Yo everybody and happy Easter weekend! Another Friday, another chapter for your enjoyment.

Phase Three: Collapsing Land

January 25 C.E. 71

Heliopolis

Chris stared at the warship as it flew into Heliopolis. It was unlike any vessel he had ever seen before, not that his knowledge of spacefaring ships was all that extensive. However given that it had blasted its way through the interior of Heliopolis's superstructure rather than from the outside it likely wasn't a ZAFT warship. Which probably meant that it had been built here, likely along with the mobile suits but that still raised the question was it an enemy or a friend?

As though to answer his question the CGUE turned away from him and headed for the ship, switching from its sword to its rifle. It strafed the vessel but it caused little to no damage to the ship. "Guess that answers my question," Chris said to himself, firing a few more shots at the ZAFT mobile suit.

But none of his shots found their marks as the CGUE turned and started what looked like another run on the ship when it suddenly dove downwards, towards where the Strike was and...

His heart skipped a beat. The CGUE was going to fire on Kira and the others-the others who were out in the open with nothing to protect them from the machine's bullets. 'Liz!'

Chris gripped the controls in a deathgrip as he pushed the Raven as fast as it could go. He had to intercept the CGUE before it attacked or it could easily kill his friends and family. "Get away from them!" he screamed. But it was already too late. The thundering roar of the CGUE's rifle sounded a hundred times louder than it was before as it fired upon the Strike and those who were nearby it. "NO!"

Yet as fast as the CGUE was the now armed Strike was faster, firing the shoulder mounted gun. The grey mobile suit sharply pulled up from its dive to avoid the shots, ending its attack run. But he wasn't about to let him get away, not after that. "Oh no," Chris angrily said as he fired the Raven's cannon at the CGUE. "You're not getting away now."

The CGUE flew upwards, dodging the shots. As it did the warship fired four missiles at the mobile suit. The pilot destroyed two of the missiles but the other two missed their mark completely, bypassing the machine entirely and hitting Heliopolis's central shaft. Chris grimaced as he watched his home suffer yet more damage from the fighting. He couldn't help but wonder how much more Heliopolis could take.

However his thoughts wouldn't be dwelling on it for much longer as a warning massage appeared on his screens. It was the low power warning. The Raven's power had dropped below thirty percent. 'Damn,' Chris mentally cursed at the sight of it.

"Kira," he called over the comm. "I'm running low on power here. We have to end this fight now. I'll try to keep him busy, you hit him with that big gun of your's. Got it?"

"Got it," Kira replied.

Chris aimed and fired the cannon at the ZAFT mobile suit. But yet again the skilled ZAFT pilot avoided the shots and turned its attention back to him, his rifle trained on him. It was about to fire when a massive beam streaked towards it. The pilot barely managed dodged the beam but his mobile suit lost its right arm in the process. Unfortunately the beam continued traveling through the sky and pierced Heliopolis, tearing a hole through the side of it. "No..." Chris weakly uttered as the CGUE fled through the hole. "What did you do Kira?"


Rau scowled as he slipped through the tear in Heliopolis's superstructure. The mission had been proceeding exactly as planned, the infiltration of Heliopolis had been successful and the team had located the prototypes, the colony's meager defenses had been crushed with one small exception, Mu La Flaga but even then a single mobile armor couldn't hope to stop them. Yet at what should have been his team's greatest moment of triumph turned sour. The seventh and supposedly scrapped machine had been built, leaving them with an extra machine on their hands. Then to compound matters they had failed to prevent the Alliance from getting their own people into two of the prototypes. To his surprise he heard reports over the radio indicating that both Miguel and Matthew had been beaten by the Natural pilots of the Strike and the Raven. Worse his own engagement with them had resulted with his CGUE damaged, forcing him to retreat. Beaten by a pair of rookies—talented rookies but rookies never the less. And then in one final insult, the prototype warship that should have been destroyed by their explosives stood intact and seemingly undamaged. Were it not for the fact that they had the battle records of those two machines in action, he'd be the laughingstock of ZAFT for this.

Though even with the warship they weren't going to escape Heliopolis. The Earth Forces no longer had the element of surprise with them; his team would be ready for them in the next time.


The Archangel

From atop the Strike's hand Lieutenant Murrue Ramius let out a sigh of relief as the Archangel drew closer and closer. For awhile there she had begun to worry that she was only Alliance officer left in Heliopolis. Fortunately from the looks of it the Archangel was undamaged by the attack on the colony. With any luck the Captain was aboard and had already gotten in touch with Lunar Headquarters, who were already sending reinforcements. Wishful thinking perhaps but they could sure use it right now.

One of the Archangel's mobile suit hatches opened up before them, allowing the Strike and the Raven as well as the damaged Moebius Zero that had been fighting the CGUE to land. Once inside the hanger the two mobile suits carefully knelt down side by side and lowered their arms, allowing their passengers to get off.

"Lt. Ramius!" Ensign Natarle Badgiruel called out as she and other members of the Archangel's crew approached them. When they reached them, Badgiruel and the junior officers snapped to attention. "I'm relieved to see that you're alright."

Murrue returned the salute, a slight smile on her face. "You as well," she replied. "I'm pleased to see that you and the Archangel survived. You do realize that you saved our lives back there."

"Indeed," Johanna Dante added as she stepped forward. "If you hadn't shown up when you did that CGUE would have likely would have destroyed both the Raven and the Strike."

At that moment the cockpits of the Raven and the Strike opened and their young pilots climbed out. Naturally the officers and crewmen stared in disbelief at the two teenagers climbing out of the cockpits of two of their top secret mobile suits. While younger and younger people were getting involved in the war on both sides these two were clearly not the pilots of the G-Units.

"Come on," Murdoch, the Hanger Crew Chief exclaimed. "What's going on here? Those machines were piloted by a couple of kids."

"Lieutenant Ramius, what's going on here?" Natarle asked, clearly as confused as everyone else was.

Murrue opened her mouth to explain everything when the Moebius pilot interrupted. "Wow. Now this is a surprise," he said as he approached before saluting her. "I'm Lieutenant Mu La Flaga of the 7th Orbital Fleet."

"I'm Lieutenant Murrue Ramius of Sector 2, 5th Special Division," Murrue replied, returning the gesture with Natarle and the rest of the gathered Alliance personnel.

"Ensign Natarle Badgiruel of the same division," the junior officer added.

The lieutenant dropped his hand and nodded his head. "I'd like permission to come aboard. Who's in charge here?"

Ensign Badgiruel opened her mouth to respond but hesitated for a moment before answering, "The captain and all of the ranking officers of this ship have all died in the explosions at the beginning of the attack."

Murrue's heart skipped a beat. The situation had in a second changed from bad to worse. The Captain had been a veteran ship commander, one of the best in the Atlantic Federation. It was because of his service record that he had been given command of the Archangel. "Captain Cassius is dead?" she said aloud in disbelief.

"Therefore I believe Lieutenant Ramius is now in command," Natarle continued. "To compound the problem there are only a two dozen or so of us left on the ship, mostly non-commissioned officers and workers from Morgenroete."

Those words hit Murrue like a ton of bricks. Admittedly she was a bridge officer of the Archangel and well versed in the ship's systems but she had no real experience in captaining a ship, much less an undermanned ship that would be facing down an enemy of unknown size and strength.

Lieutenant La Flaga let out disheartened sigh. "Oh man. What a disaster," he muttered out loud. Then he turned to her. "Well in any case permission to come about a board Lieutenant Ramius?"

"Permission granted," Murrue replied, still trying to process what had happened.

The blonde haired man nodded and glanced over at the group of teenagers standing around the mobile suits. "And who are those two?" he asked, gesturing at the young pilots of the G-Weapons.

"The one who piloted the Strike is Kira Yamato and the Raven's pilot is my nephew, Christopher Dante," Johanna answered, stepping towards the three of them. "They both stumbled into the factory district when we were under attack. Thanks to their help we were able to defeat a pair of GINNs, drive off that CGUE and protect the last two machines."

"What? These two kids were able to defeat two GINNs?" Natarle exclaimed.

Had Murrue not been there she wouldn't have believed it either. Two teenagers with no formal training, no combat experience had managed to best two GINNs. Was it because they were Coordinators? Was the difference between the abilities of Naturals and Coordinators that great? Or was it the G-Units themselves?

La Flaga glanced at the Morgenroete crew chief. "And you are?"

"Johanna Dante of Morgenroete," she replied. "I'm probably only survive member of the crews that built these machines."

The lieutenant scratched his chin absentmindedly. "What happened to the pilots of the G-Units?"

"They were with the captain at the time of the attack and died as well," Natarle answered.

"You two are Coordinators aren't you?" La Flaga bluntly asked the pair.

The crew of the Archangel collectively gasped as Murrue gritted her teeth. She knew this probably wasn't going to go over well. Most Coordinators were in ZAFT and they had just been attacked by ZAFT. Everyone was on edge and at least a little scared. This was the last thing they needed right now. "Yes," both teens answered.

No sooner had those words left their mouths than a group of the Archangel's security officers leveled their weapons on the teenagers. "Lower your weapons now damn it!" Johanna shouted moving between the children and the soldiers. "They are Coordinators but they are not a part of ZAFT you trigger happy idiots! If they were a part of ZAFT they would have just taken the mobile suits and left!"

"Lower your rifles men," Murrue ordered. She—they owed these two teens a great deal. Were it not for them they likely would not have had any of G-Units. Besides they were still children.

Hesitantly the soldiers complied with her orders but many were still eyeing the teens suspiciously. "Lieutenant I would like an explanation," Natarle said respectfully but sternly.

"It's not that surprising considering that Heliopolis belongs to a neutral nation. So it would be natural to find Coordinators who wished to avoid the war altogether living here. Am I wrong?"

"No, you're right," Kira answered. "Especially since I'm a first-generation Coordinator."

"Which means your parents are Naturals," La Flaga commented. He turned to Chris. "What about you?"

"Lieutenant Ramius is right about me and my sister," Chris answered. "We're both second-generation Coordinators and we were born in the PLANTS. But our parents sent us out to Heliopolis to live with our aunt and uncle shortly before the war broke out."

"Then your parents are still living in the PLANTS?" Murrue asked.

Chris didn't answer right away, biting his lower lip for a moment. "No. They died early in the war."

"I'm sorry for causing such a fuss," the blonde pilot replied. "I was just curious, nothing more."

"So what do we do now sir?" Natarle asked.

Lieutenant La Flaga shrugged his shoulders. "Now? Well I've just been shot down and the Le Creuset Team is waiting outside for us. He's a persistent fellow that one, he'll be waiting for us. Especially after that defeat you two gave him."

"Wait a minute. Isn't Le Creuset a ZAFT ace? Are you saying that we beat a ZAFT ace?" Chris said aloud in disbelief.

The mobile armor piloted nodded in response.

"How did we manage that?"

"I'd have to say it was a little bit of skill and a lot of luck," La Flaga replied. "Unfortunately we can't count on that luck a second time around."


The Gamow

"D-Equipment? Does Commander Le Creuset plan on storming a fortress or something?" Yzak commented as the four ZAFT red coats watched from the observation deck as the GINNs were being loaded with heavy weapons.

"What's gonna happen to Heliopolis?" a concerned Nicol quietly asked.

"This could get so bad so fast," Saul commented. "A single misfire could cause massive damage to Heliopolis."

"It serves them right," Yzak shot back. "Calling themselves a neutral state. What a joke."

"Neutral or not this isn't military colony we're talking about here," Saul pointed out. "There are tons of people living there. Miguel and the others screw up and there could tons of people with home."

Yzak, Nicol and Dearka didn't say anything. Saul sighed as he leaned back. "This whole situation really sucks right now."

No one disagreed with him.


The Bridge of the Archangel

"We've loaded up the last of the surviving supplies from Morgenroete. Chief Murdoch is currently overseeing the resupplying of the Strike and the Raven as well as the repairs for your Moebius Zero," Johanna Dante reported. "The Strike and the Raven should both be combat ready in about ten to fifteen minutes though I can probably get the crews to speed things up. Moebius however won't be combat ready for quite some time."

"Thank you," Murrue said as she uneasily sat down in the captain's chair—her chair now.

She didn't like pressing civilians into serve like that but they were operating with a skeleton crew as it was. If the Archangel was to survive the inevitable fight out of Heliopolis they would need as many people in the crew as possible. At least with the Morgenroete crews they had a nearly full crew complement for their engineering and hanger sections.

"So what's our next move?" Johanna asked.

"Once the Strike and the Raven are resupplied we'll leave before anymore damage befalls Heliopolis." Murrue answered.

"So you're going rely on Chris and Kira then?"

"What?" Natarle interrupted. "You can't be serious about letting those kids pilot the mobile suits again. Shouldn't Lieutenant La Flaga pilot one those machines at least?"

"Have you taken a look at the operating systems for those machines?" La Flaga—Mu replied. "An ordinary human couldn't pilot those machines."

"And before you ask about having them change the OS of the G-Units back to their original format you should now that the original OS didn't work that well. And don't ask me to try to rewrite the OS for Naturals. That's not my field of expertise. I worked on the bodies of the machines not the programming," Johanna explained. "So like it or not we're gonna have to rely on them for protection, at least for the time being."

Murrue nodded her head. "I agree. Without Lieutenant La Flaga's mobile armor the Raven and the Strike are our only means of defense from ZAFT's mobile suits. They are the only ones that can pilot those machines are those two boys."

"But Lieutenant Ramius we can't just allow two civilians, much less two children to operate top secret military hardware," her XO argued.

"It's a long way to the moon and I highly doubt that we'll be able to get there without a fight," Mu pointed out. "Without those machines we're pretty much defenseless against mobile suits."

Natarle hesitated for a moment, wanting to follow regulations yet acknowledging that circumstances were beyond what anyone had intended. Ultimately she chose not to say anything.

"Well now that that's out of the way I'm going back to the hanger to see if I can get the crews to hurry up," Johanna said as she started to walk out of the bridge.

Murrue rose up from her chair. "I'll go talk to Kira and Chris about this," she said. "Lieutenant La Flaga the bridge is yours."


Archangel Crew Quarters

"No. I won't do it," Kira said immediately upon hearing what Lieutenant Ramius wanted from them.

Chris on the other hand wasn't sure what to do. He really didn't want to get involved in the war that had taken so much from him yet at the same time his sister, his aunt and his friends were all on board of this ship and he had the power to protect them.

"Please don't get us any more involved than you already have," Kira continued. "We know there is a war going on out there but we don't want any part of it. That's why we chose to live here in a neutral nation."

"I'll do it," Chris said, taking a step forward, earning looks of surprise from Kira and everyone else. "Now I don't want you to think that I'm calling you a coward Kira because I'm not. But as long as my friends and family are on this ship and I have the power to protect them, I will." He turned to Ramius and added, "But make no mistake, I will not fight offensively against ZAFT. I'll only fight to protect this ship and the people I care about on board."

"I understand. Thank you," Lieutenant Ramius said, a slight smile on her face. "I suppose one is better than none."

The moment she uttered those words a voice came on over the intercom. "Lieutenant Ramius, report to the bridge at once."

Ramius stepped over to a nearby comm panel and pushed down the call button. "What is it?" she asked.

"There are mobile suits approaching. Get back up here and assume command. You're the captain. I may have seniority here but I don't know the first thing about this ship."

Lieutenant Ramius closed her eyes for a second before replying. "Very well. Prepare the Archangel for takeoff. Order all hands to level one battle stations. Is your mobile armor ready?"

"No."

Then Lieutenant La Flaga, please take charge of the CIC." Ramius turned around and added, "Chris, get to the hanger and into one of the mobile suits. You'll have to go out alone."

"Actually, Liz said as she stepped forward. "I could pilot the second machine."

Chris response to his sister was simple, "NO."

"But I'm a Coordinator. I can pilot the other mobile suit," his sister argued.

"I said no. I'll go out by myself," Chris said, shaking his head.

"That's suicide and you know it!" Liz exclaimed.

"I don't care! I'd prefer risking my own life rather than let you go out there with me!"

"Enough," Lieutenant Ramius said, ending their argument then and there. "If Kira does not want to pilot one of the mobile suits and you wish to pilot it than I'll allow you to pilot it."

"You can't be serious!" Chris shouted.

"We don't have any other choice," Ramius pointed out. "We're under attack by ZAFT. Any help we can get I'll take."

"You people aren't being fair!" Kira cried out in frustration, his fists clenched and shaking at his sides. "Fine I'll do it."

"Alright then. Let's go Kira," Chris said, turning towards the corridor. Kira nodded and the two of them took off for the hanger. "Thanks Kira for changing your mind. If you hadn't my sister really would have piloted the Strike and risked her life out there." He then added, more to himself than to Kira, "This war has taken too much from me already."


Kira watched as the Raven was positioned in the port mobile suit catapult while he and the Strike stood ready in the starboard catapult as mechanical arms attached new weapons onto the mobile suit. Johanna's voice came over the radio. "Alright Kira we're equipping the Strike with the Sword Striker so we won't have a repeat of last time. Hold on for a second." She paused for a moment, listening to someone else. "There's four mobile suits incoming. What? The Aegis? Okay, it the Aegis and three GINNs armed with...WHAT? Are they nuts?"

"What is it?" Chris asked.

"The GINNs are armed with heavy weapons used for taking out heavily fortified bases. A single misfire could be disastrous for Heliopolis."

Kira gasped in shock and horror. This was insane. How could ZAFT use those kinds of weapons inside of a civilian colony? Weren't they the least bit worried about the damage they could cause? Didn't they care about the homes that could be destroyed in the crossfire? The lives that could be lost?

"Be careful and good luck," Johanna said as the catapult doors opened.

The Raven's catapult hatch opened up first. "Chris Dante. Raven taking off!" Chris shouted just before the catapult activated, launching the Raven from the ship.

Kira turned back to the Strike's console as it fully powered up. The main screen turned own, a message appearing on it.

MOBILE SUIT OPERATION SYSTEM
/Version NV8 - N099/
General
Unilateral
Neuro - Link

Dispersive
Autonomic
Maneuver
G.U.N.D.A.M Synthesis System

O.M.N.I. Enforcer

"Gundam?" Kira read aloud as the Strike finished powering up.

Gripping the controls tightly, Kira stood as read as he'd ever be. "Kira Yamato. Strike Gundam launching."

The catapult activated, the force pushing him back into his seat as the Strike was launched into the air, joining the Raven which had transformed into a bird-like mobile armor. "Hop on Kira. We need to get rid of these guys before Heliopolis takes anymore damage," Chris called out.

"Right," Kira replied, landing the Strike landed on the back of the Raven. Together the two machines sped towards the four enemy mobile suits. Two of the GINNs were equipped with heavy missile launchers while a third was carrying a beam cannon. And alongside them was one of the stolen mobile suits, the one that had been in factory with the Strike and the Raven, the Aegis—the machine Athrun stole. Kira grimaced, hoping his old friend wasn't piloting that machine. He wanted to protect Heliopolis and his friends but he couldn't fight Athrun to do it.

The third GINN fired its beam cannon at them as they neared the group but Chris was faster, banking to the right, evading the beam. More beams streaked out for them as the GINN continued to fire while the missile-carrying GINNs broke off from the group and headed for the Archangel. "Kira will you be able to fight these two by yourself while I deal with those two GINNs?" Chris asked.

"Yeah I think so."

"Then hop off and good luck."

Kira leapt off the Raven, heading for the beam cannon GINN and the Aegis while the Raven turned around and chased after the GINNs. "You too," Kira said, dodging beams as he neared them.


The GINNs were fast but the Raven in its Mobile Armor Mode was faster. One of the GINNs, seeing the Raven catching up to them turned around and fired a trio of missiles from its ankle mounted missile pods. Chris opened fire with the Raven's shoulder mounted guns at the missiles, destroying two of them and evaded the third.

'Not bad. But it's gonna take more than that to get rid of me,' Chris thought with a bit of a smirk.

The other GINN fired two of its large missiles and some of its ankle mounted missiles at the Archangel. But the warship managed to performed evasive maneuvers as its point defenses opened fire, destroying the large missiles and dodging most of the smaller ones. However the missiles that missed the vessel hit Heliopolis, further damaging the already damaged colony. "Stop it!" Chris shouted as he transformed the Raven back into its Mobile Suit Mode and fired its cannon at the GINN.

The GINN dodged the twin shots and fired off the last two heavy missiles and its remaining smaller missiles at him before discarding the launchers and pulling out its holstered rifle and firing. Chris fired both the arm cannon and the Igelstellungs, desperately trying to destroy as many of missiles as he could before they hit him or Heliopolis. He managed to destroy one of large missiles and a couple of smaller ones. He aimed at the second large missile and was about to fire when the GINN fired upon him, throwing his aim off and missing the missile. The missile impacted the central shaft of Heliopolis, damaging it. "Are you trying to destroy Heliopolis?" he furiously yelled as he turned and fired at the GINN.

The GINN dodged the first two pairs of high-velocity rounds but the second shot of the third pair tore through its left leg but unlike the last one this one kept fighting rather than fleeing. Seeing no other option Chris aimed and fired one last shot. The twin rounds tore through the GINN's chest and a second later it exploded.

Chris barely registered fact that he had just killed someone. This wasn't the time to think about that. Heliopolis and the Archangel were still in danger.


Kira wasn't fairing all that well against the ZAFT pilot. The GINN was firing his cannon like a maniac, not caring whether he hitting the Strike or Heliopolis. Didn't he realize that he was destroying peoples' homes every time he missed? Kira had to stop him.

The GINN's pilot, Miguel was growing angry. He just couldn't seem to destroy the Strike and its Natural pilot. Adding to this was the embarrassment of his previous battle and defeat at the hands of the Strike. Miguel wanted payback.

"Get behind it Athrun!" he shouted over the radio.

Suddenly the Aegis which had stayed out of the fight up to this point lunged at the Strike from behind. Kira barely managed to evade the Aegis but the second he did, Miguel fired at him again. Kira dodged the beam and struck back by throwing the Sword Striker's beam boomerang at him. The GINN dove over the boomerang and prepared to fire again. But Miguel didn't expect the boomerang to return, severing his machine's right leg from behind. Before he could retaliate Kira struck, driving his large sword through the chest of the GINN, cleaving it in two.

"AAAAAAAARGH!" Miguel screamed before his mobile suit exploded.

Kira turned to the Aegis, ready for anything. Kira wasn't sure who the pilot of the Aegis was. He had seen Athrun steal that machine but was he piloting the Aegis now?

"Kira. Kira Yamato!" a voice came over the radio.

Kira gasped. He knew that voice. It was Athrun's voice. His oldest friend had been part of this latest attack on his home and was facing him in combat. He had been holding out the slim hope that Athrun wasn't involved in the ZAFT attack on Heliopolis entirely.

"So it is you, isn't it, Kira?"


Chris chased after the remaining GINN who was harassing the Archangel at the moment. However before he could engage it the GINN was hit by one of the Archangel's Gottfrieds, destroying the machine's waist and thighs. Just before it exploded the GINN fired off all of its missiles. The missiles flew wildly into the central shaft of Heliopolis. Fireballs engulfed the shaft broke in two, causing Heliopolis to start collapsing all around them.

"No..." Chris said as he watched his home for almost a year begin to crumble into dust.

Suddenly, the effects of the massive vacuum that was beginning created, violently pulled on the Raven. He struggled to control the mobile suit but it was pointless. There was nothing he could do but sit back and pray that he would survive.


"Athrun… Athrun Zala?" Kira exclaimed. "Why...Why are you here?"

"You should talk!" Athrun shot back. "What are you going in that thing?"

Before Kira could answer parts of Heliopolis began to fall all around them. He looked around in horror as Heliopolis tore itself apart. A few seconds later both Kira and Athrun found themselves being violently pulled outside the colony. Kira screamed as he pulled into space. He heard Athrun shout out his name before the Aegis was pulled out in the different direction.


The Gamow

Saul, Nicol, Dearka and Yzak watched stunned silence as Heliopolis broke apart. "Heliopolis..." Nicol weakly uttered.

"Jeez... How the hell did Miguel and the others screw up so badly?" Dearka said.

"This is bad…very very bad," Saul said solemnly.


Chris stared out at the debris field of what had been his home for a few days short of a year. But now it was gone, nothing more than dust floating in the void.

"X3...Ra...05 Str...res..." a static filled voice called over the radio.

A few seconds later it came back, this time at full strength. "X305 Raven, X105 Strike, please respond."

"This is the Raven," Chris called over the radio. "Is that you Archangel?"

"Affirmative Raven," the voice of Ensign Badgiruel answered. "What's your status?"

"Shaken but I'm okay."

"Can you see the Strike?"

Chris took a quick look around. He spotted the Archangel in the distance but couldn't see the Strike. "No, I can't see him."

"Very well then. Return to the ship."

"On my way."

He started to make his way back to the ship as Ensign Badgiruel continued to call the Strike. A few seconds later Kira responded, "Strike here. I'm fine."

"Do you have the ship's position?" Badgiruel asked.

"Yeah," Kira replied.

"Then return to the ship."

"Right."

Meanwhile Chris had made it about a third of the way to the Archangel when spotted a blinking light. It drew his attention and on a closer inspection he discovered that it was a damaged Heliopolis lifeboat. From the look of things the lifeboat had been launched successfully but must have sustained damage shortly after that. Its engines had been damaged and rendered inoperable. It wouldn't be able to clear the newly formed debris field meaning that their chances of recovered safely in time were greatly diminished unless he did something about it. "Archangel. I've found a damaged lifeboat out here. I'm bringing it in," he called over the radio.

"What? Who gave you authorization to do that?" Badgiruel said.

Chris just rolled his eyes. He wasn't about to leave these people out where they could die. "I'm bringing this lifeboat in," he replied.

"You can't just bring in a civilian lifeboat without proper authorization."

Chris shook his head and pushed some of the buttons next to the radio, filling the channel with static. "What was that Archangel? You're breaking up. I didn't get that last transmission. You can tell me when I come aboard with the lifeboat."

With that he turned off the radio, picked up the lifeboat and headed towards the Archangel.


And done. Once again, not much has changed and to clarify the major changes from the original version won't begin to occur until they reach Earth.