Chapter 4: Gundams Rising

Location, Heliopolis:

Kira Yamato's wandering gaze shifted from the programming homework Professor Kato gave him a day earlier and began to watch the news broadcast on his screen.

"On the South African refugee camps 1.2 million people are struggling to survive because of the lack of food supplies. Next, the war situation. Concerning the Kaoshiung battle... According to information just delivered, last week at Kaoshiung, the ZAFT army..."

More bad news! Kira thought to himself.

Kira was relatively slight for a sixteen year old. Quiet and a bit shy, Kira kept to himself most of the time. Today he sat alone in a little gazebo, quietly working.

A small emerald and gold robo-bird swooped inside the gazebo and landed on Kira's computer. "Tori!" The little bird chirped happily.

"Kira!" A distant voice called out. Kira turned his head and spotted his good friend Tolle Koenig and his girlfriend Miriallia Haw. Tolle was a good friend but could be a little annoying at times. Still, he was a good friend and it was always fun to be with him and Miriallia. They also looked happy to see Kira. "So here you are!" Miriallia exclaimed. "Professor Kato was looking for you."

"Again?" Kira asked. He hoped that the Professor didn't have any more work to do. He was swamped as it was!

"He said to drag you over once we find you," Tolle added. Tolle and Miriallia both worked on things similar programming work, but Kato seemed to prefer Kira do the brunt of the work.

"What is it now? Does he need your help with something again?" Milly (Miriallia) asked. She was obviously concerned for the amount of work Kira had recently been asked to complete.

"Damn, I haven't even completed the one he passed me yesterday!" Kira confessed, but before he could continue the news cast he left on interrupted the conversation. "Hurry! Hurry, come over here!"

"Something on the news?" Tolle curiously asked as he took the seat next to Kira.

"Yeah, about Kaoshiung," Kira stated. Milly walked around the table to see the news report. There was a reporter wearing a flak jacket standing in front of a crumbling building with two menacing GINNs fire their guns at something outside the camera's point of view "This is Kaoshiung, from the view of unit 7. The sound of battle is still raging on around us..."

"If this is from last week then Kaoshiung has probably already fallen," Tolle stated as the news broadcast continued. The one thing everyone observed in this war, whether through news broadcast, causality reports, or actual field experience, was the ferocity and tenacity of ZAFT. Most assumed that the Earth would easily win because of its numerical superiority, but that was the problem of running a war by numbers alone. Numbers don't account for the human or superhuman factors involved in warfare, and the Earth forces had learned that the hard way after Junius Seven.

Miriallia sudden realized something disturbing and asked worriedly, "Isn't Kaoshiung pretty close to Orb? Will we be alright?"

Tolle got up out of seat and wrapped a consoling arm around Milly's shoulder and said, "You shouldn't worry about that. Even though they're close by, we're a neutral country. There's no chance Orb would get involved in the war."

Milly wasn't really convinced of what Tolle had said, but she nodded anyway. All this talk of neutrality and Tori chirping reminded Kira of a good friend four years back. His name had been Athrun Zala. They had both been studying on the moon when tensions between the Earth and PLANT were less explosive.

Kira remembered when Athrun had left for PLANT. When he had given Kira Tori. "It's okay, if that's the case. There really won't be a war between PLANT and the Earth. I don't think there's a reason to take refuge, but you'll also be coming to PLANT sometime in the future, right Kira?" He had said.

xxx
Location, Heliopolis Dock:

Jane Riber, Miho Kitagawa, and Yui Ichijyo floated toward the Solaris with their new guest. While they were in the elevator Jane explained everything to Yui and Miho. Wang, the incapacitated security guard, had confessed in his little note that he was a spy for ZAFT and that this colony was going to be a war zone soon. Why he had given Yui that note was beyond anyone but Wang himself.

"How are we going to contact the other groups!?" We didn't exactly issue radios to everyone!" Miho asked out loud as she carried the unconscious man in the Star Goose shuttle.

"Well we are lucky that we only have about 3 hours left before the other teams return. Hopefully we won't be attacked before then," Yui optimistically stated as she entered the shuttle.

"We can only hope so. I'm going to start up the shuttle just in case. Strap Wang in on one of the empty seats. If he wakes up use your side arm," Jane ordered as she hurriedly ripped off her tunic and grabbed her flight suit.

xxx
Location, Heliopolis Port Control:

Slowly an Earth Alliance freighter entered Heliopolis' docking facility. The ship itself was carrying the pilots for the G-Project. The Earth Alliance captain in charge of supplying the operation sat nonchalantly and took off his cap, letting it float precariously through the room. "And with that, this ship's final mission has been completed without a hitch. You did a good job of escorting the ship, Lieutenant Flaga," the old captain stated to the ace Moebius Zero pilot, Mu La Flaga.

The captain's optimism felt a bit out of place. Even if this was a highly classified project, that didn't mean that ZAFT didn't know about this little project. "We're lucky that nothing happened en route. Any activity on the ZAFT ships around this area?"

"We are tracking two, but... Even if they enter the port, ZAFT can't do anything to us." The captain's attitude was getting on Mu's nerves. It was the same attitude the Earth forces had had when the war had started. The same attitude that since then led to countless defeats for the Earth Forces.

"A neutral nation, right?" Mu countered. "I've heard it so many times that I'm sick of it."

The captain continued in his usual droll of apathy and replied, "But thanks to that, the plan has been able to proceed this far. The fact that Orb is a part of Earth..."

Five pilots floated next to the captain and saluted patiently. The lead soldier finally gained the old captain's attention and said, "Well, Captain." The five pilots were ready to disembark and enjoy some shore leave for a change.

"Humph." The Captain grunted as he raised his hand to salute the pilots away. And with that the pilots glided off to the door leading to the port.

"Are you sure it's fine that only these people disembark?" Mu asked, unconvinced at their 'peaceful' situation.

"They are the top guns who have been chosen to be the G pilots. No problem. It'll be better for people like you to go back instead of pacing around and attracting more attention," the old captain quipped in return.

xxx
Location, outside the Vesaliuis:

The Vesaliuis and its escort, the Gamow, concealed themselves behind the mining asteroid Heliopolis was attached to.

Athrun Zala and his nine man commando team slowly approached the asteroid. Four members wore the standard green airtight spacesuits that belonged to regular soldiers or mobile suit pilots. The other five wore red spacesuits, indicating that they belonged to the elite mobile suit pilot core of ZAFT.

The team snuck into a large exhaust port. Athrun stared at his watch. The security system in the exhaust tunnel shut off right on time. He gave the signal and the commando team slid through and split up. They quickly began placing their small explosive charges throughout the installation containing the Earth Alliance's new warship. After they had placed the charges and set their timers, the team stealthily made there way toward the colony itself. Everything was going according to plan.

xxx
Location, Bridge of the Vesaliuis:

"Stop looking so serious, Ades," the mysterious Rau Le Creuset said. Captain Ades expression only soured more. Rau Le Creuset wore a white mask that concealed half of his face, giving him a slightly menacing aura.

"Yes, but I'm waiting for a reply from the council... Isn't it a bit late?" The stern Ades asked Le Creuset. Rau knew exactly what Ades meant. Every military operation that every ZAFT Commander even thinks of has to be approved by the PLANT war council. The council must be deliberating hotly, Creuset assumed.

"It is late. My intuition tells me so. The price we have to pay for a mistake here. Anyhow, it seems that we'll have to pay for it with our lives. The Earth Alliance's new mobile weapons...We must move quickly before they are transported away from there," Creuset said, lightly throwing a fuzzy photo of the Earth's new weapons toward Ades. "We'll steal the Earth Alliance Force's new mobile suits before they ever know what happened."

xxx
Location, Heliopolis Elecar Rental Facility:
"That's why I said... It's not like that!"

Kira snapped to attention as he and his friends slowly approached the elecar rental platform. There was a group of girls clustered around Flay Allster. She was a beauty. With fiery red hair, a petite frame and a poise like a ballerina, she could stand out in any crowd. Kira had a crush on Flay and on the few occasions they did speak, Kira's stomach filled up with butterflies.

Kira watched Flay blush under the girls near constant prying. His heart skipped a beat when their eyes met. He shifted his gaze to the right and noticed a group of three older men sitting patiently in the platform. They seemed slightly annoyed at the constant rambling in front of them.

"Oh, Miriallia?" One of the girls called out. "Hey, Miriallia, you should know, right?"

Flay stomped her feet furiously. "Stop it already!"

"What?" Miriallia asked.

"She got a letter from Sai Argyle!" The girl replied with glee. "But she isn't telling us anything!"

"You two, that's enough!" Flay demanded.

A calm voice came from behind Tolle and Kira. "If you aren't getting on, may we go first?"

The students turned around to see a sophisticated woman with severely cut jet black hair. Two tall, equally imposing men stood behind her. The woman looked to be in her mid-twenties. Kira felt a bit intimated by her, while Tolle simply nodded. "Sorry, please do."

The young teenagers steeped aside, letting the three adults catch the available elecar that finally made it to the platform. Kira watched them go, trying to keep his gaze off of Flay.

Finally, Flay and her 'friends' grabbed the next car and left Kira and his friends with the other group of adults.

Tolle clapped Kira on the shoulder playfully. "A letter form Sai... How surprising, for Flay Allster. That sounds like a formidable enemy, Kira Yamato."

"I don't really..." Kira began to say when the tall adult with the strange command cap began to laugh hysterically.

"Don't give up!" The man stated as Kira and his friends hopped into another elecar.
"What was that one song Minmei use to sing all the time? To be in love must be the sweetest dream that a girl can have. To be in love, or something like Dr. Lang?" Ortiz asked the Doctor.

"Something like that sir. I never really listen much to Minmei. I was too busy working some new combat or defense system during that time. Shall we?" Lang gestured to an available elecar.

"Yeah we've spent enough time here." The captain replied as the group got up and entered the next elecar.

xxx
Location, Armor 4, Starboard Sponson, Maintenance Section:

Commander Pham stared at Amuro as he glided out of his cockpit and landed on the deck next to the grounded escape pod. Armor Four's maintenance section was kept at Zero-G to facilitate faster repairs on incoming veritechs during combat operations. The section was relativity empty except for four Veritech fighters, an escape pod and a few medics and five curious pilots. "So, any idea on who this pod belongs to?" Commander Pham asked Lieutenant Jack Archer.

"Well, we assume that the escape pod belongs to a civilian transport called the Silverwind. We picked up an echo of a transmission so we don't know for sure," Jack replied.

"I guess I'll crack it open sir," Ryu added as he grabbed the handle on the escape pod's entry hatch. Commander Pham nodded and the door rushed open. A pink ball floated out of the pod chirping "Haro! Haro!"

Amuro's eyes were riveted on the tiny robot. "Amuro, is that what I think it is?" Hayato asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, it's Haro, but smaller and pink!" Amuro exclaimed. Then a soft voice echoed lightly out of the pod.

"Thank you; thank you so very much for helping me." All eyes were on a young woman who floated out of the pod. She had long, flowing pink hair and she wore an interesting white dress with a lavender trim. She looked like an angel for those few seconds that she was in the air. Amuro finally snapped to attention, grasped the girl's wrist and brought her down to the floor.

"Oh thank you," she said, smiling at the Amuro with eyes that were a deep blue-gray. Amuro blushed a little. But as she looked around she quickly realized that she wasn't on a ZAFT ship. "Where am I anyways?"

Kai rolled his eyes and whispered to Ryu, "This is going to be one weird debriefing."

xxx

Ramillion flight; Commander Pham, Lieutenants Jack Archer and Izzy Randal gathered in the briefing room with Lacus Clyne. The medics had checked her out and were dumbfounded by her physiology. She seemed okay, but with the little experience they have had with coordinators they couldn't be sure.

"Miss Clyne is it?" Pham started. "Do you know where you are?"

She looked at the short commander. She knew she wasn't on a ZAFT ship but she was also not on an Earth Alliance ship either. She assumed that she is on some station since no ship, military or civilian, had gravity except when accelerating. "No I don't have any idea. Perhaps you can tell me."

"Should we tell her?" Izzy whispered into Jacks ear.

"Oh please do," Lacus responded as if Izzy had spoken out loud.

"Sensitive hearing," Pham said to himself. "We're… neutral. The pilot over there..." Pham pointed toward Amuro. Both Lacus and Amuro's eyes met for a brief moment. "...picked you up near the wreck of... Junius Seven. What were you doing exactly?"

"I have been selected to oversee the Junius Seven memorial service coming soon."

"Hmm... makes since, but how did you end up in an escape pod?" Amuro asked, interested in the story.

"An Earth Alliance ship docked with ours and when they found out about what we were doing, they became upset and one thing led to another," Lacus replied.

"So an Earth Alliance ship attacked yours even though it was a civilian transport?" It seemed almost unreal and barbaric for a warship to sink a civilian transport. Pham turned to Jack. "Were there any other survivors?"

"Sadly no sir. We didn't find any others. I'm sorry," Jack said to Lacus.

"Well then, I guess you are our guest until we can find a way to get you back to PLANT, Miss Clyne. Until then can you... autograph this handkerchief of mine. I like your music," Pham asked as he pulled out a pen and his personal handkerchief.

"Hey, if he's getting an autograph I'm getting one to!" Izzy declared as she hurriedly searched her pocket to find something for her to write on.

"I guess Minmei is no longer a fan favorite," Hayato added, snickering.

"Well if she made more songs and stopped replaying the same old ones, then maybe she'd still be a fan favorite," Kai replied with a grin.

xxx
With the debriefing over, Ramillion flight got the pleasure of escorting the "Pink Princess", as Ryu referred to Miss Clyne, to the recreation area. When they entered they found the pint sized pink Haro playing with the basketball sized green Haro.

"Athrun's here!" Lacus cheerfully assumed.

Hayato asked in response, "Who's Athrun?"

"He's my fiancé; didn't he make that Haro?" Lacus replied while pointing to the large Haro.

"No, I made that Haro," Amuro answered back.

"So, are you a good friend of Athrun?" She asked naively.

"No. I don't know an Athrun. Perhaps I can meet him one day," Amuro replied, trying to not roll his eyes.

"Ah... listen Miss Clyne. During your stay here, one of us will always be with you… well, unless you have to use the bath..." Ryu began to say. "I mean, if you need anything just call one of us or the commander. Also, you should stay away from the hangar bay and the engineering section. It can be dangerous in those sections."

"Yeah, I volunteer for the first shift." Kai stated almost too enthusiastically.

"No you don't Kai, I will," Hayato replied hastily.

"Okay okay, first of all, everyone knows that I will be the first to escort her around the ship," Ryu replied confidently.

"Oh yeah how 'bout we draw straws?" Kai asked.

"Guys, I think she has already chosen who will escort her first," Hayato stated as he pointed toward Amuro and Lacus. Both were sitting on a couch with their Haros. They seemed genuinely interested in each other in a friendly sort of way. Even their Haros exhibited the same behavior.

"Ahh... she has a fiancée anyways. Wouldn't want to get involved in that way anyhow," Ryu stated disappointedly.

xxx
Location: Heliopolis Industrial College

Kira and his friends took the elecar inside Morgenroete's industrial complex. They were going to pay a small visit to Professor Kato's lab. The engineering college was nearly adjacent to the factory facility.

As they entered the Lab, Sai greeted them happily. "Hello! Ahh! You finally came, Kira." Sai was about one year older than the rest of the students, and often the most mature. Of course his fashion sense belied his maturity. Kuzzey Buskirk was there as well, sitting at a table near the far end of the room. Next to him was a smaller student whom no one had seen before. The student had a large brown hat on that obscured his face.

Kira looked the newcomer over. Golden blond hair jutted out from under his hat and his limbs were slender, like a child's.

Tolle walked up to Kuzzey and asked. "Who's that?"

"Ahh, the Professor's guest. She was told to wait here." Kuzzey replied. Tolle was a little surprised. He'd pegged the girl for a boy. It must have been the hat.

"So, where's the Professor?" Kira asked Sai.

Sai just shrugged his shoulders and pulled out a small black computer card. "I've been keeping this for you. An appendix, I think. What is it?"

Sai handed the little card to Kira. "It's probably the work on Morgenroete." Kira looked the card over before continuing. "I'm not interested. Improvement on the Frame-Set module. Anyway, program analysis."

Tolle, laughing, wrapped his arm around Kira neck and began to squeeze lightly saying. "Let's hear about the letter first!"

"Letter?" Sai wondered.

"It's nothing!" Kira denied. Flay was a beautiful girl, but if Sai made the first move Kira was going to let it be.

"As if!" Tolle countered as he tightened his grip.

"Stop it already! Stop it! You're choking me!" Kira gagged out.

xxx
Commander Le Creuset glanced at his wrist timer. Two, One, Zero. "It's time. Gamow, Vesalius, launch!"

The two ZAFT warships fired up their engines and began to advance on the colony. The Gamow's launch bay opened up and quickly launched a GINN.

xxx
The lone sensor operator stared in terror as the two ZAFT sensor blips began to make their move on Heliopolis. "This is Heliopolis... Approaching ZAFT ships, please respond." There was no response. "ZAFT ships, please respond!" The officer didn't know what to do. Quickly he bashed the alarm button on his console. He turned around and spotted the captain glide into the room in a hurry. "Captain!"

The sensor captain looked at the screen in front of the panicking operator. "Calm down. Stop the alarm! Contact the approaching ZAFT ships!"

"You are infringing on our territorial airspace! Cease your approach immediately! ZAFT army, cease your approach immediately!" The only response the operator received was static, ear splitting static. "The ZAFT ships are emitting a powerful electromagnetic interference! This is clearly an act of war!"

xxx

Alarms began blaring all over the Earth Alliance transport. Lieutenant Flaga had kept his small Moebius wing on standby since they entered the colony. It looked like his diligence was going to pay off. Mu ran into the bridge, trying to readjust his purple flight suit. "The enemy?"

The old captain looked at Flaga. The alarmist was right. The enemy would attack, or were they trying to frighten the Earth Alliance out of hiding? "Two ships; a Nazca and Laurasia class. Before the electromagnetic interference, we have confirmed the launch of mobile suits."

"Tell Loos and Gale to standby on the Moebius." Flaga began to run out of the bridge when the captain ordered out, "Don't let them out yet!"

Mu turned around, confused. "Captain..." He began to say in objection

"Don't get too excited..." The old captain began. Heliopolis is a neutral colony. ZAFT wouldn't go to war against Orb. It was unthinkable. "They want us to act first. Let Heliopolis deal with it."

Mu cringed at the thought. It was hard enough for five Moebius mobile armors to engage a single mobile suit, but the only mobile weapons Heliopolis has on hand were a few Mistral work pods. They were going to be cut down mercilessly.

xxx

Inside the asteroid docking bay, the Earth Alliance's new assault ship rested. Its name was Archangel. The command crew of the ship was overseeing the final preparations from the observation post. An ensign came up to the captain and told him what was going on outside the colony.

"I know... If it comes to that, the ship will launch," the captain replied. He turned toward Ensign Natarle Badgiruel. "Call Lieutenant Ramius! Commence the important transportation."

"Yes, sir!" The twenty five year old ensign replied. She quickly turned around and floated away from the observation post.

The Captain of the Archangel was confident in his situation. ZAFT was going to be in for a surprise. "If we attack near the mines, we'll get them all in one strike," he thought aloud.

"Yes, sir!" His XO agreed. Then, the charges that the ZAFT commandos had placed went off. All throughout the installation unsuspecting crews were killed off, the observation post exploded in flames and the shockwave hurled Ensign Badgiruel up against a rock face, knocking her out cold.

xxx

Captain Ortiz and his party finally entered the hallway just outside the room to Professor Kato's Lab when the whole room shock violently. "Thundering Asteroids! What was that, Meteorites?" Captain Ortiz asked aloud.

"I don't think so, sir. I think those were explosives," Private White replied.

xxx

Lieutenant Mu La Flaga ran out to his red, Moebius zero. Heliopolis' first line of defense has just been annihilated, and now mobile suits were entering the port. His unit was outnumbered, but they had no other choice. "Please, launch the ship! The port is being attacked!"

Gale, the youngest moebius pilot in Mu's unit, was anxious to get into the fight. "I'm launching too!"

The three Moebuis units launched out into space toward the second wave of GINN mobile suits. Gale's mobile armor was the first to fire and missed horribly. The three mobile suits broke formation and returned fire on the moebius units. Loos' mobile armor took two hits to its fuselage and exploded in a pinkish, yellow flame.

"Damn it!" Mu yelled out loud. Mu acquired the lead GINN and deployed his four tethered, crimson gun pods. The pods positioned themselves around the mobile suit and fired from all angles. Several rounds ripped through the shoulders of the GINN and incapacitated it.

Gale's Moebius closed in on another GINN and fired wildly. The GINN continued closing in on the hapless moebius unit. The GINN drew out its heavy sword and, just as it was about to crush the cockpit of the moebius with its blade a stream of bullets ripped it apart. Gale fired two missiles point blank and finished off the mobile suit. "I've got one! Thanks Flaga! I owe you one!"

"That wasn't me Gale," Mu replied over the radio. He was too busy trying to take out the other mobile suit.

Two black fighters flew past Gale's cockpit at a high speed. They looked like F-14's. She then looked over in the direction the fighters came from. She saw an Orb transport and more two fighters escorting it out. "Ensign Gale of the Earth Alliance's 7th Mobile Fleet to unidentified fighters, please identify yourself and your nationality."

A strong baritone voice came over the radio. "This is Lieutenant Dick Bernard, Razgriz flight... Climb and bank!"

Another GINN closed in on Gale's unit from behind and fired its 76mm machine gun, shooting off Gale's missile pod and sending her mobile armor into an uncontrolled spin. Just as the GINN was about to finish off the mobile armor a spray of bullets connected with the GINN's leg joint and sent the mobile suit reeling away from the crippled mobile armor. One of the black fighters approached Gale's unit while the other pursed the damaged mobile suit. The black F-14 transformed in front of Gale's eyes into a mobile suit form and grasped his unit.

"Don't worry Ensign Gale. I got ya'!" The baritone voice declared as the black and red mobile suit carried Gale's damaged unit toward Heliopolis.

xxx

After the sudden explosions rocked the colony, Lieutenant Ramius requested a situation report on the Archangel. It was odd that she hadn't received any orders at all. Her friend, Lieutenant Junior Grade Hamada, finally reported back. "Lieutenant Ramius, we've lost contact with the ship. Situation unknown."

Just then, both of them looked up and saw a GINN closing on their position. Murrue grabbed Hamada by the neck collar and pulled him out of the way as the GINN strafed the supply convoy.

Once the smoke cleared Murrue picked herself up. "Damned ZAFT! Activate X-105 and X-303! Anyway, just leave the site!"

xxx

Captain Ortiz and his scouting party immediately began directing students to the stair well. The explosions were becoming louder, closer to the college. A group of students walked out of an adjacent room. The leader of the group wore tinted glasses and a funky sports coat. "What's happening?" He asked.

"Reports came in that we're being attacked by ZAFT! Mobile suits have entered the colony! You guys should hurry!" The rookie marine replied as he directed some of the last students out. A tall uniformed man came up to the private and said, "White, I'm going to check out the rest of the rooms for any others. You and Lang should leave immediately with this group. Understood?"

"Yes Captain. It's understood," White replied. Captain Ortiz walked out into the hallway when he saw two students running down the hall. One was a blond kid, the other he recognized from the elecar station.

"Hey you, wait!" Captain Ortiz called out. He ran down the hall after them.

xxx

The commando team successfully entered the colony and watched below as the Earth Alliance convoy began to scramble. Yzak Jule, the leader of the group, had platinum blond hair with a strange cut, but no one in the team was more ambitious. "That's it. Just like Commander Creuset said. "Scare them a little, and they'll come out of their holes, huh?"

Dearka Elsman was next to him and looked on cynically saying. "They're pretty stupid, being Naturals and all." Yzak and Dearka made for a dangerous pair to be sure.

Yzak motioned to the team and rocketed toward the enemy convoy. ZAFT marksmen picked off the some of the defending Earth soldiers. "Destroy the facilities and the equipment that we can't take with us," Yzak ordered. The team landed on the highway and used damaged elecars for cover as they fought off the Earth Alliance guards. The ZAFT soldiers made skillful use of their grenades. "The report said there'd be five of them... The other two aren't here yet?" He observed

Athrun Zala looked behind him and nodded at Rusty. "Leave that to Rusty and me. Your group can take those three, Yzak."

Yzak fired his gun off and killed another guard before replying. "Okay, I'll leave it to you." Athrun and Rusty took a group of soldiers with them and advanced on the Morgenroete complex. "Once we've got the machines, disarm the self-destruct device immediately."

xxx

Kira finally caught up with the blond stranger and grasped his arm. "What are you doing? They told us to go there!"

"Why did you follow me?" He asked furiously. He looked over Kira's shoulder and noticed the captain fast approaching them. "You should hurry up and leave!"

Just as Ortiz reached the two kids a large explosion sent everyone to the floor. The stranger's hat flew off revealing the features of a young girl.

"A girl?" Kira and Ortiz asked themselves.

"What did you think I was until now?!" She asked angrily. It seemed her disguise was a little too good.

"Well, I thought you were a boy," Ortiz confessed. Kira kind of nodded in agreement while blushing. This was embarrassing.

The blond girl stared at Ortiz with an evil eye that made him cringe. She looked down the hall that she was running down. "Forget it! Just go! I have something I must confirm!"

Kira looked back from where they came from. The corridor was blocked by concrete and steel. "Go where? I can't go back anymore." Kira said aloud.

"You mean we kid. We." Ortiz corrected.

The girl looked back to where she was running. "Err... This way!" The three of them, Emanuel, Kira, and the blond girl began running down the hall again. Ortiz took point, with Kira tugging the girl along. "Let me go, you idiot!" She yelled. "If it comes to this, I..." Her sapphire eyes began to tear up. She was obviously distraught, but then again who wouldn't be with all the explosions going on.

"It'll be all right, we'll be saved!" Kira replied consolingly. "If we go to the factory, there should still be a shelter."

"Then to the factory we go!" Ortiz yelled back as he continued to jog toward the light at the end of the corridor.

The three of them finally made out of the dark, dusty tunnel and emerged onto a catwalk overlooking the factory floor in the Morgenroete complex. What they saw was startling. Earth Alliance soldiers and ZAFT commandos were shooting it out for control of two dark gray mobile suits resting on truck beds. The blond girl fell to her knees in disbelief. "This is..? Just as I thought... The Earth Alliance's new mobile weapon... Father, you traitor!" She screamed.

Ortiz looked down and saw a familiar face battling it out with the ZAFT troops. It was Murrue Ramius with a SMG slung under her arm. Murrue swung around and trained her gun on the group.

"Get down!!!" Ortiz yelled as he pushed the two kids to the floor. Bullets whizzed overhead for a few moments and when it was over he grabbed the kids by the collar and pulled them along out of the fire fight.

"It's no use crying! Just run!" Ortiz yelled as Kira directed them toward the shelter.

Murrue ceased fire and asked herself in disbelief who she was shooting at. "Ortiz? Children?"

xxx

Yzak was the first to get his mobile suit running. It was the most basic of the X-numbers, called Duel. Even if this was a basic model for the X-numbers, it was much more complex and capable than even the GUCE series of mobile suits ZAFT was coming out with. He rubbed the control panel in front of him in excitement. "Ohh... pretty impressive. How is it, Dearka?" He asked over the radio.

"Okay..." Dearka responded. He began mumbling to himself trying to program the mobile suit on the spot. The Earth operating systems were crude at best. "Updater activated, nav link okay, calibration completed. Move!" Dreaka's X-number, the Buster, rose up out of its trailer.

"Nicol!" Yzak called out. Nicol was the youngest member of the team. Generally shy and timid, Nicol had performed his duty so far very well. Now he was rewriting the operating system on the X-number called Blitz.

"Please wait," Nicol responded over the radio. Finally he finished typing and the Blitz rose up with the other X-numbers.

Dearka looked around wondering where Rusty and Athrun were at. "What about Athrun and Rusty? They're late."

"They'll be okay." Yzak reassuringly stated. "Anyway, we'll deliver these three back first. Don't let them get destroyed before we've handed them over to Commander Creuset."

xxx

"See, there are people taking shelter here," Kira optimistically said to the others.

Ortiz looked at the green indicator light above the escape elevator leading to the shelter. He placed his hand on the terminal in front of him. It seemed to take an eternity for the shelter to respond. Finally a voice crackled over the comm. "There's still someone out there?"

"Yes, two kids and I... Please open the door!" Ortiz answered back.

"Three?" the crackling voice asked.

Kira rolled his eyes in frustration and yelled, "Yes!"

"We're already full. Shelter 37 is in the left block. Can you get there?" The voice replied worriedly. It was just the news that they didn't need. Kira pointed toward the direction of where Shelter 37 was located. They could make it, but with the crossfire going on in that area it would be suicidal for all of them to try.

"Then at least take one of us, a girl!" Ortiz pleaded. Maybe, just maybe Ortiz would be able to drop the girl off her, then the boy at shelter 37 and make his way to the docking port and link up with the scouting party.

"I understand, really sorry!" The voice answered back.

The transparent tube in front of Ortiz opened up and Kira grabbed the girl saying, "Get in." The girl tried to object but Ortiz and Kira prevailed and shoved the girl into the tube.

Once the girl disappeared in the elevator below Ortiz pulled out his side arm from under his coat pocket and stretched out his arm saying, "Okay, come with me if you want to live." Kira took his hand apprehensively and the two of them began their long run toward Shelter 37.

"Hamada, Bryan, activate them! Hurry!" Murrue tried to order over the gunfire and explosions.

Ortiz and Kira ran back to the catwalk they first came from. The carnage on the ground floor as bad as it was the first time. Suddenly, Kira caught something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head around and spotted a ZAFT sniper training his gun on the soldiers below. "Look out! Behind you!"

Murrue twisted around and unloaded her clip on the sniper. "Them again... Why?" She had fired on Ortiz and that kid yet they helped her out. She needed to return the favor. "Come here!" She yelled at the two.

"We'll head for the shelter in the left block! Don't worry about us!" Ortiz called back.

Murrue shook her head remembering the shelter exploding in flames after a missile truck misfire. "The only thing that's left is the door! Come here!" Both Ortiz and Kira looked for a way down but the stairs that lead to the floor were blown away.

Ortiz ran off to body of the dead ZAFT marksmen. Murrue witnessed Kira jumping down from the catwalk with the grace of a cat.

Athrun and what remained of the ZAFT commando team were holding out at a cargo container. A red clad soldier in front of him rose up from under a crate and was instantly cut down by a volley of gunfire. Athrun looked on, stunned at the sight of his good friend gunned down. Athrun ran out screaming, "Rusty!!!" firing he's gun at the natural who had gunned down his friend.

Murrue watched as Hamada drooped to the floor. "Hamada!"

Athrun trained his gun on Murrue and fired a single shot. Murrue fell to the ground. Athrun pulled the trigger on his rifle a second time, aiming for the person next to the natural woman. Click. He was out of ammo. Athrun dropped his rifle and drew out his blade. He charged the two until the person next to the woman called out his name. "Athrun?"

Athrun snapped out of his bloodlust and realized who the person was. "Kira?" At that very moment a man dropped from the sky wearing a blue coat and a ZAFT jet pack. Ortiz landed hard on the mobile suit's fuselage, firing blind with his pistol. Athrun dodged backwards, evading every shot.

Murrue finally broke out of her trance and pulled Kira and Ortiz into the mobile suit's cockpit. The Gray mobile suit rose up out of the flames of the factory.