Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. They belong to their respective copyright owners and publishers. This work is not created with any commercial aims. I make no money from it.
Phase 04: Artemis, the fortress where everything changed
Part 3
=GSI=
Commandant's Office
EF Fortress Artemis
"Remind me again, why I haven't spaced that imbecile yet?" Garcia asked.
"Known Blues. He's been more useful to us on the large..."
"Yes, yes. Keeping a tab on him makes it easier for you to know what the damn fanatics are doing on my station." The Commandant grumbled.
"Under different circumstances it might have been advisable to keep the charade." Harper shrugged, then returned his attention to the tactical plot showing Artemis and all detected units in its vicinity.
"The data Veil provided changes everything."
"That fleet too."
Both officers stared at the dots which were crawling towards their position. The ZAFT force that had been keeping long range watch over them ever since the war started, was finally on the move, burning straight at them. The implications were clear. They either already had the Blitz up and running or it would be ready soon. The Lightwave barrier couldn't be kept on indefinitely so it was only a matter of time before the station was under assault.
"With the Archangel and its Mobile Suits we'll probably survive the first attack..." Harper muttered.
"We don't have the forces necessary to hold this place without the barrier. We are just too deep in enemy territory." Garcia grumbled.
"You know what they will order us to do."
"Send the Archangel towards Earth, with escort and then make a heroic last stand."
"That's what the AF brass will insist on doing and our folks might agree."
"I don't feel like dying anytime soon. Besides once we have mass produced MS we'll be on a more even ground."
"With ZAFT or our friends back on Earth?" A thin smile appeared on Harper's face.
"Yes. Set condition One through the station. I want all ships, including the Archangel resupplied. I won't let the bastards have the initiative when they have a god damned stealth platform ready to sour our day."
"What about Commander Jenikovski?"
"Relieved for conduct unbecoming of Officer." Garcia stood up. Harper, make sure that our Blue friends volunteer to man Artemis while we escort the Archangel back. That way they might do something useful with their lives for once."
"It will be my pleasure, boss."
=GSI=
Mess Hall
Archangel
EF Fortress Artemis
"What the hell are you doing?! Unhand me at once!" Blonde screamed at the Master Sergeant who was overseeing a pair of privates who were in turn busy handcuffing the officer.
"Commander Jenikovski," The NCO grinned. "By order of Commandant Garcia, you are relieved of command. Please resist and make our day."
"WHAT?! This is some kind of mistake! Arrest him!" Jenikovski nodded at me. "He's damned Coordinator lover! Damn traitor!"
"You know, 'Commander', you Blue Cosmos idiots are starting to sound like a broken record. No originality whatsoever." I shook my head sadly.
While Jenikovski was dragged away I carefully looked at the troopers in the compartment. Three of them were decidedly unhappy with what was happening, about a third of the rest looked like that they didn't particularly care, but the remainder obviously liked this development.
"He wasn't the most popular fella on the station I take it?" I asked the Sergeant.
"No, sir. He and his kind leave a bad taste in one's mouth. It reminds us of some unpleasantries from the past."
"Ah. To be frank, I've been wondering how the Blues found so many sympathizers in the EF considering our shared past."
"It's been more than a century now. At least the chief maniacs don't come from our side of the pond this time."
"Yes, it's ironic. It's what happens when people start forgetting their history."
"Sir, the Commandant has requested your presence in the Command Center." The Sergeant changed the topic.
"You should have started with that."
"Once the current unpleasantries are resolved." He added. "They are now." The NCO gave a pointed look at the troopers in the Mess Hall. "We won't have any more problems, are we?" He gave them an unpleasant smile.
A chorus of "Hell no, Sergeant!" almost deafened me.
"Good to know you have the situation in hand."
"Kira, you have an appointment in medical. There will be no more similar unpleasantries." I stated, stating at the trio of suspected Blue Cosmos troopers. "See to it, Sergeant."
"With pleasure, sir. You three look like your quite bored…" He trailed off. "There is some heavy lifting with your names stamped on it in Hangar Three."
=GSI=
Command Center
EF Fortress Artemis
Natarle and her fellow officers were escorted to finally meed the base's Commander. To their mild surprise, the meeting occurred in the cavernous command center instead in his office. The fact that the place was a hive of barely managed chaos didn't bode well. One glance at the far wall, which was covered with monitors told them why. There was a hive of red dots, representing ZAFT units approaching.
"Here you are." A LC met them halfway. "I'm Jack Harper, the ONI Officer assigned to this facility."
Mu groaned, winning himself a dirty look from the two females. "What's with all the spooks lately?"
"Someone has to find the enemy and point you space squids in the right direction." Harper quipped. "Follow me." He nodded at the soldiers that had been escorting the Archangel's officers and the troopers moved back to the entrance.
Harper led them to the center of the room, where a small platform rose above the rest of the work-stations. There they met the Commandant and Veil, who were chatting like old friends.
"Sir!" Natarle stood up straighter and saluted, followed a moment later by her fellow Lieutenants.
"At ease. We don't have time for the dog and pony show." Garcia grumbled. "As you can see, we have a mutual problem."
"The ZAFT fleet." Mu stated the obvious. "What are you planning to do, Sir?"
"After Lieutenant Veil briefed us on the Blitz's capabilities it became crystal clear that Artemis is no longer defensible."
"Are we getting the supplies we need, sir?" Ramius asked.
"Yes. You've got about twenty hours to resupply as well as load a squadron of interceptors. Then the fleet elements stationed here will sortie and eliminate the ZAFT forces heading our way before escorting the Archangel back to Earth."
That caught the three of them off guard. They were ready to argue their point and beg for supplies and clearance to depart. Instead, this. She glanced at Veil, who had a smirk on his face. How the hell did he arrange this?!
"That's not all, is it? Sir." Natarle asked. She knew that expression rather well.
"While the Lieutenant here," Garcia nodded at Ramius. "Will retain command of the Archangel, I will be coming on board and commanding the battle from there. I've been made to understand that your ship has the necessary command and control facilities."
"Ah, yes. The Archangel is fully equipped Flag vessel as well." Ramius stammered.
"Excellent. The quartermaster will meet you at the dock. Coordinate with him and get the ship fully stocked for combat. Dismissed. Lieutenant La Flaga, stay back."
"Sir, yes Sir!" Natarle saluted and gave Veil a pointed look, which he promptly ignored.
"This way." Harper waved them to follow and headed towards the exit.
=GSI=
Mu glanced at Veil, wondering how he pulled his latest stunt, when Garcia cleared his throat. The Lieutenant returned his attention to the base's commander.
"La Flaga, you and Veil are the last remaining members from the Moebus squadron. I need you to coordinate and lead our small craft forces. Artemis has five full wings stationed on board, not counting the compliments of the ships stationed here."
"Depending on the enemy composition, that might be enough." Mu muttered, entering professional mode.
"Divide our forces in two. One, the larger group will be tasked with suppressing enemy Mobile Suits. The other will execute anti-shipping strikes." Veil suggested.
"Risky. Though it might work." Mu muttered.
"If you can keep their infernal Mobile Suits away from my ships, we should be able to deal with their fleet. Naturally it would be appreciated if you damn fly boys can for once turn the tables and let the enemy worry about something other than our main guns." Garcia added his two cents.
"Before deciding anything we need to know what exactly we have to work with."
"The Wing and squadron commanders will be meeting us in one of the conference rooms in half an hour."
"What are we waiting for?" Mu asked.
"Lieutenant La Flaga, I already got Veil's assessment of that pet coordinator of yours. Now I want your too."
"Ah." Mu licked his suddenly dry lips. For all he knew, Garcia was had become or always was a damn Blue Cosmos. Saying the wrong thing could be bad for the three of them. Besides, he didn't know what tale Delkatar has been spinning. "Kira is a nice kid, who would not have sat behind the controls if his friends lives weren't on the line. That said, in his short time in the cockpit, hes proven himself to be a natural pilot, getting better after each engagement."
"Short and to the point. Good. Veil gave me much the same assessment, though he praised the kid's ability to make the so called OS of the G-Weapon usable. At least by a Coordinator." Garcia paused. "What do you think are the chances that he will pilot the Strike in the coming battle?"
"Low unless his friends well being is on the line." Veil immediately answered.
Mu gave his friend a startled look. What the hell was he doing?
"That won't be a problem. The civilians will stay on the Archangel. Without the garrison and with ZAFT having the data on the Blitz its only a matter of time before Artemis falls. I'm not going to surrender the base, but instead I'll leave a volunteer force who will fight to the end, costing the enemy as much material as possible. It will be a no place for civies." Garcia stated.
Mu started at the pair. So not exactly a blackmail but too damn close for comfort.
"With a bit of luck, Kira might not have to fight after this battle." Veil shrugged. "It will depend if another enemy force will be able to intercept us before we meet with the leading elements of Seventh fleet. Its unfortunate that thanks to the N-Jammers we don't have reliable communication channels with Earth and can't simply transmit the data they lack before we are much closer."
"Indeed. That would make our lives a bit easier." The Commandant nodded. "You two have a meeting to attend. Go."
=GSI=
Corridor near the Command Center
EF Fortress Artemis
"Ensign, make yourself scarce for a bit. I need to have a private talk with Lieutenant Veil." Mu ordered our guide, a fresh out of the academy nugget, who apparently was on his first posting.
The young officer gulped, opened his mouth to argue but a glare from La Flaga silenced him. He nodded towards a nearby door and walked a bit down the corridor, giving us some privacy. We entered the compartment, which was a small briefing room. I smiled. It was obviously that Mu was dying for some answers.
He shut the door behind us and fixed me with his patented stare. Yeah that one. The Stare that was reserved for subordinates that had screwed by the numbers and were showing no inclination of stopping anytime soon. Let me tell you, being on the receiving end wasn't fun. Even when La Flaga wasn't my commander any longer.
"Delkatar, what the fuck did you do? Seriously!?"
"My bloody job. Now we have much higher chance of reaching Earth intact."
"How much did you tell Garcia?"
"Enough."
"That's not reassuring."
"It wasn't meant to be, Mu. I have orders to follow. Without the data we are carrying it would take Earth moths to start mass producing Mobile Suits, which will still be quite useless because they don't possess an OS that can be utilized by anyone but a Coordinator. Even then it has to be partially rewritten beforehand as Kira demonstrated. By the time we have our own MS corps ready in sufficient numbers, ZAFT will have upgraded their forces thanks to the suits and data they stole. If we are lucky. If not, they will field a limited number of advanced designs soon and might win the damn war before we can properly utilize our industrial and manpower advantages."
La Flaga winced. No matter what the propaganda said, he knew the truth. We had the numbers, just not enough of them to offset the quality of ZAFT forces, especially in space. If they could field a limited number of Gundams and take completely orbital superiority before EA could field its own Mobile Suit corps…
"You briefed him on the Blitz and the other G-Weapons." Mu thought aloud. "Even with that information he might have decided just to sortie his fleet out and have them keep defensive positions around the base, waiting for the Blitz to attack and hope to take it down. He hasn't faced the new Mobile Suits, thinking that he can take it out conventionally would be a reasonable conclusion. Doing so would have given him sufficient time to study the Archangel and Strike. It would have been a risk worth taking. Unless..." He stared at me. "You gave him the G-Weapons schematics."
I nodded.
"Now he has an incentive to get at least one ship near Earth and transmit it to the EF."
"And we get an escorting fleet. Its a bargain."
He opened his mouth then snapped it shut. "You are a Eurasian officer too." Mu stated, as if he had forgotten that little fact."
"All the more reason for Garcia to listen." I smiled.
"You suspect that the AF won't share the data, keeping an edge against them, allies or no."
"The Atlantic Federation and its brass isn't a major concern by itself. After all we've been nominal allies for a long time. Its Blue Cosmos and the increasing influence they have on your government's policy making that are concerning. For both Eurasia and the Earth Alliance ONI."
"That's why ONI sent you. To get the information to the Eurasian Federation."
"Among other things." I shrugged.
Someone knocked on the door. Most likely our guide.
"It's time to meet the local fly boys."
"We'll continue this later." Mu nodded and unlocked the door.
