Edit: Apologies everyone, for posting this late. I wound up being busier than usual after class, and forgot to post this before heading out to the FNM.
I hope everyone enjoyed Halloween; I got to spend it watching a depressing play that wasn't really my kind of thing but was necessary for class (to be fair, I did choose to see it yesterday so that I'd have more free time tonight and tomorrow).
Anyways, this is one of those chapters I've been kind of eager to reach. It doesn't change a whole lot from the original version, but gives us some moderate-to-large shifts from canon that I hope new readers will enjoy as much as old readers did the first time around.
It also introduces a small, but significant alteration from both canon and the first version. See if you can spot it before I state it outright in my opening A/N for next week; it's important, but I know how easily people can gloss over small details like this.
Anyways, that's all for now! On with the show!
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply.
Phase Seven: The Awakening Swords
February 7th, Cosmic Era 71
The Archangel
0837 Hours
Approximately ten hours after the initial contact, the Archangel managed to establish direct video contact with the Montgomery, flagship of the advance fleet.
"Arrival time at the rendezvous point with our fleet will be as scheduled," said Copeman, the captain of the Montgomery. "Once we link up, the Archangel will come under the command of this vessel, and we'll proceed together to the main fleet. You've almost made it. I wish you safe passage."
Suddenly, the screen flashed, and showed Copeman, as well as a man in a light brown suit, with dark brown hair and a healthy complexion, sitting next to him in the flag chair.
"I am Vice Minister George Allster, of the Atlantic Federation," he introduced. "I'd like to thank you for your initiative in managing the civilian rescue operations. Oh, and one other thing. I was scanning the list of recently acquired passengers, and, of course, you can imagine my surprise and delight at seeing the name of my daughter, Flay."
Murrue gasped slightly. She'd known the name Allster, but had been too busy and distracted to connect Flay to this man. It seemed that, besides saving a number of lives, the rescue of that lifeboat may have scored them points with Allster himself, which would be helpful to them, particularly if they ran into trouble over the presence of two Coordinator volunteers amongst the crew.
"I'd be more than grateful if I could get even a glimpse of her," continued Allster.
"Vice Minister, you'll have plenty of time to see her when they join us," said Copeman.
"That's Flay's father," said Sai, smiling slightly to himself. "There's no doubt about it…"
In the Archangel's hangar, Kira and Lacus sat in the cockpits of their machines making modifications to the operating systems in order to further fine-tune each to themselves. Lacus wasn't anywhere near as computer and tech-savvy as Kira, but she was a quick study and had a firm grasp on what she was working on.
Lacus may have been an idol singer, but a few years back, she'd tried tackling a number of subjects, including computer programming, to pursue as a career, and in no way did she see herself singing for her entire life—she loved it, but that wasn't why she'd originally started to pursue the career, and she wasn't going to let those childish decisions dictate the rest of her life.
Murdoch floated down the catwalk, finally stopping in front of the Sakura's open hatch, looking in and smiling.
Kira, realizing he was there, pushed the machine's display board and monitor up overhead, as it normally was while inactive.
"Hey, something up?" asked Kira.
"No, just wondering how it's going," said Murdoch.
"Oh, I'm just making a few minor adjustments to match the off-set values," said Kira. "Not sure about Lacus…" He trailed off for a moment, then looked up at Murdoch. "Uh… guess it was unnecessary," he said, thinking about the upcoming rendezvous, despite his feelings that things could go wrong. Murdoch laughed, gaining Kira's attention.
"You just do what's needed," said Murdoch, reaching in and putting a hand on Kira's shoulder. "It's still your job till we've made it safely to the rendezvous point." Kira didn't mention his concern that he and Lacus would have to continue flying even after that.
"Plus," continued Murdoch, "we're not really sure what will happen to the White Frame. It's supposed to be an Orb machine after all… I suppose you could always end up as its permanent pilot when you get back to Orb!" Murdoch laughed slightly at his joke as he pushed off. Kira looked down for a moment before he pulling the display board back down as he continued typing.
"Not a chance in hell…" muttered Kira as he continued typing.
As Murdoch floated away from the mobile suits, one of the hangar doors opened.
"Birdee! Birdee!" chirped Tori as it flew into the hangar.
"Lacus! Lacus! We have a problem!" came another robotic voice as Tori's eternal companion, Haro, bounced into the hangar as well. Everyone looked up in surprise.
Kira normally would've kept Tori with him, but keeping Tori in his or Lacus's quarters seemed to be the best way to keep Haro there and under control as well. Apparently, though, both robots were restless this time.
Tori flew into the Sakura's cockpit, and Lacus smiled as Haro landed on the inside of the Strike's hatch, rolling around. Lacus paused for a moment, then opened her mouth.
Remember, on the day we decided to escape this despair,
What lay before us was nothing but the passing wind?
Lacus's singing voice echoed through the whole hangar, causing almost everyone to pause, listening. As she sang, Haro began swaying side to side with its "ears" flapping in a vague imitation of dancing.
The more feelings I have to convey, the more my words fumble.
Unable to tell you anything, the truth is I live in uncertainty.
As Lacus sang, her eyes drifted closed; Kira closed his eyes as well, listening to the soothing song rolling from his childhood friend's lips.
If humans could somehow see tomorrow,
Then we probably wouldn't have to live on our dreams.
Lacus trailed off, uncertain if she should continue. She hadn't sung since her last concert nearly a month ago; it was strange, since she didn't care about her career all that much. She sang because she loved it… and it was really nice to just sing for the sake of singing again.
In the Sakura, Kira leaned back, feeling more relaxed than he had in weeks. He'd missed listening to Lacus sing.
If there was one small good thing to have come out of all this for Kira, it was the time he was able to spend with Lacus, in spite of the grim circumstances.
The Vesalius
"This is the projected course of the enemy ships," said Ades, the tactical board marking the course with a red line.
"It's unfortunate that the Laconi and Porto teams are joining us later than scheduled," commented Rau. "Those vessels may be there to resupply the legged ship. We certainly can't ignore them." Rau smirked slightly, glancing at Athrun and the other pilots currently onboard. "Fortunately, the Gamow should be able to provide support, though they may be a little late to the battle."
"Yzak will probably be irritable over not being able to get back into the Duel," commented Athrun.
"Well, I think the humbling might do Yzak some good, wouldn't you agree Athrun?" said Rau lightly. "Besides, the repairs on the Duel aren't complete just yet."
"The mechanics estimated another two days to finish repairs on it," said Ades. "Adapting the parts is not easy; regardless, the Duel cannot be fielded, and should not be considered in any of our battle plans. Mr. Joule can live with it."
The Archangel
Several hours later
"Radar's picking up silhouettes of three ships," said Pal, "identified as our escorts, Montgomery, Bernard, and Law."
"Finally… it'll be nice to have some relief, huh?" said Sai, glancing at Kuzzey sitting at the station next to him.
"Yeah, it sure would be," said Kuzzey softly… and then, suddenly, the sound of static came from his station. "What the…?!"
"Captain! High levels of N-jammer interference!" called Sai, seeing what was going on at his own station.
The entire bridge crew gasped.
"What? Are you sure?" asked Murrue.
"Yes," said Sai as he started examining the data and prepared to fire up the ECCM. "N-jammer levels are rising."
"Detecting a warship-class heat source through the jamming," called Kuzzey. "It looks to be on an intercept course with the advance fleet!"
"Damn it!" cursed Murrue. "Why now?!"
The Vesalius
"The commander really has a knack for sensing these things," commented one GINN pilot as he launched with a Cattus five hundred millimeter bazooka.
"Athrun, show us how that machine performs," said another pilot as he also launched, armed with a Barrus ion cannon.
"Yeah, sure," muttered Athrun as the third GINN loaded onto the catapult armed with its own Cattus bazooka. The GINN quickly shot out of the catapult, and Athrun followed a moment later in the Aegis.
Seeing the others ahead of him, Athrun did a fast burn after them, intent on catching up. If the legged ship did enter the battle, they'd need his Aegis there.
Earth Forces Nelson-class Cruiser Montgomery
Klaxons blared as the enemy alert sounded throughout the entirety of the Montgomery.
"Hurry and deploy our mobile armors," ordered Copeman calmly. "Load all missile and anti-beam depth charge tubes."
As he ordered this, the mobile armors deployed. The Moebius was once a high-performance machine, but thanks to the N-jammer, ZAFT's mobile suits hopelessly outmatched them. On average, it took five Moebiuses to bring down just one GINN. Fortunately, although the Drake-class to which the Bernard and Law belonged weren't normally built for carrying mobile armors, four had been strapped to the hull of each one and had now been deployed. The Montgomery itself lacked linear catapults, but did carry four more mobile armors. Still, they were now effectively counting on the enemy being an average squadron with only two or three GINNs, maybe four if they managed to stretch things.
"Heat sources sir!" announced the Montgomery sensor officer. "Mobile suits approaching!"
"Now what's this all about?" questioned Allster. "How could you not have noticed the enemy ship until this moment?"
Copeman ignored him. "Lower bow, pitch angle thirty degrees!" he ordered. "Turn to port, yaw angle twenty degrees." As the Montgomery initiated the maneuver, Copeman turned to look at his comm. officer. "Send a message to the Archangel to withdrawat once!"
"You serious?" asked Allster. "But then I…"
"What other choice do we have in this kind of emergency?" asked Copeman.
"But if we don't meet up with them, then I came all the way here for nothing!" said Allster.
"If that ship ends up being destroyed," said Copeman, "then it'll have been for less than nothing."
The Archangel
"Increased heat distribution ahead," announced Kuzzey. "It looks to be a battle around the advance fleet!"
"They're in a battle?" questioned Sai, glancing at Kuzzey's console.
"Dispatch from the Montgomery," announced Mir at the communications station. She gasped at what she saw on her console. "The message reads: 'Canceling rendezvous. Archangel is ordered to leave the area at once'!"
It took a few seconds for that to sink in for everyone.
"Well captain?" asked Natarle.
"What's the enemy's battle strength?" asked Murrue.
"A Nazca-class," said Kuzzey. "Yellow… two fifty seven, mark… four oh two. For the others… matching thermal patterns… three GINNs and…" Kuzzey gasped, turning to look up at Murrue. "Showing thermal pattern match for the Aegis!"
Several more people gasped. Murrue sighed.
"Then we know exactly which Nazca-class it is," she said softly.
"Well captain?" repeated Natarle. The battle, they knew, wasn't going well for the advance fleet.
"But… remember who's on that ship…" murmured Tolle, looking back from his seat at the copilot station. Everyone was silent, waiting for Murrue's answer.
"There's really no guarantee of us escaping," said Murrue at last, "even if we did withdraw." She sat up straight, glancing around at her crew.
"Last time," she said, "we sought to avoid the enemy because we weren't ready. But I believe that this time will be different; I'm counting on all of you. Don't let me down."
Everyone gave her grim nods. Murrue returned the nod slightly.
"All hands, level one battlestations!" she ordered, voice loud and clear. "The Archangel will provide backup for the advance fleet!"
"All hands, level one battlestations!" ordered Mir over the PA, her tone unusually professional. "I repeat: all hands, level one battlestations!"
When they heard the order, Kira and Lacus had practically flown out of their quarters and started up a mad dash for the hangar.
"Kira, Lacus!" called a voice suddenly, giving them pause. They looked back to see Flay running up to them.
"What's all this about going to battlestations?" she asked. "What about the advance fleet?"
"We, uh, have no idea," said Kira. "We don't know what's going on." He turned to leave, but Flay reached forward and grabbed the sleeve of Kira's uniform.
"It's… going to be okay, right?" asked Flay. "The vessel that my dad's on won't be destroyed, will it? Will it?" she repeated in a small tone.
"Everything will be alright, Flay," reassured Kira. "We'll be there, okay?" With that, he ran off, Lacus on his tail.
In the hangar, Mu had already boarded the Moebius Zero, and was moved onto the catapult. Kira and Lacus, after donning their pilot suits, arrived just as the Zero launched.
"There you two are!" said Murdoch, standing next to the Strike cockpit. "You're late!"
"We're sorry, Mr. Murdoch!" said Lacus as she entered the Strike and Kira boarded the Sakura.
"The enemies you're up against are the Nazca-class, three GINNs and the Aegis," said Mir. "Be careful."
Athrun… thought Lacus as the Strike was moved onto the starboard catapult.
"Kira, Lacus, Flay's father is there with the advance fleet," said Sai. "Don't forget."
"Not to worry," said Kira, closing his helmet visor as the Sakura was dropped on the catapult. "Le Creuset hasn't deployed yet; if we move fast, we can probably take out the GINNs before he launches."
"Any additional weapons?" asked Mir as the Aile Striker was mounted on Lacus's machine in the starboard catapult.
"No," said Kira, "if Le Creuset intervenes, there would be too much chance of losing the equipment, and we can't afford that."
"Understood; Kira, Lacus, you are go for launch."
"Kira Yamato, Sakura Gundam, I'm going!"
"Lacus Hirano, Strike, launching!"
We'll see each other again, dad, thought Flay, still standing in the corridor where she'd spoken to Kira and Lacus. I know you'll make it through this. Kira promised me.
And she believed in that—Flay had absolute faith in Kira and Lacus. They wouldn't let her down.
At the battle, things were even worse than they'd expected, with the advance fleet already reduced to only two mobile armors, and the Bernard sunk.
"Valiant one and Valiant two, fire!" ordered Natarle. Pal immediately obeyed, blasting off two shots at one of the GINNs, his aim precise enough to successfully hit the small, fast-moving target with one of the high-velocity rounds. The solid slug tore straight through the GINN and back out the other side, shooting off into space as the ZAFT mobile suit detonated in a large fireball right before it would've fired a round from its bazooka into the Montgomery's bridge.
"The Archangel's firing," said the Montgomery's fire control officer.
"They've come to help us…" murmured Allster in relief. Copeman slammed a fist into his armrest.
"They shouldn't have," he said through grit teeth.
An instant later, the Aegis fired off a blast from its Scylla, destroying the Law. Then, spotting the Strike, the red Gundam flew forward, transforming back into mobile suit form, and began firing with its rifle, the Strike and Aegis circling each other, firing several shots that just barely missed.
Fighting against the GINNs, Mu deployed his gunbarrels and surrounded one, blasting it to smithereens in seconds, but then the last GINN suddenly shot forward and closed right in next to the Zero. Mu brought his gunbarrels to bear and opened fire, but the GINN dodged and fired a round at the Zero, scoring a hit on the main thruster.
"Damn it!" cursed Mu. "I can't do much of anything, not like this." With the main thruster out, Mu was forced to bring the gunbarrels back in and use them to limp back to the Archangel, Kira covering his retreat.
The Sakura's rifle lit up space, but the GINN dodged and fired back. Kira used the Igelstellungs to gun down the bazooka round and let loose another shot from his rifle. The GINN evaded once more, but Kira figured he probably wasn't a good enough marksman yet to be all that accurate anyways… and if he had his way, he never would be either. For the moment though, that lack of skill was a hindrance. Firing off another shot, Kira shook his head, stowed the targeting computer, stored the rifle on his rear waist, and charged at the GINN, drawing a beam saber along the way.
The plasma blade flashed past the GINN, but the pilot managed to pull back just in time—he was obviously very skilled, outperforming any of the other GINN pilots Kira had fought so far and even managing to take down Mu in short order.
Kira was just about to make another strike when he got that feeling again. He pulled the Sakura up, dodging fire from the silver CGUE of Rau Le Creuset. Kira's eyes narrowed—this was trouble. He'd survived and even pushed Rau before, but the Crucible of Yggdrasil had nevertheless dominated the last battle.
With Flay's father on the line, though, Kira knew he had to do better, and charged the CGUE while the GINN followed orders and returned to the attack on the Montgomery.
Nearby, the Strike and Aegis, both unwilling to drain more power pointlessly with their rifles, holstered the weapons, and Athrun instead activated the beam saber in his machine's right wrist as Lacus took hold of one of the Aile Striker's beam sabers.
The two charged one another, sabers clashing as each Gundam tried to overpower the other.
Athrun… thought Lacus as she struggled to push the Aegis back. Slowly but surely, Lacus was gaining the advantage, forcing the tip of her saber closer and closer to the Aegis's body.
"Damn…" muttered Athrun, breaking away from the multi-mode mobile suit. He spent half a second considering options before charging back in, but just as their sabers were about to clash again, he activated the saber in his machine's left foot and swung it at the Strike's head.
Fortunately, Lacus had anticipated that possibility, and responded by firing her verniers, crashing the Strike into the Aegis. Although she might've been able to finish the Aegis then and there, she didn't want to kill Athrun, and surviving was a bit more important right now (he could probably retaliate before she finished him), so instead, she pushed off, gaining distance from the Aegis and sending it tumbling backwards.
The Aegis shifted to mobile armor mode and fired its Scylla at the Strike. Lacus blocked with her shield, but the force of the blast pushed her further away from the Aegis. Athrun charged, firing the Scylla repeatedly, and Lacus shifted to dodging side to side, swapping her saber out for her rifle once again and opening fire.
Meanwhile, the Archangel opened fire on the Vesalius, a massive barrage of heavy anti-ship missiles and oversized beam cannon blasts that left the destroyer practically helpless, unable to fire back as it tried to evade and shoot down the barrage.
"What firepower," muttered Ades as one blast from the cannons grazed the starboard wing of the Vesalius, though the anti-beam coating managed to disperse the energy and prevent damage. "Fire a missile barrage! See if you can distract the legged ship long enough to bring our cannons to bear!"
As Ades gave the orders, the CIWS let loose on the missiles coming their way, but there were just too many to get all of them, and three missiles crashed into the Vesalius, one slamming into the front lower prong of the vessel, another hitting the port wing, and the last impacting near the port railgun, destroying it and leaving the bridge crew rather uncomfortable with how close it had come to hitting them.
The Montgomery was now doing much better for itself—although they'd lost all of their mobile armors, they were now dealing with only a single GINN, and the cruiser had enough firepower to deter and possibly even destroy it.
That didn't mean Copeman wouldn't scold Murrue for disobeying orders later, but he supposed that would be the extent of it.
Unfortunately, the GINN suddenly managed to land a shot on a decidedly… "inconvenient" location.
"Main turret's been hit!" announced the fire control officer.
"This is just intolerable!" exclaimed Allster. "What on Earth do your people think they're doing? Why can't they shoot down that single GINN?"
"Vice Minister," said Copeman, turning to look at Allster, "proceed to the lifepod."
"What?"
"You are on my ship and subject to my authority," said Copeman. "Proceed to the lifepod; the Archangel will survive, so if the Montgomery is lost, they can at least retrieve you."
Allster stared at him in shock—despite his opinions, his own job and his criticisms of the Montgomery crew's inability to take down the lone GINN, it did not sit right with him to just leave them to die.
"Vice Minister, that is an order," said Copeman. "This is just a precaution, but you are more valuable than anyone else on this ship, so we must be ready."
Slowly, Allster nodded, to Copeman's relief. Truthfully, there was another reason for sending Allster to the lifepod: getting him out of Copeman's hair. In this situation, the crew needed to focus, and the opinions of a civilian who'd never seen combat were a potentially fatal hindrance.
Rau grunted slightly as he was pressed into his seat by the sudden G-forces as he performed a quick dodge of the Sakura's gatling gun. He soared back in, swinging his sword down on the Sakura, but Kira managed to raise his shield to block the attack, and retaliated with his beam saber. Rau ducked under the slash and lashed out with a kick to the Sakura's mid-section, sending Kira tumbling back, but he recovered quickly and retaliated with fire from the Igelstellungs.
"What an amazing mobile suit," muttered Rau calmly as he pulled away and retaliated with his shield-vulcan. A few rounds pinged off the armor, but Kira quickly pulled out of the attack using the Sakura's tremendous speed and retaliated with his gatling gun. The CGUE caught a few rounds on its shield, but was very quickly out from under the barrage.
Gritting his teeth, Kira stored his beam saber and drew his rifle once more, activating his targeting computer. He quickly attempted to bring the targeting reticule over the CGUE, but Rau was dancing about too quickly for him to get a good shot. So, giving up on landing a hit with his skill level, Kira just pulled the trigger whenever he got close enough—if he could just drive Rau away, it would be a victory for Kira.
What Kira didn't realize, though, was that the G-forces Rau was experiencing were beginning to build, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up, especially with how fragile his body was.
Unfortunately for him, the building pressure caused him to mess up his maneuvers, and for just a second, Kira's targeting reticule flashed red.
In an instant, a dart of white energy flashed across space and hit the CGUE right in the left shoulder joint, blasting the entire arm off and hitting the wing behind it. A few secondary explosions followed on the CGUE's torso in the area of the left shoulder.
Rau grunted.
"You've improved quickly," he said. "I wonder how long you can keep it up for… Nemesis. Ades, I'm withdrawing!"
His confrontation with Rau settled, Kira ignored the CGUE as it withdrew, and glanced at his power indicator—he still had over eighty percent of full power, which made some sense given that the backpack contained its own energy capacitor, being essentially just an Aile Striker permanently mounted with Phase Shift armor.
However, the energy pack for his rifle was depleted, with only two shots remaining. Not wanting to have to replace it mid-combat, Kira ejected the current pack, storing it on the Sakura's left hip and replacing it with another pack from the same location. Each one held about a quarter as much energy as the standard batteries for the mobile suits, enough for each one to give him sixteen shots with the rifle, without having to drain the Sakura's own power.
After that was done, Kira did a quick scan of the battlefield; Lacus appeared to be evenly matched with the pilot of the Aegis, and the two were now clashing, beam saber on anti-beam shield. The Archangel seemed to have the Nazca-class's full attention, particularly since the destroyer was also attempting to recover Rau.
That left just the one GINN attacking the Montgomery. Kira began to move as it fired off a round from its bazooka that hit the cruiser's VLS, and he saw the GINN toss away the bazooka, most likely out of ammo for it, and draw its machinegun instead as it evaded the Montgomery's counterattack.
Kira opened fire on the GINN, drawing the pilot's attention. The GINN evaded Kira's shots and returned fire with his own machinegun, forcing Kira to evade. As the distance closed, Kira once again swapped his rifle for his saber, and opened fire with his Igelstellungs and right gatling gun, taking a brief glance at the ammo counter as he did so—he was running low, but the other gatling gun was still fully loaded.
The GINN pilot managed to evade this and switched his gun to his left hand, drawing his sword with the right as he charged forward. Saber met sword, the anti-beam coating holding up despite the intensity of the beam saber. Both pilots opened fire with their automatic weapons as they pushed away, the Sakura unharmed but a few holes blasted into the GINN, though apparently, nothing particularly hampering.
Then, all of a sudden, several missiles smashed into the GINN, obliterating it. Kira turned his attention to the source, sweeping his eyes over the Montgomery in a quick assessment of the damage.
A bit of smoke, a few weapons lost, but otherwise in pretty good condition.
"Thank you for the assistance," came a voice over the radio—he assumed it to be the Montgomery's comm. officer.
"No problem," said Kira as he did a quick burn towards where Lacus was battling the Aegis.
Rau managed to board the Vesalius, though not without difficulty, and the entire ship was shaking from maneuvers and nearby explosions.
"Ades, even if we take a hit, destroy the Nelson-class and retreat," ordered Rau. "We can't win this battle, but we can prevent a resupply of the legged ship."
"Yes sir," said Ades.
The Vesalius came around, its main cannons locking onto the distant target even as the Archangel brought its own forward cannons to bear and the Aegis was forced to fallback under the dual assault of the Strike and Sakura.
"Fire!" ordered Ades from the bridge of the Vesalius.
"Aim Gottfrieds and fire!" called Murrue on the Archangel.
The massive two-hundred and twenty-five centimeter dual high-energy beam cannons known as Gottfrieds, the main weapon of the Archangel, blasted at the ZAFT destroyer, in tandem with the powerful one-hundred and twenty centimeter high-energy beam cannons that served as the main cannons aboard the Nazca-class destroyer.
The Vesalius avoided a direct hit to the main hull, but as in the previous battle with the Archangel, it suffered heavy damage with both 'wings' being almost completely blown off from taking the hits instead, while missiles launched earlier against the destroyer finally closed in and blew apart the main cannons.
The Earth Forces Nelson-class cruiser Montgomery, however, was not so fortunate… and the vessel was gutted right through the mid-section. The damage and heat from the cannons caused a chain reaction that obliterated the entire vessel, even as ZAFT sent out retreat signal flares, calling away the badly outmatched Aegis.
The Archangel crew and pilots ignored ZAFT as the destroyer limped away, all eyes fixed on the destruction of the Montgomery.
On the bridge of the assault ship, a red-headed girl cried out in aguish.
Kira's grip on the Sakura's controls tightened. He'd failed… he'd told Flay he would protect her father, and yet…
"Kira, do you see that?" asked Lacus suddenly.
Kira looked up as something registered on the Sakura's sensors. Following the sensor blip, Kira's eyes widened, and he activated the radio.
"Archangel, I just found a lifepod from the Montgomery," came Kira's voice. Flay, who had been crying on Sai's shoulder, suddenly looked up, hope shining in her tear-filled eyes. "I'm bringing it aboard." Fatigue was apparent in his voice.
"Alright Kira," said Murrue. "Lacus, you hurry aboard as well. We did significant damage to them, but who knows how long it will be before ZAFT returns." Murrue paused. "And… good work out there you two."
"Don't worry about it," said Lacus as the comm. channel went dead.
"M-my dad," said Flay, "is he…?"
"It seems likely," said Natarle. "The only other person likely to be put on a lifepod was Captain Copeman, but he wouldn't flee the ship like that." As she said this, the Strike and Sakura reentered the catapults. Flay spun around and rushed out of the bridge, barreling down the halls for the hangar, determined to make sure that her father had made it out alright.
"Alright, popping the hatch now," said Murdoch, as Flay rushed into the hangar and the two exhausted Coordinator pilots emerged from their mobile suits.
The hatch of the lifepod opened… and Vice Minister George Allster stumbled out, panting.
"That was close…" muttered Allster. "But… I can't believe we lost Copeman… all of this…"
"Daddy!" cried Flay, tears of joy leaving a trail behind her as she pushed herself down towards her father.
"Flay!" exclaimed Allster, wrapping his arms around Flay as she crashed into him.
"You're okay…" sobbed Flay, clinging to her father's suit. "Just like he promised…" Smiling, Flay turned slightly to look at where Kira and Lacus were watching from the catwalk.
"Thank you Kira!" called Flay. Kira smiled slightly. "And Lacus? You as well!"
"Don't worry about it," called Lacus, thinking of how she'd feel if something had happened to her own father.
"Flay, who are they?" asked Allster, obviously confused. Flay smiled at him.
"Kira Yamato and Lacus Hirano," said Flay. "They're volunteers, from Heliopolis. They were piloting the mobile suits out there."
"What? A couple of kids?" murmured Allster. "How though? Only civilians and they can do that? Even trained soldiers should've had difficulty… even I know that…"
"They learn quick," said Flay.
"But, to put children in mobile suits…" started Allster.
"They were the only ones," said Flay softly, looking down. "Only Coordinators could operate those machines…"
"What?! Coordinators?!" said Allster, shocked. He glanced up at the pair, eyes focusing briefly on Lacus's distinctive hair, then down at Flay, and shook his head.
"Come on, Flay, I think we should talk," he said "I can meet with the captain later…"
Flay nodded, and the two Allsters left the hangar, leaving a confused trio of pilots as Mu floated over to Kira and Lacus.
"But… shouldn't he be meeting the captain first?" questioned Kira.
"Yeah, he should," said Mu, frowning. "I don't like this…"
The Gamow
Half an hour later
"So, let me get this straight," said Yzak, staring at the Gamow's display screen. "The legged ship—not the mobile suits, but the ship—tore the Vesalius to pieces?"
"That's one way of putting it," said Athrun calmly.
The Gamow had just made contact with the Vesalius a few minutes ago; the damage to the Le Creuset Team's flagship was extensive. They wouldn't be able participate in the next battle, so Rau had scheduled a rendezvous with the Gamow—which had been delayed by an encounter with a Drake-class escort ship—to transfer the Aegis and Duel over to the frigate, along with the engineering crew and parts for repair, providing the Gamow with a force that should be sufficient for taking down the legged ship.
"The enemy warship possessed far greater combat capability than we had anticipated," said Rau simply. "Added to this, their pilots have improved a great deal, no doubt the work of the Hawk of Endymion, and they're not repeating any amateur mistakes from their first few battles; they are no longer green rookies."
Rau turned his attention away, probably listening to a damage report before looking back to the camera.
"The Gamow should be able to put up a sufficient barrage to keep the enemy warship preoccupied, but while it does so, you'll need to preoccupy both enemy mobile suits and the mobile armor while sending another machine to attack the legged ship itself."
"We can talk further after the rendezvous," said Athrun. "Unfortunately, the Vesalius took too much damage to be able to actively participate in future battles without reaching dry-dock, and was sufficient for it to even slowdown the Gamow. If the Gamow doesn't go alone, there's too great a chance that the legged ship will rendezvous with reinforcements, and then we'll have to wait for reinforcements of our own before even attempting to do something about them."
"Athrun's correct," said Rau. "And Yzak… do try to avoid another incident like the last battle; I'm well aware of your over eagerness, but it nearly cost you your life last time, and such insubordination cannot be allowed to continue, even if it is from the son of Ezalia Joule. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir," said Yzak through grit teeth. Rau nodded.
"And, Dearka? The same applies for you as well. Nicol, I'll be counting on you and Athrun to restrain your hotheaded companions."
Before anyone could reply to that, Rau cut the transmission.
The Archangel
"You two really outdid yourselves out there, you know that, right?" said Sai, smiling as he and the other volunteers crowded around Kira and Lacus in the mess hall.
"N-no, not really," said Kira. "We still lost the advance fleet…"
"And all Kira and I did was to keep the CGUE and Aegis occupied," added Lacus. "If anyone outdid themselves back there, then it was you guys… the Archangel and her crew were the real heroes this time."
"Well, how could we really do any less after Captain Ramius said that she believed in us and was counting on us?" asked Tolle, trying to lighten the mood. "I mean, how could you live with yourself if you failed to live up to expectations given like that?" The other bridge volunteers chuckled.
"And you shouldn't be so hard on yourselves," said Sai. "We all saw what the Aegis did when we arrived, but you kept it away Lacus. And Kira, you managed to beat Le Creuset, and you helped the Montgomery defeat that GINN. It wasn't your fault that the Nazca-class managed to finish it off. Still, if it weren't for you, Flay's father wouldn't have made it out; we may have lost the rest of the advance fleet, but you gave them a far greater chance than they would've had otherwise, and if we'd gotten there sooner, well, maybe you could've done more. But you did the best that you could under the circumstances, right?"
Kira smiled. "Thanks, Sai."
"But…" said Tolle, "I wonder what it is that Mr. Allster wanted to talk to Flay about? It sounded like he was awfully intent on talking to her before meeting with the captain. Even if she is his daughter, I'd expect a vice minister to place work a bit beyond that in this situation."
"Probably just because Flay was already… there…" said Mir, trailing off as Flay entered the mess hall, her eyes downcast, expression unreadable, head hung uncertainly. Everyone turned to look at the redhead uncertainly.
"Uh, Flay? What's wrong?" asked Sai.
"Huh?" said Flay, looking up and glancing around, as though only just realizing where she was. Then she caught sight of Kira and Lacus, and looked away.
"My… my dad, he…" said Flay, uncertainly, "he… isn't happy. He's actually pretty angry, about…" Flay bit her lip nervously. "He hates Coordinators," she finally breathed, her words causing all six of the volunteers to stiffen slightly.
Lacus had never really gotten along with Flay, mostly stemming from Flay's obvious dislike/discomfort around the rosette. But ever since Artemis, where Flay saw Lacus fighting the Blitz, the two had become somewhat tentative friends. Lacus didn't want to risk that, and like the others, she feared the influence this might have on Flay.
"It's so… ugh… it's so stupid!" said Flay, startling everyone. "I mean, you saved his life, you've protected the people on this ship, and he's gone off to the captain to complain about you, and is telling me to stay away from you and… ugh!"
This was a reaction none of them had expected. Flay had always cared so much for her father, held him in such high regard… and now, she seemed angrier with him than they'd have thought possible, and over Coordinators, who she had openly expressed her dislike and fear for.
"Um…" said Lacus, drawing Flay's attention, "you don't… you don't have to argue with him, or anything." Lacus looked down as everyone looked at her. "Not over us… you shouldn't…"
"Look at me," said Flay sharply, walking over and slamming her open hand on the table in front of Lacus, startling the rosette, who did as told.
"The two of you are my friends!" said Flay. "It doesn't matter if you're Coordinators, or Naturals, or whatever! So maybe I think it's wrong to have your genes modified, that doesn't change the fact that you two are my friends, something that has nothing to do with genetic modifications. And without those changes, you wouldn't be able to protect us. All of us would be dead by now, and if my father can't appreciate that fact and blows up at me over who I choose as my friends, then I can be as angry with him as I want!"
Everyone sat frozen, only blinking, as they all stared in astonishment at Flay. The girl had completely transformed from the spoiled girl they knew to an honest teenage girl who would stick up for those she considered friends, even against her own father.
Put simply, Flay was finally growing up.
Murrue sighed as Vice Minister Allster was escorted out of the captain's room, and she heard both Mu and Natarle sigh in relief as well.
The man's obvious bigotry had begun to wear even Natarle's patience thin, and she was a woman of astounding patience, thanks to her military-heavy background. She fully acknowledged that the Coordinator pilots were the only reason the Archangel had made it this far, and while she'd had some reservations about them, that was because they were civilians who shouldn't be in this situation; she had nothing against Coordinators personally, and she'd come to trust Kira and Lacus with the safety of the entire ship.
"Well, least that guy's out of our hair for now," said Mu. "Man, can you say stupid? I mean, come on, if it weren't for those 'untrustworthy, filthy, monstrous Coordinators' who fought against ZAFT out there, he'd be lucky to be more than space dust."
"Agreed, but there's nothing we can do to change his opinion," said Murrue. "Fortunately, he's only a civilian. An influential one, to be sure, but he can't stop us from sending them out to protect the ship if ZAFT hits us again." She let out a sigh. "And here I was hoping that rescuing his daughter would give us his support if anyone wanted to make something out of Kira and Lacus piloting for us…"
The Vesalius
Two days later
"Sir, we've received a dispatch from the Homeland," said the comm. officer. Rau looked up from the tactical board, where he'd been reviewing footage of the battle, and nodded slightly.
"Very well; what does it say?"
"It's from Commodore Falcon sir," said the comm. officer. Rau and Ades stiffened. "It says that until further notice, we are under the command of the General, who has been dispatched from the Homeland to take command of the pursuit of the Earth Forces legged ship."
Rau bit back a curse.
Damn you Falcon…
"The Blood Princess… I'd been hoping to avoid working with her at all," said Rau. The masked commander let out a sigh. "Very well; send a return message that we acknowledge, and will place ourselves at the General's disposal when she arrives."
"Yes sir."
The Gamow
Two days later
"Sure, it's possible to catch up to them before they join the fleet," said Nicol, "but upon arriving, we'd only have ten minutes before were within firing range, and I'd rather not see what kind of firepower an orbital fleet has to work with."
The four surviving pilots of the Le Creuset Team (not counting Le Creuset himself of course) were gathered around the tactical board of the Gamow, planning their attack on the legged ship.
It had been four days since the recent battle between the Vesalius and the Archangel. Even though the two vessels of the Le Creuset Team had rendezvoused not even a day after the battle, transferring Athrun, the Aegis and the Duel over to the frigate, the inferior speed of the Gamow meant that it had taken three days to overtake the Earth Force's warship.
"You mean we'd have a full ten minutes," said Dearka smugly.
"I would suggest the cowards keep their traps shut," said Yzak condescendingly. Nicol's eyes narrowed.
"There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general," said Nicol calmly, but he was staring rather pointedly at Yzak. "Here are the three that affect you Yzak: recklessness, which leads to destruction; a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults; and a delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame." Nicol turned his attention back to the tactical board as everyone else stared at him in shock. "It's no wonder you scored so poorly in command abilities."
If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him.
Yzak nearly flew off the handle at that, but Dearka's hand on his shoulder was sufficient to keep him from completely losing it.
Nicol had a bit of a point though—between the four of them and Rusty, Yzak had scored the worst in command tests, while Athrun scored the highest, only very narrowly beating out Nicol for best in their Academy class.
However, it seemed at times like Nicol had taken the lessons from the General more to heart. Regardless, Athrun decided to try and diffuse the situation by turning back to their attack plan.
"We've fought against the forces of the legged ship on several different occasions now," he said, drawing everyone's attention. "The ship itself is easily the strongest ever created. It dealt with both Nicol and Dearka well enough in our first fight with it, and the sixth prototype was able to beat Commander Le Creuset. The mobile armor is piloted by the Hawk of Endymion—a man who single-handedly brought down five GINNs at Endymion, including one of the Gray Demons, and went head-to-head with Commander Falcon and Commander Le Creuset, and has held his own against both. And the white and blue mobile suit pilot was able to equal me in our last battle. We can't underestimate these forces."
Yzak grit his teeth, feeling like Nicol and Athrun had stolen the spotlight from him.
"Doesn't matter," said Yzak irritably. "If we have a window of opportunity, we need to take it."
"I couldn't agree more," said Dearka. "The success of a surprise attack isn't determined by the actual time spent."
"We weren't saying we shouldn't make the attack," said Nicol. "I'm just saying that the window of opportunity is small and we need to be cautious, right Athrun?"
"Yeah," murmured Athrun.
"It'll be fine," said Dearka confidently. "Yeah, sure, it won't be easy, but so long as we can hold off their mobile suits and armor, the Gamow stays safe, and one of our machines can get up close, we can take them out."
"So how do we do that?" said Athrun. "The way those pilots are improving, we may not be able to match them. And other than the reports of Nova, I've only ever heard of the Hawk being taken down by lucky shots."
"Looking at it from a practical point of view," said Nicol, "we'll want the Duel and Aegis to lure away the enemy's mobile suits. Meanwhile, the Buster should be used against the mobile armor. Dearka, think you can handle it?"
"Shouldn't be a problem," said Dearka. "The Hawk's a better pilot than me for sure, but he's in that outdated mobile armor; his weapons won't even scratch me, and his mobility has its limits."
"Good," said Athrun. "Captain Zelman, we'll need the Gamow to provide long-range fire support at the beginning of the battle, but you should pull back if it seems like the legged ship is going to seriously target you; if we lose the Gamow, then we'll be stuck as well."
"It should work," said Zelman. "We'll definitely be cutting it close with the 8th Fleet, but this plan is the best we can offer."
"In the meantime, the Blitz should be able to close in on the legged ship with relative ease," said Nicol. "If I can get in close, the battle should be over at that point."
"Fine, we'll go with this," said Yzak. "But I want the white machine, got it?"
"Yzak, are you sure that's wise?" asked Dearka. "Given what we've observed, it would seem like the Aegis is better suited to fighting that machine."
"No, the white one is mine," said Yzak hotly. "That damn Natural… he's responsible for everything that's gone wrong since Heliopolis!"
Athrun sighed, and conceded. There would be no getting Yzak to change his mind about this.
The Archangel
"We'll reach the rendezvous point in about thirty minutes," said Murrue, smiling. "Well crew, we somehow managed to make it this far."
"Don't slack off on your monitoring though," said Natarle sternly to Pal. "Fleets are conspicuous; they'll draw the attention of the enemy. We don't want to get shot down because we relaxed a moment before we were safe."
"Yes ma'am," said Pal. Murrue shook her head slightly as she gave Natarle a reproachful look. They'd been on high alert for a while now, and while what Natarle said was true, if they didn't relax some, they'd all snap.
Besides, who would be stupid enough to attack this close to the 8th fleet?
"We've gone through a lot," said Kuzzey to Sai in the mess hall, "but we're almost there."
"Yeah," muttered Sai, poking at his food.
"So, you don't suppose they'll let us off anywhere but on Earth, do you?" asked Kuzzey. Sai looked at Kuzzey, confused. "It's just that… remember what Lieutenant Ramius told us?"
Sai thought back a bit, and realized immediately what Kuzzey was talking about. Just after first introducing themselves to one another, Murrue had warned them that they weren't likely to be allowed to just go anyway, having seen the Earth Force's prototype mobile suits. They'd have to wait for a decision from the appropriate authorities, though, before being certain about anything.
"Hmm, yeah," muttered Sai. "So, under the circumstances, wouldn't the fleet be considered the appropriate authorities?"
"Guess your right," said Kuzzey. "However…"
"However?" asked Sai, looking at Kuzzey.
"What do you think will happen to Kira and Lacus? Will they be allowed to leave too?" said Kuzzey. "They did get involved in a whole bunch of stuff…"
Sai looked down, frowning in thought, but then looked up in surprise as the pilots in question entered the mess hall. They only shared a brief look before the two went to get food and water.
"Flay!" exclaimed Sai, softly, as the redhead entered the mess hall soon after. The rest of them had seen very little of Flay over the last few days, with the girl spending most of her time talking with her father, or so everyone believed, since Allster himself had hardly been seen around the ship at all.
"Huh? Flay? What's up?" asked Kira as everyone looked over at her. Flay glanced at them before looking away.
"More… problems, with my dad," said Flay. "He's… refusing to leave his quarters. Doesn't want to wander around where Coordinators have been. He's just so… oh, he's just so stupid!"
"Should you really be fighting that hard with your father?" asked Lacus, tilting her head a little. "I understand that you don't agree with him. I happen to agree with you, about how our genes don't affect who we are. But still, he's your father; you should try to get along."
"No!" said Flay, shaking her head. "You're right, I still want to be family with him, but I'm not going to share his beliefs about Coordinators, beliefs I know are wrong!"
Kira and Sai both blinked. Flay seemed to be becoming increasingly vehement about her disagreement with her father over the treatment of Coordinators, and neither knew how long it would be before things got… ugly…
"Hmm?" murmured Pal on the bridge as he picked something up on radar. Then, he detected jamming.
"Radar wave interference," announced Pal. "N-jammer levels are rising."
Murrue and Natarle both glanced at Pal, gritting their teeth, and rushed to their seats.
"All hands, level one battlestations!" ordered Murrue as she took her seat. "Tolle, fire up the engines to maximum speed!"
"Yes ma'am," said Tolle, who was currently handling the piloting since Arnold was off-duty.
"Laurasia-class identified in one oh three, orange alpha," said Pal; as fire control officer, he'd temporarily run the enemy search & detection systems through his station while Kuzzey was off-duty. "Detecting mobile suit thermal patterns, matching… what?" Pal turned to look at Murrue. "Detecting Blitz, the Buster, the Duel and the Aegis."
"Damn it all," said Natarle, "and just moments before our rendezvous."
"All hands, level one battlestations!" came Mir's voice over the PA. "I repeat, all hands, level one battle stations!"
Hearing that, the four volunteers rushed out of the mess hall, Sai and Kuzzey heading for the bridge, while Kira and Lacus ran for the hangar.
A few moments later, Mu had launched in his Zero, and the other two had boarded their machines, and belted themselves in as they were moved to the catapult.
"Kira, Lacus," said Mir, "the ZAFT units are a Laurasia-class, the Duel, the Buster, the Blitz and the Aegis."
"Duel, Buster, and Blitz? I thought we'd lost them at Artemis," said Kira.
"The Nazca must've told them where we were and transferred the Aegis over to them," said Lacus. "We're outnumbered, and we don't have the technological advantage of the last battle."
"Right," said Kira, performing a final systems check. "Miriallia, give me the anti-ship sword. Be careful out there Lacus."
"You too," she said. "Lacus Hirano, Strike, launching!"
A second later, and Kira was once again holding the Schwert Gewehr.
"Kira Yamato, Sakura, taking off!"
Arnold rushed into the bridge, Sai and Kuzzey right behind him, all three throwing themselves toward their stations.
"The 8th Fleet will be meeting up with us in a few minutes," said Murrue as they took their seats and systems were rerouted to standard. "Just hang in there."
"Activate Igelstellungs," ordered Natarle. "Prepare anti-beam depth charges; ready aft missile tubes."
Outside, as the seven mobile weapons charged one another, the six Gundams activated their PS armor, and the four ZAFT machines clustered together, back-to-back, barrel rolling as they did so.
Behind them, the ZAFT frigate blasted off a shot from its main cannon, and the ZAFT pilots broke away from one another, the shot flying between them to crash into the Archangel.
"Using their mobile suits to conceal the firing position," muttered Mu, his grip on the Zero's controls tightening, "that's very cute."
As Mu, the furthest ahead of the three Earth Forces machines, closed with his targets, he deployed the gunbarrels and let loose with the entire arsenal, watching in satisfaction as they broke apart to avoid the incoming fire. Though none of them would've suffered any real damage, every hit would've drained just a bit more precious battery life to powering the Phase Shift armor.
The formation broken and Mu brought the Zero and all four gunbarrels to bear on the Buster—the only one he didn't have to worry about cutting him in two.
Taking aim at various targets of their own, Kira and Lacus pulled the trigger on their rifles, sending two darts of green and white energy lancing across space before they pulled the trigger several more times each. The three ZAFT pilots blocked with their shields as they continued to close with the enemy.
"Nicol, go ahead and get the ship immediately," said Yzak. "We'll keep these damn Naturals off your back."
"Roger that," said Nicol as the Blitz broke away from the other two Gundams. As Yzak shot at the Sakura, Kira brought his shield up to block the shot, and the Strike and Aegis began circling one another, firing simultaneously, and missing by mere feet, just as in their last battle.
Mu, seeing the Blitz charging at the Archangel, tried to intercept, but was forced to break off the pursuit as the Buster combined its rifle and gun-launcher into the sniper rifle and grazed the Zero with the blast.
The Archangel fired the Valiant's at the Blitz, but Nicol evaded… and then the Blitz vanished from sight.
"Captain, I've lost the Blitz," said Kuzzey.
"Its Mirage Colloid must've been activated," said Murrue. "Fire another spread of anti-beam depth charges and reload all missile tubes with anti-air shrapnel warheads."
"Fire anti-beam depth charges," ordered Natarle, echoing Murrue. "Stern missile tubes, switch over to anti-air shrapnel warheads."
Nicol fired the Trikeros beam rifle at the Archangel, but the beams never reached the warship, dispersed instead by the anti-beam curtain surrounding the warship.
"Calculate the Blitz's position from the shot's angle," said Natarle. "When you have its position, link the data to the fire control station. Officer Pal, when you have the data, open fire with anti-air warheads."
"Yes ma'am," said Kuzzey and Pal. Kuzzey ran through several console commands as he narrowed down the stealth mobile suit's location, then linked it to Pal's station as ordered.
"Firing anti-air warheads!" announced Pal as he let them loose.
The missiles blasted off from the Archangel's forward firing tail-fin mounted missile tubes, and upon reaching their designated range, the outer shell of the missiles broke apart to reveal small, shrapnel-sized explosive-tipped darts that blasted away from the missile casing.
Seeing this, Nicol immediately activated his PS armor, releasing the Mirage Colloid, and brought his shield up, blocking the shrapnel darts.
"That's right, this machine once belonged to you," said Nicol, as much a remark to the enemy ship as a reminder to himself, "of course you know its weaknesses." With that, Nicol reactivated the stealth system as the shrapnel fire died down, immediately moving to a new position to avoid further fire.
Approaching the Archangel so as to get through the anti-beam particle curtain the warship had released, Nicol's eyes widened as the CIWS turrets all began firing wildly on randomized vectors… a barrage of bullets numerous enough to tear any mobile suit to pieces. Nicol reactivated the PS armor, his only hope to avoid being turned into Swiss cheese, and began maneuvering away.
"You're getting on my nerves," said Dearka as the Zero deployed its gunbarrels and fired on him from several vectors at once. He emptied both missile pods, hoping the small, high explosive warheads would eliminate at least two or three of his problems.
As fortune would have it, he only got one gunbarrel, and the Zero tugged itself around as soon as it passed the Buster and blasted away with the linear gun, a shot Dearka only barely avoided.
"Come on, you're just one puny mobile armor," said Dearka. "Go down!"
Athrun, thought Lacus as she deflected a beam saber strike from the Aegis. Why are you so persistent? If you'd just stop, we wouldn't have to fight anymore…
Lashing out with the Strike's shield, she caught Athrun off-guard, sending the Aegis backwards, and slashed down her saber, aiming to take off one of the red Gundam's limbs, but Athrun shifted to mobile armor form and rocketed away.
"Ahh!" yelled Kira as he brought the Schwert Gewehr down on the Duel's shield, satisfied as the grey-blue machine was pushed back by the powerful weapon.
"Why can't you just go away and leave us in peace?" demanded Kira as he evaded the fire from the Duel's beam rifle. Growing frustrated, Yzak fired a grenade at Kira, but the refugee pilot blew it apart with his Igelstellungs.
"Blitz is approaching!" said Kuzzey as the black mobile suit weaved through the fire being spat at it. The Laurasia-class was launching a long-range bombardment, and while only a few shots got close, much less hit, they were enough of a distraction for the Blitz to catch them off-guard.
"What are the Strike and White Frame doing?" demanded Natarle.
"They're too busy battling the Duel and the Aegis," said Sai.
Nicol smiled slightly, in satisfaction and relief, as the Blitz landed next to the Archangel's bridge tower. He didn't even need to aim, as he began firing away straight into the tower.
"Can't get him with the cannon," muttered Natarle. "Where are our mobile suits?!"
"Kira, Lacus!" called Miriallia desperately. "The enemy's beside the bridge! Get back here!" Kira's eyes widened as he looked at the side monitor, which zoomed in to show the Blitz firing on the side of the bridge tower.
"No!" shouted Kira.
"The Archangel!" cried Lacus at the same time.
If they lost that ship, then all they'd done would've been for nothing… the refugees would be lost… and without Murrue and their friends to back them up…
And Flay… thought both Kira and Lacus, thoughts straying to the friend they'd nearly failed once before.
Within the minds of the two Coordinator pilots, jewel-like sapphire and amethyst seeds burst in a brilliant nova of light and color…
The Duel charged at the momentarily motionless Sakura, but Kira suddenly released the Schwert Gewehr as he pulled up and around the Duel, drawing a beam saber instead and using the white blade of frozen flame to gouge out a hole in the Duel's torso near the cockpit.
Yzak's eyes widened in shock before he grit his teeth in anger and the enemy mobile suit suddenly rocketed away towards the Archangel.
As Kira dealt with Yzak, Lacus suddenly also went on the attack, throwing her shield away and drawing her second beam saber instead. Athrun shifted to mobile suit mode and attempted to attack, but Lacus deflected his saber with her own and rammed the other one through the Aegis's face, pulling back slightly and spinning around to cleave her saber right through the legs of the Aegis.
Then, she broke away from the Aegis, charging towards the Buster.
Kira, sensing the Duel in pursuit, jinked to the left, up, and barrel rolled to the right, deftly evading a half-dozen shots from the Duel pilot.
"Stop it now!" shouted Kira, swinging his saber down at the Blitz. The black Gundam jumped away, but Kira shot up after him, slamming the Sakura's knee into the Blitz's face.
Lacus closed in on the Buster, appearing in Dearka's face almost faster than he could blink, and kicking his machine in the head, leaving him disoriented as she brought both sabers down on the barrels of his weapons, slicing both of them nearly in half.
"What the hell?!" cried Dearka as he pulled back, firing his remaining missiles only to see the Strike shoot most of them down with the Igelstellungs and then cut apart the rest using its beam sabers.
Meanwhile, Kira viciously pierced the Blitz's shield with his beam saber. Sensing danger, he released the weapon, spinning around and dodging under a slash by the Duel, deploying his gatling gun as he did so and opening fire with it… right into the hole he'd gouged in its armor earlier. A small explosion rocked the enemy Gundam as the high-explosive rounds currently loaded in the gatling gun went off, sending the Duel flying away from the Sakura. The Blitz rushed forward and grabbed hold of the Duel as the Trikeros exploded with the beam saber still embedded in it.
"Yzak?! Yzak are you okay in there?!" cried Nicol.
"It burns!" came Yzak's pained voice over the radio. "It burns, it BURNS!"
"Dearka, Athrun!" called Nicol, pulling back and grabbing the Duel's shield to defend them from the shots the white mobile suit was taking at them. "We have to retreat! The enemy fleet is almost here and we've taken way too much damage!"
"Ugh, damn it!" said Dearka as he and Athrun pulled away.
On the Archangel's bridge, Murrue sighed in relief as the ZAFT forces retreated, the Strike and Sakura landing together on the deck of the ship above the hangar.
"Look at that, they're gone!" said Mu. "You two were terrific out there!"
Panting, Kira and Lacus both looked up.
"Lieutenant…" muttered Kira, part of him wondering what had just happened.
"Wow…" muttered Mu, "no, you're more than that. You two are unbelievable." Smiling slightly, Kira and Lacus closed their eyes.
"Not really," they said together.
"The 8th fleet is here!" called Kuzzey to the bridge and over the radio, drawing the eyes of all three pilots up to the massive collection of blinking lights…
The Earth Alliance Force's 8th Orbital Fleet; at long last…
It was over.
Author's Notes: Hopefully not having to rush this one out has kept me from making some of the slip-ups I did with the post of the last chapter regarding formatting. Anyways...
Who spotted the shift? It wasn't exactly subtle, but I doubt it's what you're all thinking (but I won't go into specifics, just to see who figures out the important bit on their own, though I'll admit there's a detail that will be important later... much, much later).
I enjoy giving Athrun the short end of the stick, and while I like him, Yzak is just so tormentable at this stage; let's be blunt, from my favorite to least, the ZAFT pilots go like this: Nicol, Yzak, Dearka, Athrun. But we've been over that already.
Not much else to say; life's been coming together again, and I'm gonna see if I can't find some way to give me more time to actually spend on this; it threatens to peter out around Chapter 13 or 14. Maybe ad revenue if I can get high enough traffic on my site, though making money off of fanfiction rubs me the wrong way... (but thanks to the asshole Top 1%, getting any income is practically an exercise in futility).
Please review; I'm always making mistakes and I want to learn what they are so I can improve and/or fix them.
See you all next Friday!