Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Gundam Seed.
Dr. Elizabeth Reynolds belongs to StormWolf77415
Dr. Kari Morino belongs to Enchanter468
Gundam Seed DX
Phase 3: Collapsing Homeland
By EmperorDraco7
The Strike and the damaged Moebius Zero entered the Archangel's hangar, and Murrue was greeted by several of the surviving crew members as soon as she and Kira's friends were gently placed on the ground.
Natarle Badgiruel saluted the Lieutenant. "Lieutenant Ramius! It's relief to hear that you survived."
Murrue saluted back. "I'm glad you survived as well, Ensign. I should thank you for protecting the Archangel."
The Strike's cockpit opened and the crew members' faces expressed surprise and shock when they saw Kira exiting. "Okay, what the hell was a kid doing in the Strike's cockpit?"
Murrue sighed and turned to see Rena Imelia, who had her arms crossed. "I have a lot of explaining to do, Lieutenant Imelia and I don't think you're going to like what you're about to hear."
"I'm listening," said Rena with a cross look.
Just as Murrue was going to say something, another voice interrupted. "Well, what a surprise."
Mu La Flaga, still in his pilot suit, approached the crew before saluting. "I'm Lieutenant Mu La Flaga of the Seventh Orbital Fleet at your service."
"Lieutenant Murrue Ramius of sector 2, Fifth special division. I'm a crew member of the Archangel" said Murrue while saluting back to Mu.
Natarle saluted as well. "Ensign Natarle Badgiruel, same division."
Rena smirked upon seeing the Mu. "So we meet again, Hawk."
Mu turned his attention to Rena and was surprised to see her of all people onboard the Archangel. "If it isn't the Sakura Burst," he grinned.
"You two know each other?" asked Natarle in surprise.
Rena nodded to the ensign before setting her eyes back towards Mu. "Yeah, we met sometime after Endymion. I never would have thought that he would be the only Moebius Zero pilot to survive the Cyclops System."
"On to more important matters, the ship I was assigned to was destroyed in battle so I would like permission to come onboard this one," said Mu as he turned his attention back toward Murrue and Natarle. "Can you tell me where the captain is?"
Natarle frowned. "The captain and all of the senior officers have been killed, so I believe Lieutenant Ramius is next in command. About a dozen of us remain, mostly non-commissioned officers. I, on the other hand, was in the shaft and managed to survive."
"The captain is… dead? It can't be..." Murrue was shocked at what she had heard.
"I see," said Mu before facing Murrue. "Lieutenant Ramius, please grant me permission to board the Archangel."
"Sure, permission granted," said Murrue.
"Thank you," said Mu with a smile before noticing Kira. "Who is that?"
Murrue sighed. "That's Kira Yamato. He's a teenaged civilian who was in the factory district during the attack. I brought him onboard the G-Weapon. He managed to destroy two ZGMF-1017 GINNs and forced a third to retreat."
This shocked the crew members. "That kid destroyed two GINNs?" asked Natarle in disbelief.
Rena was just as shocked as Natarle. "That's impossible; there is no way for a civilian to ever defeat the GINN!"
"It's true, Lieutenant Imelia. I saw it all with my own eyes," said Murrue with a stern look on her face.
"Very well," Imelia said. "One more thing, Lieutenant: I couldn't find my students anywhere on the ship. Do you know where they are?" Rena asked, looking curious.
Natarle looked at Rena. "The bombs exploded near the control booth where the captain was welcoming them at that very moment."
Rena was horrified by this information. "Oh my god… You don't mean that they were…"
Natarle nodded and Rena's face darkened. "Those bastards!"
Mu was intrigued by what Murrue told him earlier and went towards Kira. "What is it?" the teenager asked.
"So tell me kid, are you a Coordinator?"
Everyone wondered what the Hawk was talking about. Kira eventually nodded. "Yes."
A few Earth Alliance soldiers aimed their guns at Kira and Tolle moved in front of his friend. "What the hell is going on here? Kira may be a Coordinator, but he is not an enemy."
Murrue stepped in. "Lower your rifles, men."
The soldiers obeyed and Natarle went towards Murrue. "Lieutenant Ramius, I request an explanation."
"You shouldn't be surprised. Heliopolis belongs to a neutral nation and it makes sense that some Coordinators chose to take refuge here in order to avoid any involvement in this war," said Murrue before her attention towards Kira. "Am I wrong, Kira?"
Kira shook his head. "No, you're right, especially since I'm a first generation Coordinator."
"That means your parents are Naturals," said Mu, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry about that; I didn't mean to cause such a fuss. I was just curious, that's all."
The Hawk began looking at the Strike. "You know, on our way here, I watched Lieutenant Imelia's students run through a bunch of simulations. They really had to struggle just to get the G-Weapons to move."
"So what do we do now?" asked Natarle.
Mu turned his head towards Natarle. "What do we do? My Zero's been damaged and the Le Creuset Team is waiting for us outside of the colony. If you ask me, we can't afford to spend too much time here."
It was then that he noticed Murrue's bandaged shoulder. "What happened?"
Murrue simply shrugged. "It's nothing serious."
"I think I better take you to the ship's infirmary to have it checked out" said Mu with a serious expression.
Murrue looked into Mu's eyes for a few seconds and eventually conceded. "Very well" she sighed.
Vesalius, Bridge
"I should thank your for bringing this to me, Miguel. If I didn't have this as proof then I would have become a laughing stock for allowing my CGUE to get damaged in a battle against one of the Earth Alliance's mobile suits" said Rau as he explained the situation to his team.
"I believe that all of you are aware of the incomplete status on the machine's original OS, however I have no clue how the remaining unit maneuvered so well. But I want to make this perfectly clear: we cannot afford to allow it to stay in the hands of the Earth Alliance, so if we cannot capture it, then we will destroy it and that new warship. Don't underestimate it."
All of the pilots saluted their commander. "The GINNs and pilot Shiho Hahnenfuss' CGUE will be equipped with Assault Shrouds. We will also be using the D-Type Equipment. This time we will put an end to this, once and for all," said Ades.
Nicol didn't like hearing that and interrupted. "We can't use that!"
Ades turned to face Nicol with a stern look on his face. "Is there a problem, pilot Amalfi?"
"Captain, we can't use the D-Type Equipment in Heliopolis. We might end up destroying the entire colony," Nicol protested.
Yzak Joule snorted and crossed his arms. "Who cares, Nicol. Orb calls itself a neutral nation, but they helped the Earth Alliance create those machines."
Rau looked at Nicol. "I know how you feel, but you need to understand that we must do whatever it takes to take down the Strike and the new warship."
Nicol looked down at the ground. "Commander…"
Archangel
A woman in her mid -to- late 40s, with brown eyes, long brown hair, and wearing steel frame glasses was the first to see Murrue being brought to the infirmary. The doctor wore an EA uniform under a standard lab coat. "Oh my god, what happened to you?"
"I was shot on the shoulder sometime back," said Murrue.
"I see," said the doctor before taking notice of the Hawk. "I don't believe that I've seen you here before."
Mu grinned at the doctor before saluting. "Lieutenant Mu La Flaga of the Seventh Orbital Fleet; my ship was destroyed in battle."
"My name is Elizabeth Reynolds; I'm the Archangel's chief medical officer."
Just then, another woman entered the infirmary. In her early 30s, she had blue eyes and dark brown hair, which was pulled into a long braid behind her head. She seemed surprised when she saw Elizabeth with Murrue and Mu.
Elizabeth noticed the new comer. "I'm glad you made it, Kari. Lieutenant Ramius has a gunshot wound in her upper arm."
"So you two know each other?" asked Mu in interest.
Elizabeth nodded. "Kari, I'd like you to meet Lieutenant Mu La Flaga."
"An honor to meet you, Lieutenant La Flaga. I'm Dr. Kari Morino, but you can call me Kari."
Mu saluted to Kari. "The honor is all mine." Kari laughed briefly.
"I just said you can call me by my first name, Lieutenant. You don't need to salute, for Heaven's sake," she said, before turning her attention towards Murrue and Elizabeth. "Okay let's take a look at that wound."
Elizabeth nodded. "Okay. Lieutenant Ramius, I need you to lie down on one of the beds so we can get the bullet out of your shoulder before we mend the wound."
"Sure, Dr. Reynolds" said Murrue both Elizabeth and Kari took Murrue to a nearby bed.
Kari turned towards Mu. "We would like for you to wait outside until we call for you, Lieutenant La Flaga."
Mu sighed before nodding. "Very well" he replied before exiting the infirmary.
Archangel Crew Quarters
Kira was sleeping on the upper bunk as his friends discussed the situation. Cagalli was just staring at Kira.
"I wonder how Kira could sleep at a time like this" said Tolle. Milly turned her attention towards her boyfriend.
"Kira's tired. What happened today was difficult for him."
"Good point," Tolle said, nodding.
"You know if Kuzzy were here and found out that Kira was a Coordinator he would have questioned about the war" said Sai. Milly sighed.
"Yeah, he would have also wondered if the Archangel and the Earth Alliance would stand a chance against ZAFT," she said. Tolle and Sai nodded before the former spoke.
"So what do you think is going to happen to us?" Milly shook her head.
"I'm not sure, but I don't think we'll be allowed to leave because we saw a military secret."
"Then there's Cagalli" said Sai as he, Tolle and Milly turned to look at Cagalli. "I wonder what her story is."
"Not sure, but it would be best not to ask her right now," said Milly.
Murrue, Natarle, Mu and Rena were in the bridge, discussing what they should do.
"With the shelters locked down completely, we have no choice but to take the students with us," Murrue stated.
"You're kidding! You do know that once we're out of the colony we'll be involved in some serious fighting" said Mu. Murrue nodded.
"We have to rely on the Strike in order to survive this," she said. Natarle looked surprised by what she heard.
"You mean we are sending it into battle?"
"We don't have any other choice" said Murrue, glancing at Natarle.
"Do you think that kid is going to be okay with that?" asked Mu with his arms crossed. Natarle turned her attention towards the Hawk.
"Maybe you or Lieutenant Imelia should pilot the Strike this time." Rena frowned.
"I don't think Lieutenant La Flaga has any experience with mobile suits, either on the simulator or otherwise," she said. Natarle looked at Rena in disbelief.
"Are you sure?" she asked. Mu shook his head.
"Lieutenant Imelia's right, Ensign. Besides, the kid rewrote the Strike's OS and I doubt that a normal person would be able to grasp it."
"I'm going to speak with Kira and see if I can convince him to pilot the Strike again," said Murrue before exiting the bridge.
Space
Three GINN Assault Types launched from the Gamow, followed by Shiho from the Vesalius in her CGUE. Athrun had launched in the Aegis and joined up with the others as they left their ships.
Vesalius, Bridge
Ades was shocked when he saw the Aegis launch. "Athrun Zala launched in a captured machine? Order him to return to the ship at once!"
"Let him go, Ades. We are already done with the data extraction" said Rau. Ades stared at the Commander in disbelief.
"But sir…" Rau glared at Ades.
"But nothing. This could prove rather interesting, having one of the Earth Alliance machines go up against another."
Heliopolis, Interior
As the Archangel prepared to make its escape from Heliopolis, Murrue was able to convince Kira to pilot the Strike once again. This time, the Strike was being equipped with the Sword Striker so that Kira wouldn't accidentally damage the colony while in combat.
An explosion occurred, opening a massive hole in the colony's far wall, and the GINNs, Shiho's CGUE and the Aegis came through into the interior.
The Sword Strike launched and rushed to engage the enemy. Kira was surprised when he saw that the GINNs now had not just extra armor, but also different weapons. While two missile launcher-equipped GINNs and the CGUE went after the Archangel, a familiar orange unit took a glance at the Strike.
"There you are!" yelled Miguel, firing the M69 "Barrus" heavy ion cannon at the Strike. Kira blocked the green beam and took out the "Schwert Gewehr" anti-ship sword.
Miguel growled as he barely managed to dodge a slash from the Strike. Backing up, he fired the ion cannon again, followed by the Assault Shroud's shoulder mounted Gatling cannons and the M68 "Pardus" missile launchers.
Kira blocked the beam while firing the Igelstellungs to destroy the missiles. He let the Gatling cannon bullets hit him, since they wouldn't have any effect on the Strike's Phase Shift armor. "I can't risk letting anything hit the colony."
The Strike continued to slash at the orange GINN, blocking ion cannon shots and destroying missiles as necessary. For his part, Miguel was able to dodge every slash, and he was getting pissed.
"Enough of this shit," he growled. "Athrun, get behind it!"
Kira saw the Aegis going after him and remembered his encounter with Athrun at the factory district. "It's that mobile suit."
The Strike was briefly too distracted by the Aegis to notice that the orange GINN was now charging at it from behind.
"I've got you now!" Miguel shouted.
Kira noticed the GINN a second before it fired its ion cannon at him; he was barely able to dodge the shot before taking out the Sword Striker's "Midas Messer" beam boomerang and throwing it at the enemy mobile suit.
Miguel dodged the boomerang and took aim with the ion cannon, locking onto the Strike. Just as he was about to fire, however, the boomerang came back and sliced the right leg off his GINN.
Kira charged at the GINN Assault Type and plunged the anti-ship sword through not only the heavy shield, but the GINN's torso as well. The GINN exploded.
"MIGUEL!" Athrun shouted.
As soon as the GINN was taken down, Kira turned to confront the Aegis. He and Athrun stared at each other's machines in surprise and disbelief. Shiho took notice and jetted off to help her comrade.
"Kira Yamato, is that really you piloting the Strike?" asked Athrun, hailing the mobile suit that his friend was piloting.
Kira held a serious expression on his face. "Athrun Zala? Why are you here anyway?"
Athrun aimed his beam rifle at the Strike. "I should ask you the same thing."
Before Kira could answer he saw three large missiles hit the colony's central shaft. With its main structural support gone, Heliopolis began to break apart. Kira screamed as the Strike was sucked into space.
A/N: For those who are wondering, yes there will be Kira/Flay interaction later on.