have to handle your machine yourself." he commented.
"My. . . My machine!" Kira called out surprised.
"Thats what I said, besides the only pilots we have are me, Samuel, and you, and it seems only you can pilot the Strike." Mwu continued. "And you have already flown it before." he continued.
"I piloted it Twice, because I thought I had not other choice." Kira told him. "But I am no soldier."
"Yeah, but neither is Samuel, yet he is already in his mobile suit. Because of one thing Kira, he is willing to defend the ship. So Kira, when that next battle begins, will those be your last words?" Mwu asked the teenager. "Right now, you, Samuel, and I are the only ones who can protect this ship."
"But I. . ." Kira began taking in what Mwu was trying to tell him.
"You have the power to do it Kira, its just your choice to wield it." he continued. "So just do what you can." Mwu commented for the young one. "Because we do not have much time. Not even enough to worry."
"Hey Lieutenant, where is this ship heading?" Sai asked the officer.
"An Euraisian Military Fortress." Mwu answered him, "And it would be nice if we can get there smoothly." he continued. That was when he left, and shortly after, Kira left as well.
"Kira!" Tolle called after the teenager.
"Eh? What?" Flay wondered what was going on. "What was that about?" She asked them. "Kira. . . that. . ."
"Flay, you know that mobile suit that brought your lifepod in, well Kira was the one piloting the mobile suit." Sai told her.
"What, Kira was the pilot?" She asked. "But how, how can he pilot a mobile suit?" She asked.
"Because Kira is a coordinator." Kuzzey answered her. Flay looked at him in shock.
"What about this Samuel?" She asked.
"We do not know, however he says he is Natural." Sai told her. "However, Kira is a coordinator, but do not worry flay, he is not part of ZAFT."
"Yeah. . ." Mir began getting Flay's attention. "He's our friend, a very precious one, as well as Samuel, the two of them fought on Heliopolis to protect the Friends they had on this ship." she continued.
Meanwhile in the hangar, Kira watched the Strike. "Kira." Samuel called, as he floated up to the platform Kira was on. However, Samuel was fully battle ready wearing an Earth Forces uniform. "Hey man, are you alright?" The teenager asked.
"Just because I can pilot a mobile suit, doesn't mean I can fight a war." Kira commented as Samuel wondered what he meant.
"Uhh, Kira, to the both of us, we are not going to fight a war, we will fight to protect this ship, because people we care about are aboard." Samuel told him. "Well, that is how I think, and how I will do this battle." Samuel told him as Kira then watched his friend fly off towards the Astray and into its cockpit.
"Attention everyone, enemy battle ships detected, going to level one battlestations." The announcement called out. "All military personnel, report to your positions now." it continued. "Kira Yamato, report to the bridge, Jade Frame to Port Catapult!" The announcement continued.
Kira floated along the gray hallway, as he heard Tolle call his name. He looked up, and saw each of his friends wearing Earth Forces uniforms. "Tolle, Everyone." Kira said surprised.
"Yo, Kira." Tolle replied back.
"Why are you all wearing uniforms?" he asked them.
"We thought we could help out on the ship." Sai answered him. "The ship is undermaned of course." he pointed out.
"They told us, we have to wear uniforms to work on the bridge." Kuzzey informed his friend.
"Well I got to say." Tolle began. "The ZAFT uniforms are much cooler. Because we do not even have any ranks." he continued. "We can't let you protect us all the time." he commented.
"Yeah Kira, we even want to do what we can to help." Mir told him, as Kira smiled at his friends for this.
Down in the hangar, the Jade Frame was ready to go into battle, as it waited for the ok. "Mobius Zero La Flaga's unit, please move to the Starboard Catapult, Strike wait behind it." The announcement called.
"Mwu la Flaga heading out!" Mwu called, as the Mobius launched into space. "Don't get destroyed before I get back." he told the ship.
Samuel prepped, his own machine. "Equip me with the Isei pack." Samuel told them, as the Archangel began to equip the machine, with a large Red Cannon, underneath its left arm, as two missile launcher pods were equipped to its shoulders. In a way, it was a form of the Strikes Launcher pack. However for Samuel, the Binsoku pack equipped to its hardpoint on the back. The thing is for this Astray, it was able to mix the packs. Something the Strike did not have, the abiltiy to do so.
"Samuel, Kira!" Miriallia called to them.
"Miriallia!" The two of them yelled in surprise to see her.
"Thats right, and from now on, I'mthe battle controller for the Mobile suits, and Mobile armor." She infromed the two teens. "Pleased to work with you." she told them, as the Strike began to equip its Aile Striker pack. "Kira, the Equipment will be the Aile Striker, and for you Samuel, the Binsoku Isei." She informed the both of them. A short while later, the battle had begun, "Kira Samuel, its time." She told the two.
"Gotcha." Samuel told her, lowering his visor. "Astray Jade Frame, heading out!" he told her, as the machine blasted off, with beam rifle in its right hand, and the large red cannon locked into place with its left arm.
Before Kira did however, he thought of his friends, joining this ship to help out. And of the opponent he might have here today. "Kira Yamato, Strike Gundam, Launching!" he called out, as his machine blasted off into space, as the two Gundam machines were ready to fight. The two machines, changed from their dull gray state to their colors, the Astray to white and jade, as the Strike went to blue, red, and white.
"Lets see, what we got." Samuel asked himself searching for what he was about to face. "What damn, the Garnow launched the three other X numbers!" he told himself as he turned around, and flew overtop the ship. "Duel, buster, blitz. Any chance that the one I'm worried about upon one of these machines?" Samuel asked himself, as his machine went towards the three machines, with a group of Missiles fired from the Archangel as his wingman.
Kira was wondering the same thing for the Red Mobile suit he approached at this time. "That machine, Athrun?" Kira wondered as he saw the machine ignite of frozen yellow beam from its right wrist, Kira then drew one of the beam sabres that were located in his pack. The two machines pass each other, as though sizeing each other up to anyone not knowing what the two pilots truly were.
"Kira!" Athrun called through the strikes communication systems.
"Athrun!" Kira called surprised, finding out he was correct.
"Kira, put away your sabre!" Athrun pleaded with his friend. "We are not enemies, you and I." Athrun told him, as the red coat wanted to keep his friend from dieing. "Right? Why do we have to fight each other?" he asked.
"Athrun." Kira winced at the comments.
"Why Kira?" Athrun asked him. "You re a Coordinator, just like us!" he called out.
"Believe me Athrun, the last thing I want to do is fight against you." Kira told him. However, on the other side of the Archangel, the missiles began to explode, as the Jade Astray stopped, and opened fire with the cannon it wielded. The cannon was a bit smaller than the Strikes Agni cannon, however it was just as deadly. A large multi color beam fired from it, however its targets dodged the attack.
Inside the Duel, Yzak Joule, a silver haired red coat smirked at the mobile suit that made its appearance. "Is that the mobile suit that was not in the data?" Yzak asked, as he drew a beam sabre and went for it. "Dearka, Nicol! You take the ship, let Athrun and I handle the mobile suits!" Yzak ordered them.
As in the blitz, Nicol nodded. "Roger." He called, destroying another set of missiles, as Dearka did as well with one of his rail cannons.
"What?" Dearka asked, as he moved out of the way of the Astrays cannon, as he returned fire, which the Astray then dodged.
"Stop whining Dearka, besides the legged ship is a bigger prize." Yzak told him, as the Duel launched towards the Jade Frame.
As inside it, Samuel looked upon it, as though he was feeling something. "Is this him?" He asked himself, as the 212 mm multiphase Cannon, known as Raiden returned to its dormant place on the mobile suit, drawing both of its beam sabres, to the Duels one. The two machines came at each other, as the three beams of fire slammed into each other, as this time, the Jade Frame had no shields on its arms to bother it.
"You are mine Natural!" Yzak yelled, as the Jade Frame kept the beam sabres intact with each other. However Samuel had his right hand beam sabre rise to come down on the mobile suit, however the Duel blocked it with a shield. "Give it up! Do you truly believe that you can take me!" he yelled.
"Never changed did you Yzak." Samuel smirked, as the two mobile suits broke off from each other.
"How, how did you know my name?" Yzak asked, as the Jade Frame, flipped its left hand beam sabre so the two beam sabres could look like they could connect into a staff, however they did join. It was as though Samuel was going to use the one in the left hand as a shield.
"Long story, perhaps I will tell you later." Samuel commented to the Duel pilot, as the two machines just looked at each other. However, back at the Archangel, it was about to be attacked by both the Buster and the Blitz. "What, damn Mina!" Samuel yelled at himself, as he blasted towards the mobile assault ship.
"Your not getting away from me!" Yzak yelled as he gave chase after the mobile suit.
Kira noticed the Archangel was in danger as well, however the Aegis got in its path. "Kira, Why are you with the Earth Alliance?" Athrun called out. "Why are you siding with the Naturals?" he asked. Which the Aegis began to give chase while all Kira did was avoid the commander unit of the X numbers.
"I'm not with the Earth Alliance!" Kira called to his old friend. "However, My friends are on that ship!" Kira told him, "And they are the ones I feel obligated to protect!" Kira continued. "Now you tell me, why did you join ZAFT? Why did you join the war?" Kira asked him, which gave Athrun something to think about. "You used to tell me that you hated the whole Idea of war, so why did you attack Heliopolis?" Kira asked him.
"Becuase! That is where the naturals built these things." Athrun replied to him. "They made it into a target, not us!" Athrun told him.
Kira began to sound angry now, "But Heliopolis was Neutral, and so am I!" he told the ZAFT pilot. "And yet you still attack!" he called out.
The Duel had caught up with the Jade Frame, as the two began to do the deadly dance of the blades in mobile suit form. "Just who the hell are you?" Yzak yelled, as the sparks flew because of the beam sabres. When the Duel fed off the Astray for a moment, the two anti ship missile launchers from the shoulders of the Astray opened fire, with them, as the four missiles fired, slammed into the duel, however it was unharmed do its phase shift however it was shaken up.
"I told you Joule, I am a old friend, that is all!" Samuel told him, as he put away his left hands sabre, and then knocked the multiphase cannon Raiden back into its fireing position. "Now leave me, and let me do my job!" he called out, as the Duel barely dodged the cannons attack.
"I'm not going down that easy!" Yzak yelled, as he came in slicing away the cannon, and then cutting away half of the head of the Astray.
"Damn!" Samuel called out, as the beam sabre came at him again right for the cockpit. "No you don't!" He called, as he blocked the attack with his current beam sabre, and drew the other, as the Raiden went back to its position, however it did not explode. The two mobile suits were again facing down each other, however the Jade Frame only had one optical camera to use, as the other was gone thanks to Yzak's last attack. "Don't underestimate me, I'm better than I seem to be." Samuel told him, as the beam sabres flailed all over with each other.
With the Strike, even though both machines were hesitant, the beam sabres had connected. "Kira, join us, we can fight for all coordinators!" Athrun told the pilot.
"You do not understand Athrun, I will protect my friends, even from another friend." Kira told him, as he saw the Astray and Duel fighting each other, however they changed weapons to beam rifles. However, the Astray was dodging the attacks, which Kira was now able to be hit, however blocked the attacks.
As back with them, Samuel fired off a pair of missiles to hit each other, creating a smokescreen like explosion. Which allowed him to break off from the Duel to go after the Blitz and Buster. "Fine, flee you coward, besides, it seems Athrun needs some help." Yzak told himself, as he went after the Strike.
The strike blocked a few rounds from the Duel. "What, the Duel, that's here to?" he called out, as Athrun stopped the battle with the strike.
"You're not fighting Athrun," Yzak shouted, "Why not?"
"Yzak. . ." Athrun wondered as he boosted out of the way, as the Duel slashed itself into the battle. Yzak watched helplessly, he did not want to hurt Kira despite a promise he made to Rau moments before the battle. Yzak seemed to be a bit angry, do to the words exchanged to him, by Samuel.
Samuel on the otherhand, began to protect the ship from the Buster, the one stronger of the two. However, Dearka in ranged combat was a force to be reckoned with. With that, Dearka fired multiple missiles from his missile pods, in which the half a head Astray fired as well with its own missiles, however most of Dearka's went through to the ship, but were stopped, by the ships own Igelstelung CIWs. "This is going to be tough, my main ranged weapon is useless, and he is to far away to use the beam rifle, and let alone that my Missiles can not do a damn thing to him!" Samuel yelled at himself, as he thought of what to do. "I guess protecting the ship from the Busters attacks is the best I can do." He told himself, "However, I don't have much missiles left." he told himself.
"Hmph, this machine seems to be piloted well by a Natural, and with the ship they are to well armed." Dearka mumbled, as the Blitz flew up beside it.
"I'll try from below the ship." The green haired youth known as Nicol Amalfi told him. "Cover me!" he called as the Blitz went for the Archangel again.
"Got yeah." Dearka told him, as he fired multiple missiles again, to shield the Stealth mobile suit.
"What the hell?" Samuel wondered as the Blitz went underneath.
Archangel Bridge:
Chandra detected the Blitz doing just what it was doing. "Mobile suit attacking from below!" he called out.
"Lower Igelstellung begin firing!" Natarle ordered. As Mina watched the crew of the ship battle taking in these maneuvers of what they are doing.
"Use the Gottfriend. Left rolling angle 30." Murrue ordered. "Port 20!" And with that, the ship began to move in such a way, and everyone that were not properly seated, began to feel the movement, with the somewhat artifical gravity of the ship. Mina was one of these people so with that, she was caught by one of her hodded body guards, who had better footing than she did. As outside, the Gottfried on the port side of the ship activated firing at the Buster, which evidently dodged the attack.
As at this time, who has been lying in wait for this entire battle, Mwu La Flaga waited for the right time, for him to strike at the ZAFT Nazca class the Vesalius. "Its payback time Rau Le Creuset, now you will see how its like to have a ship blown to pieces right under your own feet." Mwu smirked.
As with this, Kira was still having a hard time with the Duel. "Damn, damn damn!" Kira shouted, as he fired endless darts of green energy from his beam rifle.
"Using such useless tactics." Yzak muttered, as he came in with a beam sabre now, but being parried by the shield of the Strike. While the two machines continued their deadly dance, Athrun continued to watch. However, for Kira, using his beam rifle the way he was, was draining his battery fast. As for Samuel, his mobile suit accessed the battery in its Binsoku pack. Something he made up for such firepower the A-Packs had, giving each their own batteries to use when the mobile suits ran out. So in truth, he had two batteries left. Kira on the otherhad was not so lucky, as his power was running low.
Archangel.
"Nazca has locked onto us!" Chandra called out.
"Lohengrin, prepare to fire!" Natarle called out, as Mina got a look of concern, as the Astray has gotten the Buster in the line of fire, as well as itself, while the Strike has been that way this whole time.
Ramius quickly canceled that order for now. "Hold on a minute, the Zero is making its move! Evasive Maneuvers!" she called out. 'Are they turly willing to give up their own machines to destroy this ship?' she wondered. As Mina kept quiet letting the soldiers do their job.
"To Dangerous!" Natarle shot back. "Take it or give it!" she called to them. As in space, it came down to a four mobile suit brawl, between a damaged Astray, and three G-Weapons. However, the Mobius Zero pilot Mwu La Flaga made his move, on the driect attack on the Nazca class ship. Even though the Stern of the ship, the Zero did some nice damage against the Nazca cruiser, as it catapulted itself back towards the Archangel.
"Communication received from Lieutenant Flaga," Jackie reported. "Mission completed, returning now." Jackie continued relaying the Hawks message.
Murrue sighed some relief. "Before we lose the chance, fire at the Nazca, inform our machines to get out of the way!" Murrue ordered them.
"Lohengrin, one and two, prepare to fire!" Natarle ordered.
As with that, both machines got the word. "Temporary Withdrawl, now that is what I'm talking about. Kira lets go!" Samuel called, as to the mobile suits, both the Strike and Astray both flew upwards.
"Positron Blaster Cannons chamber Critical!" they heard through the communications from the bridge.
As to the mobile suits out in the area, the ZAFT machines, got the message for a Withdrawl, and the Vesalius was hit hard. "Vesalius is damaged?" Yzak wondered, as he watched the machines fly away. That was when the positron blast from the Archangel flew by the mobile suits, as the Archangels machines were barely out of the way of the cannons.
Back on the Archangel, Chandra continued his report. "The Nazca class is leaving our firing range." he relayed.
"Give the Strike, and Jade Frame the order to retreat, Engines at Full Velocity towards Artemis!" Murrue commanded. And with that the Archangel fired its signal flares for a retreat. With that, both machines used their extra thrusters, to get back to the Archangel.
"As if I'll let them get away!" Yzak yelled as he gave chase once again.
"Yzak, its a withdrawl order!" Athrun yelled at his comrade.
"Shut up!" Yzak yelled at him.
However, Kira unlike Samuel, was unable to break free from the three machines. "Damnit Kira!" Samuel called out, as he turned around. Which he noticed that the Beam Rifle of the Strike was no longer functioning.
"What no power!" Kira yelled, as the Strikes Phase Shift Armor vanished.
"I got you now!" Yzak yelled coming at him with both beam sabres ablaze. However, Athrun did not like the Idea of Kira dieing today, as the Aegis transformed into its mobile armor form, and wrapped four long red legs around the Strike.
"What are you doing Athrun?" Yzak yelled, as Dearka went with Athrun, fireing upon the already damaged Astray.
"I'm captureing this unit!" Athrun replied.
"What?" Dearka called, as he continued his firepower on the Jade Frame. "We were ordered to destroy it, stop doing things on your own accord!" Dearka yelled.
"It'll be better if we capture it, if we can! Now we Retreat!" Athrun ordered the other pilots.
"ATHRUN!" Yzak yelled, who then reluctantly, began to provide cover for the machine as well.
"Damn, I need more firepower to get by." Samuel told himself, as he thought of something. As at the same time Flaga was thinking the same thing. "Damn it I forgot, this thing can use the Strikes weaponry!" With that, both of them sent a message to the Archangel.
"Message from Lewis, and Flaga, Prepare the Launcher pack for launch!" Jackie told them, as the bridge were surprised.
Mwu, was flying towards the Strike and its capturer. "Samuel, go to the ship, and cover the Strike from there when its coming there." Mwu ordered, as Samuel did just that, returning to the ship.
As on the Strike, Kira wondered what the heck Athrun was doing. "Athrun, what are you trying to do?" Kira called out.
"I'm taking you to the Gamow." the Aegis pilot replied.
"Stop Joking Athrun! I am not setting foot on no ZAFT ship." Kira told him, starting up the self destruct panel.
"Stop it Kira, you are a coordinator just like us!" Athrun told him.
"No! I will not join ZAFT!" Kira yelled.
"That is enough Kira!" Athrun told him with Anger. "Just shut up, and come with me or else. . ." He hesitated. "Or else I will have to shoot you down." he told him.
"Athrun." Kira motioned, hearing the pain in Athruns voice when he said those words.
"My mother died in the bloody valentine." Athrun said with a sad voice. "I. . " Athrun began, then he detected the Zero. When the shots from the Mobius hit the Aegis, it shocked it enough to release Kira.
"Kid!" Mwu called, as he continued to open fire on the Aegis, as the Duel and Buster opened fire on the Zero. "Retreat kid, Samuel will cover you from the ship, now go!" Mwu ordered him. Kira did so, as Emerald darts passed him, as Samuel was firing to give Kira some cover.
"He's not getting away from me." Yzak smirked, as both the Duel and Buster gave chase to the Strike.
On the bridge, the preparations finished for the Launcher pack. "Prepare to launch the pack!" Natarle ordered. "Target the Strike." she continued.
"No, give it to Samuel!" Mina ordered, as Murrue turned to her. "Trust me on this, The Jade Frame was based from the Strike, and it has the ability to use Earth Forces Weapons!" she told them.
"Alright, Natarle, target change, give the Launcher pack to the Jade Frame." She told them. "Miss Haww, tell Samuel to prepare to receeve the Launcher pack!" Murrue ordered her.
"Launch it!" Natarle ordered, as the Launcher pack came out of the catapult. Samuel went into the path, as the Weaponry got closer, it grabbed the Agni Cannon, as the Strike and Duel got closer.
"Samuel, he has the pack?" Kira asked himself, as he saw that the Astray was aiming right at him. "right." Kira thought. "Damn the Duel has a lock on me!" Kira called out.
"KIRA MOVE!" Samuel called out, as the Agni cannon fired from the Jade Frame. The Beam just barely missed the Strike, as the beam melted away the rifle, and the right arm of the Duel. As with that, the Astray blasted towards Kira, leaving the Launcher pack for the Strike to dock with, as it went after the Duel. With a clean sweep, the Astray slashed away the other arm of the Duel, as it began to retreat. Kira after docking with the Launcher pack gave chase to the other machines, as well as giving the Zero covering fire to retreat.
"Yzak, Dearka, Nicol, further attacks will be useless, we need to retreat!" Athrun called out.
"Athrun is right, if we don't retreat now, we will be the ones to run out of power!" Nicol called out to the other pilots. And with that, the Buster helped the Duel out of the battle, while Kira and Samuel continued to fire at the retreating mobile suits, until they were out of range. As everyone on the ship sighed relief as the battle was over.
"So, Miss Sahaku, what is the story behind the Astray?" Natarle asked, as both Machines returned to the ship.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot answer, the mobile suits known as the Astrays, I have only seen as data. Everything else will have to be asked to my brother, or Samuel." She told them.
"I see, now, I thank you for your words for that last part of the battle." Murrue commented, as Mina smirked at the remark.
"No thanks is needed, I just only helped out a bit. Besides, my main question will be, where are my quarters?" She asked.
"I see, well we will discuss that, when we get to Artemis." Murrue told her, as she nodded.
"Understandable, with all the Refugees onboard, its probably quite hectic down there." she commented about the refugees the ship was carrying.
As down in the hangar, Samuel left the cockpit, and went right for where the damage had been done to his unit. "Hey Kid!" Murdoch called out, as he arrived on the scene. "Wow, she sure got a number done to her didn't she?" he asked.
"Yeah, you can say that again, the Raiden is useless, and the head was heavily damaged." Samuel commented. As over by the Strike Mwu was heading over to it, as Kira has yet to leave the cockpit. "What about Kira, I wonder how he is doing." Samuel wondered. 'And as I feared, Yzak is with them' Samuel told himself, as he floated towards the Strike.
"Hey whats going on here?" Murdoch asked one of the other mechanics.
"The pilot, he wont come out." the mechanic answered.
"My my." Mwu commented. As he went over to the hatch controls, he opened the cockpit, as Kira still strapped in, breathing heavily, with a death grip on the controls. "Hey kid Relax." Mwu told him seeing the kid this way. "It's over now, you can come out, everyone is safe." he told the kid.
"Yeah Kira, we are all fine now." Samuel commented looking in to see Kira still in shock.
"Well done." Mwu told him, and turned to Samuel. "You as well." Mwu told the two.
Upon a while later, the Ship was very close to Artemis now, as Mwu and the other two pilots were in the pilots ready room. "Ahh, I'm glad I caught up with the both of you." Mwu told the two, as each one looked at him.
"What is it?" Samuel asked.
"Put a lock on your machines, make sure no one can operate them, except for you." The hawk told them, with a grim tone in his voice.
"I see, Atlantic Federation does not trust their own allies very well do they?" Samuel asked him.
"Frankly no, both parts of the Alliance are bitter rivals with creating weapons, and if they get either of these machines, well, the top brass wont like it very much." Mwu told the two of them.
"Well, I must go and give Mina a report, she is my commander in this rather than all of you." Samuel told them, as he left the two behind them. "Besides, the Jade Frame is already locked for me. Safety reasons." Samuel told them as he left.
A while later, Samuel made it to the quarters where Mina was to be staying, as outside the room, two hooded men stood, as they saw Samuel they gave him access to the room. "My my, tight security isn't there?" Samuel asked as Mina looked up from the bed she was siting upon.
"Cannot be to careful now can we." she told him, as two of the hooded men were on the inside as well. "S4, you can give it to him now." She told one of the hooded men. The man nodded and gave Samuel an automatic pistol. "For being a Sahaku body guard Samuel, you are required to carry one of these." She told him, as he looked at the keen barrel of the weapon, and the grip felt like it was customized just for him.
"I see, so, what do we do now?" he asked her, as all of a sudden and on cue, an inspection party from Artemis has arrived at the door. As several sounds from fist flying outside were heard among the people on the inside. That was when the two guards from outside the room were shoved to the inside, with several of Artemis' Soldiers behind them, each one of the soldiers carrying automatic rifles, targeting the rooms occupants, as with instinct, the Hooded men, and Samuel put their bodies between the Guns and Mina. With her standing behind them, wondering what in the world was going on.
A/N: Another Chapter done, and they have just arrived at Artemis, with a very unwelcomed welcome. What does Samuel have with Yzak, and the Jade Astray is actually able to use the Strikes Weaponry when necessary, just what will happen to this War with the Astray Jade Frame. Only the future knows.
Everyone thank you for reviewing thus far, and as one-village did, I don't mind you all giving suggestions. Infact I support that you do so, as I will then contemplate whether I will use them or not.
The next update of this will take a bit longer, as unlike this time, I updated this and Legends Rising at the same time last time, only because I had those chapters already written. So, I will be working on the next chapter for that story, then once thats posted, i will work on this one, rotating between both stories.
However, please, review.