A/N well guys back once again for a new chapter which I hope you all enjoy, I'm just sorry it took a little longer than I wanted it too.
Chapter 7 Phase Shift Down
The Archangel got itself ready for level one battle stations with its most powerful weapons; the Lohengrin Assault Cannons targeted towards the direction of the Vesalius, in the bridge Murrue was praying that Mu's plan will work to their advantage as well as to their survival depends on getting through this conflict against the Le Creuset Team. "Lohengrins Fire!" ordered Natarle, the crew responded silently by firing two anti-matter blasts dead ahead… this had not gone unnoticed from either the Vesalius nor the Gamow, the crew of the former being the first to detect what's going on.
"Heat source approaching from ahead and a larger heat source detected behind it!" informed one of the crew members onboard the Nazca-class vessel, alerting both Ades and Rau, having a feeling that the enemy would have its own share of surprises for them. "It's a warship!"
"Take evasive actions Starboard!" ordered Ades, with Rau floating next to the brown-haired male Captain's seat as he observed what has just transpired.
"I see we spooked them and they fired off a round." began the masked commander; he then turned his attention towards the rest of the bridge crew as he gave his next order since there's no sense in taking any chance. "Have our mobile suit forces launch at once!"
"Yes sir!"
With that said, the four mobile suits that they were able to capture at Heliopolis prepared themselves to launch from the Vesalius and from the cockpit of his custom orange GINN, Miguel took a brief glance towards the Aegis as he's hoping that they would be able to take the Strike down this time, even more so with the Gamow being prepared to deploy its own remaining mobile suits from behind the enemy warship but then there is the matter of Walter getting into his GINN to take part in the task they now had despite having been wounded against that fighter. "Now remember what you said Athrun." the blue-haired redcoat heard Rau's voice coming through communications he and saw his superior officer reminding him of what he needs to do when he encounters the Strike in this battle. "I'm holding you to it."
Nodding his head, Athrun had a feeling that he will need to make sure that he can make his friend see his reasoning for what he's trying to say otherwise he will need to fulfill his duty to the homeland one way or another. "Yes sir!" he replied and joined with the Duel, the Buster and the Blitz as they were the first to sortie from their Nazca-class mother ship.
Archangel Bridge
"Six heat sources approaching from the Nazca-class!" reported Chandra, having detected the deployment of the four stolen mobile suits from the Vesalius alongside two GINNs and it made them somewhat worried as to what the Gamow will be throwing out at them from behind. "They're mobile suits and they're approaching fast!"
Nodding her head, Natarle turned to face Mir who was sitting near her in the CIC. "Have Kira Yamato and the alien launch at once." she instructed the brown-haired young girl, while she was a bit suspicious of Shamano and if he says he will assist them… they needed to be certain he won't abandoned them during the battle as she highly doubted Kira will be doing so as he wouldn't just abandon his friends on the ship.
The Starboard Catapult began to activate as the Aile Strike will be the first to launch and the fighter will be sent into the battlefield afterwards via the Port-side Catapult…. Kira grasped onto the controls of the mobile suit he is once again forced to operate into battle 'At the moment, you and I are the only ones who can protect this ship.' He heard Mu's words in the back of his mind and reflected on his friends having willingly chosen to volunteer in order to help the Archangel.
'You always do the fighting, thought you could use a little company.' Tolle's voice was the next to be heard as he remembered when he saw the others in their uniforms, this included Flay, Cagalli, Jessica and Misha who also had chosen to volunteer on their own free will yet the blonde-haired girl they've just met at the moment the Le Creuset Team attacked Heliopolis felt uncomfortable in her uniform.
'Since we're all in this thing together, we plan to help out added.' Mir's voice as his eyes opened and systems were all green, the catapult soon gave Kira the clear to launch into action.
With another smile Kira knew he was ready to keep his friends safe. "Kira Yamato, Strike Gundam heading out!"
The moment that Kira has entered action, the Archangel immediately got itself ready for the enemy ZAFT mobile suits approaching from ahead and needed to be careful since the Laurasia-class has yet to deploy its own machines. "Here they come" Murrue frowned, and as much as she hated to say, it might take more than just Kira's strength to help them win. "Get Shamano out there as soon as possible!"
"Commence preparations now for Anti-Mobile suit Combat!" commanded Natarle, not one to take any chances when it comes to dealing with enemy mobile suits on the battlefield. "Load Korinthos tubes 13 through 24, activate both Valiant Linear Cannons! Input target data, hurry!"
"Enemy mobile suits IDs, two of them are GINNs…. But the remaining four…" Chandra's eyes widened in complete shock the moment he identified the remaining four enemy units. "They're X numbers, matching Duel, Buster, Aegis and Blitz!"
Everyone in the bridge couldn't believe what they're hearing, they were used to fighting against GINNs and maybe even CGUEs but never in their entire life would they be forced to deal with one of their own mobile suits again but this time, they're going to be fighting all four of them rather than one. "All of the stolen G-Weapons are being sent to engage us?" muttered Murrue, fortunately the good news was that Shamano's fighter is now getting ready for sortie via the port-side catapult in hope that he will keep his word in assisting them.
Gamow Bridge
In the meantime, the Gamow had also been alerted of the heat source that the Vesalius had just detected earlier. "Large heat source detected!" informed one of the crew members onboard the Laurasia-class warship. "Assuming it's from enemy warship!"
"Have the mobile suit team launch on the double!" commanded its captain Zelman, while they had a few GINNs left at their disposal… they're more than enough to take down the Earth Alliance's warship in battle as he was already well informed that the Duel, the Buster, the Aegis, the Blitz and the two custom GINNs belonging to Miguel and to Walter respective have all launched from the Vesalius yet at the same time, Rau's CGUE should be fully-repaired from the damage it received earlier and the masked commander had informed the Gamow that he intends to launch later if needed. "Have you detected any mobile force from the Legged Ship yet?"
"Yes sir, only one mobile suit" one solider said as he looked at Zelman. "But no sign of that fighter we have been told about or the mobile armor that Commander Le Creuset had previously fought against."
Zelman gave a deep and thoughtful frown at this. "Well, keep an eye out for that fighter and tell our men to try to disable the last mobile suit if they can…. If they're unable to do so, they are authorized to destroy it."
"Roger that sir our GINN's are launching as well." The solider said to Zelman as the GINNs soon left the Gamow.
Back on the Archangel Shamano was ready to launch as well from the ship as he had checked his fighter over to make sure it was fit for battle. "Alright I'm ready to go." He said with a light frown on his face hopping that Kira and Mu were doing alright.
"Alright, just be careful out there Shamano." explained Sai, contacting him from the CIC via communications mainly due to the fact that Mir's still really angry with the alien for hiding the fact that he's from another race as well as his plans of leaving when they're no longer in harm's way. "The Nazca-class has already deployed two GINNs as well as the stolen G-Weapons… X-102 Duel, X-103 Buster, X-207 Blitz and X-303 Aegis."
"I see, thanks for the warning Sai…" responded Shamano as his fighter was getting ready to head into action as well and mentally wished to himself that he had salvaged his ship sooner but now they needed to deal with the Le Creuset Team first before he can attempt to do so. "What about the Laurasia-class?"
"It's still approaching and has yet to deploy its mobile suits into battle." he answered with a frown on his face, even more so as he's sure that Mir would be overhearing this due to sitting next to him at the CIC and not saying anything, not even to wish Shamano luck. "Odds are the GINNs might focus their efforts on the Archangel while the G-Weapons go after Kira."
Remaining silent, Shamano had a feeling that Rau may want to get the final G-Weapon either captured or destroyed if given enough of a hard time and prayed that Mu's plan would work out. "Understood, I'll do whatever I can to assist Kira against the G-Weapons though the problem is that the PS Armor protects them for impact weapons and projectile weapons at least from what I remember." he spoke with a serious tone to his voice, especially as facing more than one of the stolen machines will be tough.
With that piece of information Shamano took off from the Archangel already seeing a few GINN's heading towards the ship.
Meanwhile, Athrun along with Miguel were approaching the Archangel from the front leading the Duel, the Buster, the Blitz and Walter's GINN towards the enemy ship's location. He has a strong and confident expression on his face until he sees something that gives him pause. This is, of course, the sight of the Strike, standing guard from the oncoming assault. Miguel also notices the Mobile suit and a scowl makes its way across his features, the near death experience he had with the enemy entering his mind. He glances towards Athrun's Mobile suit as he cannot help but wonder if it is true and, if so, what Athrun is going to do about it.
"Hey Athrun pay attention alright if not then just head back the ship." Miguel called over to his ally, snapping Athrun out of his thought pattern as he quickly replies to the message.
"Y-yes? Sorry about that Miguel." Athrun said as he thoughts were mainly at Kira right now, and just how he was going to get Kira to be on his side.
"I'm going to go on ahead and assist the attack on the enemy warship." Miguel informed him, "Distract the Strike so I can get past."
"E-eh what's the plan that you have in mind then?" Athrun asked with a confused tone at this action.
"Look with my orange Mobile suit and equipment." Miguel began to explain, "I'm going to engage the Strike and the fighter as well. Beside we may need to capture one or the other to get Intel on it and as of right now we have no idea just what this fighter can do, so I want you to watch out there as well."
Athrun remained silent for a few moments struggling to comprehend what Miguel means with that statement. That is until the conversation Athrun had with Miguel flashes through his brain as he remembers that Miguel told him he'd let him try once with the Strike's pilot. If he fails, Miguel is going to gladly try and destroy the Strike and its pilot.
That thought alone scares Athrun and only spurs him on to try and convince Kira to join their side, preventing the wrath of his team-mates. "Thanks." He responded while Miguel smiled a little.
"Don't mention it."
On the Strike's end, the Strike's sensors blare into life, informing him of the incoming enemies. "Two units," he muttered to himself. He immediately remembered before launching into battle when Mu told him to simply focus on protecting the ship and himself, "that's easier said than done," he said once again, mutters as he ignites the Strike's boosters.
The Aegis' scanners take note of the Strike as a zoomed in image of the approaching Mobile suit appears on its display and Athrun properly takes it in. "Kira," he says out loud to himself.
The Strike's scanners also perform this action as they zoom in on the approaching GINN and Aegis. "It's that Mobile suit again, it's Athrun?!" Kira cannot help but wonder to himself.
As this was happening, Yzak took witness to the Aegis approaching the Strike alongside Miguel's custom GINN and it could work to their advantage in some way or another. "Athrun and Miguel have just encountered the Strike!" he informed his four comrades, then took a glance towards the GINN operated by Walter. "As for you, just don't do anything stupid…"
"Whatever, just make sure you leave that fighter to me, got it?!" commented Walter with a darkened expression on his face as he wants to be the one who destroys the fighter and no one else. "Make sure you take down the Legged Ship"
Dearka gave a little scoff at this. "Whatever, at least we have our allies from the Gamow assisting us in this!" he remarked as the four ZAFT aces from the Vesalius all split up in separate directions to give the Archangel a wider area of fire to cover.
Chandra frowned as he detected the one of the GINNs and three of the stolen G-Weapons going into different directions. "Enemy Mobile suits have spread out, two of them heading towards the Strike!" he informed the bridge's crew from his position in the CIC but that wasn't the only thing that made him shocked. "Three heat sources detected closing in from behind, they're all GINNs!"
"Commence interception!" Murrue ordered as she turns towards Natarle, "CIC! What's taking you?" she asked as black-haired female ensign made a little gasp as she snaps out of her trance and turns towards Tonomura.
"Are the Laser Designator ready?" She inquires.
"Yes!" He responded and she turned back towards her front.
"Missile tubes 13 through 18, fire!" She commanded. The large Missiles are launcher from the berths and veer, all at different directions, towards the attacking Mobile suits, "Load Sledgehammers into tubes 7 through 12! Korinthos Missiles 19 through 24! Fire!" This large volley of missiles all veer towards the enemies.
Meanwhile, Athrun stored away his Beam Rifle on the right side skirt and brandishes one of the Aegis' arm mounted Beam Saber. Kira responds by clipping his own Beam Rifle onto the Strike's hip before drawing one of the Beam Sabers mounted on the Aile Striker Pack. Neither pilot made a move against one another as the Aegis flew straight past the Strike, not attacking. However while Kira was distracted by this moment, Miguel's GINN flew past from his rear and made his way towards the Archangel. The Strike's sensors alert Kira to this as he lets out a small gasp of realization is about to intercept.
"Kira!" A familiar voice calls over his communicator, ceasing his action of chasing after the orange GINN as he refocused back on the Aegis as a familiar face appears on the communicator screen.
"Athrun?!" he exclaimed.
"Stop it!" Athrun yelled at his best friend, "Put your sword away, Kira! We're not enemies, are we?"
Both the Strike and Aegis continued to circle around each other, neither unleashing an attack on the other at the risk of harming their friend. "Why are we fighting against each other?" he called out to his friend once again.
"Athrun…" Kira trailed, especially as he and Flay had a run in with the Aegis right before the complete destruction of Heliopolis.
"You're a Coordinator just like us… so why would you want to fight against your own kind?" Athrun pleaded to his friend. These words give Kira pause as he tightens his grip around the control lever and grunts a little to signify his frustration at this situation.
It was during that time Miguel had joined with his fellow pilots from the Le Creuset Team in their assault against the Archangel but it won't be easy to bring it down with the weapons it had at its disposal in defending itself. "I'm gonna back up Athrun!" informed Yzak after destroy two large missiles fired at him with the Duel's Beam Rifle. "Miguel, Dearka and Nicol you guys assist the Gamow's pilots against that ship!"
Nodding in agreement, Nicol wasn't going to argue nor would Miguel. "Roger that!" said the green-haired young man, shooting down two missiles that the Archangel targeted him with and Miguel took another two out using the machine gun without too much trouble himself
The Buster used its 350mm Gun Launcher to take out several additional missiles before they could strike it and inside the cockpit, Dearka was caught off-guard by what his friend told him. "What?!" he asked, blinking a bit.
"Knock off the whining Dearka and bag that trophy!" With that said the Duel jetted off to join with the Aegis in taking the Strike down just to be on the safe side but had one last thing he needed to tell his comrades from the Vesalius despite being fired at by the Archangel's CIWS bullet fire followed by a rail gun blast from one of the Valiants. "If that fighter does get involved, you know what to do!"
Even if it was now two of the stolen Gundam attacking them alongside the GINNs that were already attacking them but it didn't make the ZAFT mobile suits any less dangerous. "Port side Valiant, fire!" commanded Natarle, the port-side Valiant fired two shots at the enemy units but they managed to dodge without too much of a hassle.
Nearby, Kira bore witness towards the Archangel being fired upon and was worried for his friends onboard the warship. "The Archangel!" he muttered to himself, attempting to head back in order to defend it from the enemy only for the Aegis to cut him off before he can do so. "Athrun!"
"Kira enough!" yelled Athrun, still not through talking with the brown-haired Coordinator just yet as there were still questions that he wanted answered.
"Athrun…"
"What are you doing with the Earth Forces?" he demanded, seeing that he was now wearing the pilot suit that most Earth Alliance pilots wore only it was blue and white as opposed to the standard orange pilot suits worn by those operating those Moebius mobile armors. "Why are you siding with the Naturals tell me!"
There was nothing but silence from Kira, he wasn't part the Alliance officially though he had no choice but to use the Strike again in order to keep his friends safe in this conflict. "I'm not part of the Earth Forces, but people I know are on that ship… they're all good friends of mine!" he finally countered, this time it was his turn to question Athrun since his best friend wore that red ZAFT pilot suit he donned at Heliopolis. "Besides, what are you doing with ZAFT? Why did you get involved in the war?"
Hearing this question caught Athrun by surprise, thinking back to the day that the two went their separate ways as children but not before giving Birdy to Kira a sign that they'll always be friends with one another. "You used to tell me that you hated the whole idea of war…" he continued, giving a serious expression towards the pilot of the Aegis. "So why did you attack Heliopolis?!"
In response to this, Athrun's expression began darkening and he thought back to the destruction of Junius Seven last year… something he swore he would never let happen again as someone who he cared for deeply died in disastrous event. "Because that's where the Naturals built these things, they've turned it into a target!" he replied with a darkened tone to match his expression.
"But Heliopolis is Neutral and so am I, yet you…" he would have countered that statement even further until the alarms in the Strike's cockpit alerted him that another enemy mobile suit was approaching their location. "Huh?"
The GAT-X102 Duel raised its Beam Rifle and got ready to attack the Strike, especially as its pilot took notice that the Aegis was armed with one of its Beam Sabers but isn't even attempting to take its opponent down. "You're not fighting Athrun!" yelled Yzak, not being too pleased with the fact that no damage was being done prior to his arrival. "Why not?"
Athrun couldn't believe that the silver-haired pilot was intervening and had interrupted the conversation he's having. "What… Yzak?" he asked in slight disbelief, with Kira immediately discovering who this new comer was and remembered there were five G-Weapons developed on Heliopolis by Morgenroete since it didn't have any of the featured exclusive to the GINN or the CGUE.
"X-102 Duel… that one too?" he asked himself, forced to raise the shield up in order to block the Beam Rifle shots aimed at him and knew it would be much more difficult than dealing with GINNs since the stolen machines from Heliopolis had the same beam technology as the Strike as well as the PS Armor which protected them from non-beam weapons. "Just my luck…."
Having already launched into action, Shamano was quick to activate his fighter's stealth system in order to avoid detection from the enemy…. he needed to at least keep the ZAFT forces away from the Archangel for as long as he could but it won't be easy at all since the stolen mobile suits were being used against them as well. "Where the hell is that fighter?!" exclaimed Walter as he was scanning the area for any sign of the fighter who injured him back at Heliopolis and is wanting to make sure that it won't be surviving this encounter. "Dammit, it can't hide from me forever!"
Despite this, he still obligated in backing up his comrades in battle and since this ship was going to be tough to destroy, he'll have to worry about the fighter later and make things more difficult for the warship to take them out… "Evasive maneuvers!" commanded Murrue from within the bridge of the Archangel. "Maximum speed!"
"Fire Anti-Beam Depth Charges!" added Natarle, their biggest obstacle being the Buster and the Blitz which means fending them off would be harder than the GINNs and without any other orders, the Archangel fired its Anti-Beam Depth Charges in order to counter the beam fire from the two Gundams in question. "Igelsteullungs, don't let the enemy get any closer, set Helldarts to auto-launch!"
Even though it was one ship against several attacking ZAFT mobile suit, it wasn't going to go down without a fight as CIWS bullets and a few Helldart missiles managed to force Nicol to use the "Trikeros" to block the attacks yet it didn't hinder him too much as he and the other ZAFT pilots continued their attack on the Archangel. "Nicol!" yelled Miguel, using his own shield to block the bullets that came his way. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I think so…" answered the youngest member of the Le Creuset Team, relieved that the PS Armor is doing its job of protecting him from the Archangel's projectile weapons as opposed to the armor that the GINNs and CGUEs had which would be penetrated by any attacks in battle. "This warship's tougher than Commander Le Creuset anticipated."
In a way, it made sense as he and Athrun already saw what it can do in combat as Olor and Matthew were killed when they attempted to bring it down even with the D-Type Equipment they used in the battle that led to Heliopolis' destruction. "No kidding, still it's not unbeatable..." he replied to his comrade with a confident grin on his face.
The Buster in the meantime was firing the 94mm High-energy Rifle at the Archangel which struck three different places on the left side, with the third shot causing the entire ship to shake but never the less it didn't do the damage that Dearka thought it would do at all. "No way!" he said to himself, wondering what kind of armor the Archangel had.
It was then that the much needed assistance to the EA officers arrived. "Oh no you don't!" came Shamano's voice as a shot from his invisible fighter which struck a GINN and destroyed it before it could target the warship with its M68 "Cattus" 500mm recoilless rifle.
Unfortunately by doing so, Walter realized that it had been deployed by the Archangel. "What do you know? It is in the battlefield after all…" he said with an evil grin on his face, finally looking forward to getting his revenge on the fighter that humiliated him before no matter where it was hiding, he will find it eventually. "I know you're out there, show yourself you coward!"
Arming himself with the machine gun once more, he began his search for Shamano… determined to kill his opponent on way other another. "Come out, come out wherever you are!" he yelled again throughout the emptiness of space as he searched the area. "You can't hide from me forever you know!"
The Strike however continues to rain fire on the Duel, but the Blue Mobile Suit manages to avoid every shot even with Kira using the Targeting system to assist him. "Dammit, Dammit, Dammit!" he continuously cries out in frustration and terror, completely oblivious to his quickly declining Power Gauge.
"Not with the way you're fighting!" Yzak remarked as he holsters his Beam Rifle and brandishes one of his Beam Sabres. Kira cries out at the sight of this as the blade of Pink Energy clashes with his shield. Kira breaks the clash and flies to the left to try and get a shot off, unfortunately missing and causing the Strike to chase him again as Kira flies away when Yzak swipes at him again.
Meanwhile, Athrun could only watch as Kira runs from Yzak's assault with a worried expression."Kira are you alright man?" Shamano asked as he got in contact with Kira seeing that is was getting a little outnumbered right now.
Walter on the other hand was getting angrier with the fighter as he began to wonder how it was able to do this. "Hey how can a simple fight hide like this I know that I saw it not too long ago."
"Hell if I know." One of the GINN's pilots said with a frown as he was trying to find the fighter as well while the others were dealing with the mobile suite that they hadn't managed to capture.
Near the Vessalius…
The familiar orange Mobile Armour is slowly navigating through debris underneath the Vesalius, waiting for the most opportune moment to strike. "Not yet." He mutters to himself.
In the meantime while unaware of the Moebius Zero's presences, the Vesalius was waiting patiently as it was preparing to make its move against the Archangel at precisely the right moment. "Enemy vessel approaching, distant 7-40" reported one of the crew members in the Nazca-class vessel's bridge after receiving the information of the enemy warship's current battle strength from the Gamow. "Message from the Gamow, we confirmed the total enemy combat force is one mobile suit."
"And no fighter or mobile armor" began Rau, finding it rather suspicious that neither Mu's Mobius Zero nor that mysterious fighter have been deployed into action as there is no way the Archangel would be relying only on the Strike in this kind of situation. "They're still not ready for sortie…"
"It's safe to make that assumption" came Ades's voice, but being a skilled ace that Rau is, one can't be too careful when it comes to fighting the enemy in battle… head on or otherwise. "Commander Le Creuset?"
This got Rau's attention the moment the captain of the Vesalius called his name and it was then that the communication's office spoke again before he can say a word. "Enemy Vessel approaching sir, distance 630!" he called out, getting the attention of both commanding officers. "It will shortly enter our ship's firing range!"
With that said, Rau was pleased that they'll be making their move sooner than anticipated. "We will be joining in on the attack, Captain" he declared to his confidant, turning his attention towards the brown-haired male Captain in question.
"Commander, our own mobile suits are out there!" reminded Ades as he turned to glanced at the masked commander, somewhat surprised by the fact that Rau would suggest such a command even if it is to take out the warship itself. "Firing the main cannons would…"
"Our boys know better than to be caught in friendly fire" Rau smoothly countered with a serious expression on his face, knowing that the pilots engaging the enemy are smart enough to avoid being targeted by the Vesalius' main weapons. "Our foes have guns as well."
Ades looked at Rau with a surprised expression before steeling it and turned back forward to address the bridge-crew. "Prepare to fire main cannons! Target enemy vessel, stand by for my command!" he ordered the crew on the bridge with the Vesalius targeting the Archangel and it awaited for further orders before firing at the EA warship approaching.
"Prepare to fire cannon!" One of the gunnery officers repeated.
"Main cannons, target enemy vessel!" The other continues. The two large 177MM Beam Cannons on the nose of the Vesalius tilted forward and adjust themselves to begin firing at the approaching Archangel.
On the bridge of the Archangel, Selena who had just arrived smiled. "It's no use Shamano fighter is one of a kind." She said with a smile as Murrue looked at her. "I mean even I don't fully know how it works but from what he told me the stealth that he has can only be used in short bursts.
"Is that so?" began Matt, taking notice toward Selena's arrival alongside Flay, Cagalli, Jessica and Misha which is a relief since they'll need all the help they can get from this point on now that all four stolen G-Weapons were attacking the Archangel not just GINNs being deployed against them. "In any case, we're glad you girls decided to join us."
"Yeah, besides the others have their job and we knew that we had our own task here." responded the bluenette, which Mir smiled to see that the other girls with them and then there's something that the female Coordinator needed to know of since it concerns the Strike. "What's happening with Kira right now?"
"He's currently in combat against the Duel and the Aegis." answered Mir with a frown, becoming well aware that it was now two mobile suits against one and prayed that Kira will be able to handle himself out there. "Fortunately he has the Aile Striker equipped onto the Strike so he should be fine… for now at least."
"Yeah, but all the G-Weapons have a common weakness even with the Phase Shift Armor protecting them from projectile weapons like missiles and machine gun bullets as well as all impact weapons such as the heavy swords used by the GINNs and the CGUEs." said Selena with a frown of her own after hearing that Mir revealed that Kira's facing two stolen mobile suits right now. "Using beam weapons can drain the mobile suit's battery and losing too much power isn't a good thing, cause should the Strike ever run out of it during the battle then the Phase Shift Armor will deactivate itself, leaving him vulnerable to any enemy fire."
Hearing this made the young teens all look at each other with worried looks on their faces. "But Kira's never been in a fight like this one." Tolle said worried for Kira. "I mean what would happen if he loses power?"
"Hey don't worry after all; Mu is out there along with Shamano both with high experience in battle." Selena said but she was still worried for her two friends, as she tried to put on a brave face.
The moment she said that however, Chandra was alerted and he immediately reported to everyone in the bridge from the CIC. "Detecting laser designator coming from the Nazca-class…" he informed the bridge crew, and then turned his attention towards Natarle specifically before continuing. "Targeting our ship, locking on to us."
Natarle's eyes widen as a surprised expression crossed her features momentarily before she turned and called up to Murrue. "Well Captain?" she asked as the brown-haired female captain could only sit there quietly as a silent moan works its way through her mouth, clearly signifying frustration and worry. "Prepare to fire Lohengrin!"
This statement caused Murrue to snap out of her trance as her eyes widen and she quickly turned around, even more so as she soon saw the signal from Mu. "Hold on, the Lieutenant's Zero is engaging!" she said to the raven-haired ensign, as if to tell the crew to hold their fire until they're certain that the Hawk's plan will work. "Evasive maneuvers!"
"Too risky!" Natarle countered, wanting to act now for the sake of not only their own lives but the civilians they're forced to carry onboard their ship…. Something she's certain that even her superior officer would have to agree with her on. "Fire or draw fire!"
Murrue slammed her first onto the arm of her chair in frustration at their predicament as an anxious expression is clear on her features.
"Laurasia-class approaching fast from stern!"
Battle…
As this was going on both Kira and Yzak were both still fighting each other or rather Kira was just dodging all the attacks that the pilot of the Duel was making on him, and this was something that silver-haired pilot did like at all. The ZAFT redcoat let out a battle cry as he slashed at the Strike, once again, but ultimately fails and the Strike evades, the defending Mobile Suit continuously firing at the Duel while the Aegis continues to remain idle during the whole ordeal. Due to Kira's panicked state, he fails to notice that his Power Gauge has already dropped into yellow from excessively using his Beam Rifle. "Damn fight already!" snapped Yzak, growling at the fact that the enemy pilot is only avoiding his attacks rather than fighting back.
Kira on the other had grunted as he once gain dodged another attack from the Duel but he noticed that his power was slowly going due to his decision of firing the Beam Rifle constantly and with the other two mobile suits were now heading towards him. "Oh man…" he muttered to himself, noticing that the Buster and the Blitz decided to at least join their fellow redcoats alongside Miguel's custom GINN.
"Yzak!" Dearka called to his friend. He fires bursts of energy at the Strike as Kira can only gasp at his constantly decreasing luck. The Buster fired both its main weapons at the Strike and was doing its best to keep the Gundam at the defensive for the time being as once it ran out of power, it will be their chance to finish it off. "Athrun, Yzak what are you guys doing?" he continued to address his teammates; if they can't destroy the Archangel then they'll at least be able to defeat the Strike. "Let's surround him!"
Kira continued to fire at both the Duel and Buster before he realized that he is surrounded on all sides. The Buster at his flank, the Duel is at his right side and both the Blitz and Aegis at his front. All the brown-haired Coordinator can only give a nervous growl at his predicament. "Dearka!" Athrun calld to his teammates.
"Athrun!" Nicol called to him.
"Hey Kira need help." Shamano called to him as he fired on Aegis forcing it back…. Even though it will make him a target for the enemy pilots, he had no choice since the Strike won't stand a chance against five mobile
"Damn it." Yzak cried with anger and frustration in his voice. "It's the fighter again."
"Finally, this guy is history!" growled Walter with a darkened glare, firing the machine gun at the fighter now that it officially revealed itself to them and jetted off before the others can prevent him from doing so.
"What the hell are you doing?!" exclaimed Yzak, less than thrilled that Walter is now going after the fighter rather than their bigger threat and tried to hail the furious GINN pilot. "We've been ordered to deal with the Strike, so get back here and assist us dammit!"
"Zip it Joule, you don't know anything!" countered Walter, more and more angry as he fired the machine gun in an effort to take out the one who injured him in battle. "I wasn't able to participate in the previous attack on the Legged Ship, though I won't rest until this pest is out of our hair for good!"
Mentally cursing at this, Yzak gritted his teeth the moment Walter refused to help them and took his anger out on the Strike while dodging the Beam Rifle shots aimed at him. "That bastard, he's gonna get himself killed if this keeps up!" he said to himself, especially as he took witness to the fighter performing a barrel-roll to dodge bullets fired at it.
"That GINN again, guess the pilot must've recovered enough to get back into action." commented Shamano, countering with a shot from his fighter and he made quick contact towards Kira… knowing that the Strike won't be able to keep this up unless they can properly fend off those six enemy units trying to surround them. "How are you holding up?"
"Not too good… even with the Aile Striker, these guys mean business!" he replied to the male Trimonight, realizing that by using the Beam Rifle way too much… he has much less power than when he did before the Duel joined in attacking him and forcing the Strike on the defensive. "Odds are that my power will be depleted if this keeps up."
"If that happens Kira head back to the ship, knowing this lot they may want to try and capture the Strike." Shamano said as he made his fighter do a fast spin dodging the on-coming missiles that were heading right at him. "Should anything go wrong, I'll make contact with the Archangel and ask them to send the Sword Striker to you…. hopefully it should replenish the Strike's energy."
Kira nodded as he was sure to keep an eye on his power so as to make sure it would not be depleted. "I just hope the others are doing alright."
"Damn it we need to take them down!" Yzak yelled as he headed forward towards the Strike while still armed with the Beam Saber and avoided the Beam Rifle shots aimed at him. "You and your friend can't last forever!"
Things were not made easier as Miguel came at him, firing the machine gun and at the same time held a custom shield which was something he never saw it with before. "Its payback time!" yelled the blonde-haired GINN pilot, intending to prove that he wasn't called the Magic Bullet of Dusk for nothing and intends to assist Athrun in capturing the enemy mobile suit one way or another. "Didn't expect to see me again so soon did you, Strike?"
Shamano just grunted as he had the Buster and the Blitz on him as well as the GINN as well which was causing him more than his far share of troubles as well. "Oh come on three on one." He cursed lightly.
"If you really want to die so badly then it looks like I'll be more than happy to oblige!" grinned Walter, actually glad that the fighter still intended to fight despite being ganged up on and saw that the Duel, the Aegis and Miguel's orange GINN were still intending to fight the Strike. "Don't disappointment; I wouldn't want to kill you too quickly!"
"I have no intentions of dying you know, besides I managed to defeat you once before." responded Shamano with a serious expression on his face, part of him hoped that Mu's plan against the Vesalius will actually work as the Gamow was still approaching from behind. "You can be damned certain that I'll do so again even with the additional help you have!"
"Says the one who is out of his mind dealing with a GINN and two of the G-Weapons we stole from the Earth Alliance!" Walter gave a shrug, no sense in delaying the inevitable for much longer… mentally wishing he had a recoilless rifle or even a heavy ion cannon to make this fight more interesting than just having the heavy sword and the machine gun, sure Miguel had his GINN equipped with that shield along with the standard machine and heavy sword but never the less.
Near the Vesalius…
Meanwhile, the Moebius Zero's sensors start to buzz into life as Mu continues to inch forward, informing the Pilot that he has reached the correct position. "Got it!" He muttered to himself as he was now about ready to make his move.
This in turn caused Rau to feel his presence and he turned his attention towards Ades and the rest of the crew. "Boost the engine!" he immediately informed the crew as he's certain that it's Mu out there and cursed having not known about his whereabouts until just now but needed to hurry despite Ades' slight surprise. "Lower bow, pitch angle 60!"
"Huh?"
"Heat source approaching below!" informed one of the communications officer as the alarms alerted them that they were about to be attacked. "It's a mobile armor!"
"What?" asked Ades, his surprise changed to shock at the sound of this and never the less got ready to make the next command in an effort to defend the ship. "Activate CIWS! Boost engines, lower pitch angle 60!"
As the Vesalius was attempting to get out of the line of fire, Mu immediately went on the offensive by activating all of his Moebius Zero's Gunbarrels and fired them along with the linear cannon for damage against the Nazca-class vessel of his rival. "Alright!" he yelled as he believed that it would damage the ZAFT ship enough to take it out of the fight, knowing that Rau wouldn't want it to remain undefended should it get attacked even further.
"Major damage to engine!" commented the communications officer as the entire Vesalius was starting to tip to the left due to what Mu had done to the ship's engines in his surprise attack. "We're losing thrust!"
"Enemy mobile armor withdrawing! Shoot it down!"
"Number 5 sodium wall damaged, it's on fire!" added the officer once again, making a damage report to the rest of the crew and Rau gritted his teeth but he won't be made a fool of in this operation nor will he allow the Hawk to get away with what he had done. "Damage control sealing bulkheads!"
"Damn you Mu…" thought Rau with a darkened expression on his face, needing to his command ship to fall back for the time being. "We're pulling out; Ades send word to the Gamow!" he then made his way towards the hanger, if his CGUE was indeed fully-repaired by now there's no sense in letting it sit to collect dust now. "Have my CGUE ready for launch in case the Legged Ship has something else on their sleeve!"
Back onboard the Archangel, Tonomura received a message from Mu in an effort to inform the crew that his surprise attack has been successful in dealing a powerful blow to the Vesalius and is returning to the ship. "Message from Lieutenant La Flaga, mission accomplished!" he reported to his superior officers in the bridge from CIC. "Now returning to ship!"
Everyone present felt somewhat relieved that the Hawk's plan worked and remembered they still have a long way to go before they can even think about calling this a victory for the Earth Alliance. "Alright, let's get them" said Murrue, knowing that they now have a chance at surviving after all. "Target the enemy Nazca-class ahead!"
"Lohengrin 1 and Lohengrin 2, standby!" ordered Natarle, relaying the command to the bridge crew members and got ready to charge both assault cannons then needed to be certain it had a clear shot since they don't want hit either the Strike or the fighter in the battlefield.
"Signal Lieutenant La Flaga to clear out!" added Murrue, as they got ready to make their move on the Vesalius to prove that numbers don't matter if they have skilled pilots to protect them in combat. "Also caution the Strike and the Fighter to avoid our ship's line of fire!"
"Positron bank breath chamber at maximum" came Chandra's voice as the Lohengrins were about ready to fire when the command was give, waiting for Mu, Shamano and Kira to steer clear before they can strike. "Muzzle choke potential stabilized! Opening barrels!"
As this was happening, the battle was becoming more and more intense as Kira had a hard time hitting the Duel, the Aegis and that Orange GINN attacking him from different directions but he is glad that Shamano is helping in keeping the Buster, the Blitz and that other GINN preoccupied for the time being. The only problem was he can't keep this up much longer as he's nearly out of energy so he needed to keep an eye on the power he had left. "Huh?" he saw the message informing him that the Archangel will be getting ready to fire the Lohengrins and hoped Shamano got the same message.
There was some good news at least as the six ace ZAFT pilots from the Le Creuset Team received a message from the Vesalius concerning the surprise attack. 'A. VESALIUS was damaged by surprise attack. Withdraw all units immediately.'
Yzak's eyes widened in shock at the message itself upon reading through it and wondered what had happened. "The Vesalius was hit?" he asked, not believing what he was reading but their mother ship needed them back as soon as possible.
"How did that happen?" Nicol asked as he too was shocked by this.
"They're ordering us to retreat?" muttered Dearka, just as shocked as Yzak was right now had a feeling Athrun, Miguel, Walter and Nicol don't not know what to make of this themselves.
As they were distracted, the Strike and the fighter used this as their chance to break out of their current engagement against the enemy. "Aw shit!" cursed Yzak, just moments before the Archangel fired its Lohengrins in the direction of the Vesalius with the blasts speeding past Mu as he was returning to the EA Warship from completing his part of the plan he came up with.
"Heat source approaching, direction zero, zero, zero!" reported the communications officer onboard the Vesalius, the rest of the crew were in complete shock at this and he soon continued. "Impact in three second!"
"Starboard maximum thrust, evade it!" ordered Ades and while the Vesalius barely managed to avoid being hit by the Lohengrin blast, the power from the attack managed to damage the entire Nazca-class vessel even further, resulting in an explosion on the left side of the ship. "Commander!"
"Damn!" Rau muttered while in the cockpit of his ZGMF-515 CGUE as it soon prepared for launch, this is one battle he will make certain the enemy vessel won't survive as he has a feeling if they can take out the Strike at least then it won't be a complete loss. "Rau Le Creuset, CGUE heading out!"
Archangel Bridge
"Nazca-class veering away from our ship's course" reported Chandra, yet something was wrong as the entire ship detected Rau's CGUE launching from the enemy vessel. "A mobile suit has launched from it however!"
"Wait what?" exclaimed Matt, which the rest of the bridge crew were distraught at this as it wasn't part of the plan and they needed to be more careful than ever as the male Ramius mentally cursed at their streak of bad luck. "I should have known this would happen!"
Nodding her head, Natarle had to agree with him on the matter. "I'm concerned about the Strike's remaining power supply" she said, especially as if that CGUE joins the fray then they're all in trouble.
"Yes I know Ensign" responded Murrue with a frown of her own, and then turned towards the communications as they needed the Moebius Zero back as soon as possible. "Where's Lieutenant La Flaga?"
Pal examined the current location of the Zero and said. "Still returning but he'll have his hands full as the enemy mobile suit is coming his way!" At this rate, the Moebius Zero may end up fighting against that CGUE and hinder its rendezvous with them, making the female Captain frown even more.
"Wait a minute, we got a message from the alien!" came Tonomura's voice, alerting everyone as he read through the message that Shamano managed to send to them should the plan fail to force the Le Creuset Team to retreat in some form or another, the message read 'STANDBY FOR "SWORD STRIKER" ONCE STRIKE IS IN POSITION TO RECEIVE IT'. "He says prepare to deploy the Sword Striker with the… catapult?"
Selena gave a light frown at this feeling something was going to go wrong. "I just hope Shamano will be alright." She said with a worried looked on her face.
At that moment, Kira cried out in terror as the Buster fired on him from the front, using both its gun launcher and Beam Rifle at the same time to rain down fire on the Strike. Kira deflects these shots and tried to return fire. The Duel charged at the Strike, from its right and brandishing both Beam Sabers, as Yzak lets out a battle cry. Kira gasped and moved to attack the mobile suit with his Beam Rifle, unfortunately, a small burst of bullets from the orange GINN rip through the Beam Rifle before he can use it, causing Kira to let go of the weapon. He then went for one of the Beam Sabers on the Aile Striker and pulled it out, expecting to block the Duel. However, when he pulled out the weapon, no energy emits from the hilt. Confused, Kira looks at the Strike's power gauge.
"Out of power?!" He muttered in complete dismay as the emergency warning appears on his console, giving him cause for alarm, "Shit, my armor!"
As that realization comes to him, the Strike decolored itself, leaving it in the drab Grey colour scheme, save for the colour of the shield and Aile Pack. "Gotcha!" Yzak yelled with a cocky tone, realizing that with the Strike's power now completely depleted it would be their chance to finish it off for good.
The Strike moved to fly away, but it's too slow as the Duel got right behind it and was ready to deal the final blow to the weakened Mobile Suit. Athrun, realizing this, growled a little before transforming the Aegis into its Mobile Armor Attack Mode and veered straight towards the Strike.
"Damn it this is not good." Shamano cursed lightly as he saw the Aegis was heading towards Kira and with him having a hard time on his head Shamano knew he had to act fast. "Kira hold on I'm going to push you out the way!" he cried as he use his fighter to get as close as he could to get push Kira away.
"What the?!" he asked in disbelief, expecting the Duel to finish him off but much to his dismay… he saw that the fighter was now in the grip of the mobile suit that his best friend is piloting and the problem was he couldn't help Shamano at all due to the fact that he was officially out of power. "Shamano!"
"Don't worry about me; just get back to the Archangel now!" Shamano countered back as Athrun and Kira were shocked that the alien in question got himself captured to save the Strike despite the fact the Aegis pilot wanted to capture the remaining Gundam in order to do so from Yzak. "It's preparing to send the Sword Striker… get ready to switch packs!"
He wasn't sure what to say, especially as he couldn't just abandon his new friend right there but had a feeling that he made a good point himself. "Shamano… I…" he tried to speak but he saw that the Duel and the Buster were about ready to attack him again then reflected on his friends from the Archangel. "Alright, but I'll be back soon!"
"Dammit, he's getting away!" snapped Yzak, though at the same time wondered why Athrun had attempted to intervene when he's about ready to finish the job… the one that the blue-haired redcoat wasn't willing to do then noticed that the Aegis was making its way back to the Vesalius. "Where the hell are you going?!"
"I'm capturing this fighter, besides the Strike will want to come back and rescue his comrade!" responded Athrun, believing that the fighter being captured could work to their advantage to lure the Strike into an ambush that will lead to them acquiring the mobile suit as he's sure that Miguel, Nicol and Rau would agree with him on that. "If we have the chance to capture at least one of these units all the better so let's go!"
"That bastard…" Yzak silently muttered to himself then glanced towards Dearka and had a feeling they might be the only ones willing to finish the job properly even if their comrade refused to do so. "If that's the case then stay out of our way… let's go Dearka!"
With that said, the Duel and the Buster began making pursuit of the powerless Aile Strike while Walter gave a darkened glare towards the Aegis since he wanted to destroy the fighter in battle. "Yzak, Dearka get back here!" yelled Athrun, trying to contact the two fellow redcoats but they weren't responding to him and all he could do was clutch the controls of his mobile suit. "Just great…"
As he was making his way back to the Archangel, Mu was in complete disbelief that Shamano had gotten himself captured by the Aegis just to save Kira. "First he can't get back, now he's been captured?" he asked himself as he had to do something himself and soon before the enemy gets their hands on the Strike. "That fool… and now Kira's out of power as well…"
Unfortunately he would have cursed himself even more as he suddenly sensed something approaching from behind and had a feeling he knew who it was. "Why did he have to show up?" he immediately realized that Rau launched into action and is pursuing his Moebius Zero in the CGUE which would make trying to help Shamano and Kira even more difficult than it should be.
On the Archangel, Selena just gave a curse at this as she heard this. "Damn this is not good." She said biting her nails as she heard about Shamano and the ship fired the Valiants, the Korinthos and Sledgehammers in an effort to keep the Duel and the Buster off of the Strike's back so they can properly send the Sword Striker to it…. Hopefully it will restore the Strike's power enough so it can be of better assistance.
Matt looked at Murrue and was worried as well. "Are we still picking up that unknown heat source as well?" he asked as they needed to make sure that the ship was not another ZAFT ship last thing they needed was to have three ships down on them.
Tolle looked at the monitors and nodded to him. "Yeah but its, well I'm not sure what it is its no ZAFT ship that's for sure."
"Kira what's going on?" Miriallia asked as she was worried for Kira since after hearing what was going on.
"Shamano he's been captured." Kira said with a frown on his face. "I'm going to try and help him."
Hearing this everyone was shocked by this as they all looked at each other with a frown. "Well we need to hurry up then and save him." Cagalli said as Flay nodded at this as she too was worroed for her friend.
"But how?" asked Kuzzey, becoming nervous right now as the odds are now against them since the enemy might try to hold Shamano hostage in an effort to make the EA crew and Kira surrender in retaliation for what happened to their Nazca-class ship. "They still out-number us not just by ships but by mobile suits as well."
"Would you rather he die then Kuzzey?" Tolle asked him, making their friend from Heliopolis remain silent over the matter at hand and while it's a rare treat to see an alien period, it doesn't make him any different than a normal human being whether they be Coordinator or Natural alike. "He risked his life to save Kira from being captured, so we need to try and return the favour."
"He's right you know!" added Selena with a darkened expression on her face since they already had enough problems and something else needed to be said. "Remember, Shamano's fighter, even his ship have technology that isn't from this world and if ZAFT gets their hands on it… who knows what would happen?"
There was nothing but silence from Kuzzey, slowly taking in what Tolle and Selena were trying to tell him as he had completely forgotten the notion that the male Trimonight's technology was way different than the one from Orb, the Earth Alliance and ZAFT. "Well Mr. Murdoch?" asked Murrue, making contact with the mobile suit hanger in hopes that the Sword Striker was being prepared to send to the Strike. "Ready?"
"Anytime, but this is absolutely ridiculous." came Murdoch's voice from the MS deck, especially as unlike mobile suits and mobile armors… the Striker Packs have no operators to effectively control them in battles such as this plus the packs were never meant to sent to the Strike via the catapult. "What if it gets shot down?"
"Yes it's crazy but it's our only chance!" snapped Murrue, she didn't have time to argue with the technicians right now as they had a life to save from the enemy then she turned her attention towards the CIC. "Ensign Badgirule, I'll leave the timing up to you."
"Roger that." Nodding her head, Natarle complied with Murrue's command and relayed it to the rest of the crew to better prepare themselves to restore the Strike's depleted power as they have only one shot in an attempt to get it right. "Transfer the ship's controls, laser designator online match velocity to the Strike and transfer control of catapult launch, timing to the Sword Striker's computer!"
"Damn it I need to get out of this." Shamano said with a frown as he looked at the one button. "Can't let them get any technology." As he knew this wouldn't destroy the Aegis but would stop them from getting the fighter. "Hey Mir look I'm sorry for not telling you about who I was just wanted to say that." He said as he gave her a smile.
Miriallia on the other hand was a little shocked as was the other wondering what he was saying and why. That was until Selena cried out knowing what he was going to do. "Shamano don't do it!" she yelled in fear and shock. "I already lost Luna and Meyrin and so many other friends when I left the PLANTs, I don't need to lose you to death!"
"What are you talking about Selena?" Tolle asked as he looked at the blue hair girl who was frantic at what their friend was talking about, especially having never heard of this Luna and Meyrin before but the biggest shock was the fact Selena originated from the PLANTs.
"He's going to kill himself so they don't get anything from him, that fighter can blow up!" She said since she was aware that there were indeed fail safes for the unit in case it were to ever be captured or close to being defeated by an enemy. "Shamano it won't destroy the Aegis."
"Oh really? Besides, it would be better than letting it fall into the hands of the enemy forces!" responded Shamano with a serious expression on his face as he needed to be ready to do what is needed in order to keep "Unfortunately, Lieutenant La Flaga has his own hands tied due to fighting an enemy mobile suit from the Nazca-class vessel!"
Biting her lower lip, Selena couldn't believe what she was hearing right now as it seems that Mu was currently dealing with that ZAFT mobile suit piloted by Rau himself. "Well try to hang on for a little longer okay?" she tried to inform him with a frown on her face, having unwittingly exposed her true nature of being from the PLANTs to everyone in the bridge which made them glance at her as if they are becoming suspicious. "Sure Miriallia hates you right now but that doesn't mean committing suicide is necessary!"
There was nothing but silence from Shamano, especially as she made a good point concerning the situation…. Needless to say, their conversation was interrupted by the alarms alerting them of enemy mobile suits nearby. "Duel approaching!"
"Crap, just what we didn't need…" muttered Tolle, biting his own lip and while nobody was happy with the fact that Selena never told them about being from the PLANTs… they will need to question her as to why she never revealed it later after they fend off the ZAFT pilots still chasing the Strike. "By the way Selena, is his fighter compatible with the Striker Packs?"
"I'm actually not so sure it was…" answered the blunette with a frown, feeling shame over the matter that she never once brought up the fact she's not from Orb at all and could only imagine how everyone is feeling on this. "We never actually thought about modifying it to be able to mount the packs not used by the Strike and we didn't have time to do so… at least not that I know of."
"Well don't have to worry about Selena." Shamano began as he gave weak smile and rubbed the back of his head. "Well it seems that the button is broken."
Tolle and the other were all taken back by this as they and even the other members of the crew all looked at each. "What how could you forget it was broken!" Tolle said with shock in his voice.
"Well Tolle got a lot on my mind right now and have not had to use my fighter in a long time." Shamano said with a frown on his face. "So I forgot."
Everyone else were just shocked by this, while his friends just stared blankly at what he had just said as Miriallia couldn't help but give a light laugh at this finding it a little funny that he would have forgot something like this. "Come to think of it…" Tolle turned her attention towards Selena since she had some question concerning why she never told them she was from the PLANTs or about Luna and Meyrin. "You have a lot of explaining to do Selena…"
"Well right now, let's concentrate on surviving this battle first!" snapped Selena, not liking that everyone was starring at her funny, even Flay was showing a darkened glare towards her unlike Miri and that actually went unnoticed to everyone present. "I don't need to be pressured much like when I was at the PLANTs!"
"But you lied to us, just like Shamano did!" snapped Flay, being the next to speak and the venom in her voice made her friends from Heliopolis wonder what's with the red-haired girl right now. "We have plenty of time so let's cut to the chase, why did you even deceive us?!"
"Flay…." muttered Misha, not believing what she's hearing nor did Jessie… it wasn't like Flay to be so full of hatred right now which was something they and Miri need to speak with her one later when they're safe.
Sai on the other hand simply sighed as the last thing they needed was an argument among each other when they got bigger problems. "You can see that Selena's not feeling comfortable right now and we still have to play our part" he commented as a means to play peacemaker among the group, Cagalli remained silent throughout the entire thing as she had not decided on what to say on this at all.
As everyone was silent at what had just happened, their thoughts were soon cut off as Kira soon contacted them. "Archangel I'm in position!" Kira called out to them as he was sure to keep an eye on the others.
"We better hurry as well the Duel is coming in fast as well." Sai called out as he had detected the Duel coming towards the Strike.
Murrue nodded at this as she looked over to her brother. "Tell Chef Murdoch to launch it right away we can't waste any more time."
"Activate the Starboard Catapult!"
Kira on the other hand was already getting ready as he began ejecting the Aile Striker and releasing the shield in order to get the Sword Striker equipped. But he knew that the Duel was also coming and he needed to be fast as well as he was slowly running out of time to save his friend, it was the least he could do since Shamano had saved him. "It's coming…" he said to himself, getting himself ready to mount the Sword Striker in hopes of restoring the depleted batter.
While the Duel was getting ready to target the Strike with the 175mm Grenade Launcher which is underneath the barrel of the 57mm High-energy Beam Rifle in an effort to destroy the Strike with a single shot of the Grenade Launcher before it can get the Sword Striker equipped. "You're all mine." Yzak said with a smirk forming on his face.
"Damn it kid you better hurry up." Mu said as he was doing what he could to keep Rau's CGUE at bay from getting in the way but it wasn't easy as the masked commander managed to destroy one of the Gunbarrels with the machine gun his mobile suit possessed.
"Kira look just come with us." Athrun said as he once again got in contact with Kira, and was going to try and do all that he could to get Kira to come with him. "You belong with your people and not those Naturals."
Kira was giving a frown at this as he knew that he didn't want to fight Athrun but all his friends were on the Archangel and that would mean they could be killed. "Athrun I can't do that my friends are on that ship, and you're holding another one hostage right now."
"He has something that our people can use you've seen what this fighter can do, we can't leave it in the hands of the Naturals." Athrun said with determination in his voice.
Yzak on the other hand just gave a smile as he saw the right moment to take out the Strike. "I got you!" He yelled as he fired.
Everyone was shocked the moment the Duel fired and a pink explosion occurred right where the Strike was switching packs. "Kira…" Shamano muttered in shock, hoping to god that the Duel didn't succeed in destroying the Archangel's only mobile suit along with the only pilot who was capable of using it in battle against the enemy.
"Did I get it?" asked Yzak, wanting to be certain that he was able to finish the mission and waited for merely a few seconds before something came out from the smoke formed by the explosion… to his shock, a familiar beam boomerang came speeding towards him and he barely avoid the weapon which was a sign that the Strike wasn't destroyed then took aim, expecting the EA machine to come out as well but had failed to notice that like regular boomerangs, beam boomerangs comes back and it sliced off a large chunk of the Duel's right leg right up to above the knee. "What the?!"
Then coming from out of nowhere after the pink smoke cleared was the GAT-X105+AQM/E-X02 Sword Strike completely intact, its PS Armor reactivated and armed with the "Schwert Gewehr" 15.78m Anti-ship Sword. "Damn, how is that possible?!" wondered Dearka in his own share of disbelief as he combined the Buster's Gun Launcher and High-energy Rifle together into the more powerful Hyper Impulse Long-Ranged Sniper Rifle and opened fire at the enemy mobile suit.
Kira however, managed to swerve to the left in order to avoid being hit by the powerful yellow beam that targeted him. "I should have known this would happen!" snapped Miguel, both he and Walter fired their machine guns at the Strike but the PS Armor protected it from the projectile attacks that struck it as he didn't have time to deal with them.
"Athrun!" yelled Kira, coming face to face with his childhood friend and the Blitz itself, both mobile suits were still holding his friend hostage which was something he won't stand by to let happen let alone allow them to take the alien fighter back to their Nazca-class mothership. "You wanted me so here I am!"
Athrun and Nicol remained silent, they never would have expected the Striker Packs having the ability to recharge the Strike's battery in combat but at the same time, they still have a duty to full-fill even if it means resorting to forcing their opponent to surrender. "Don't make me have to do this Kira." responded the pilot of the Aegis, he was about ready to fire the Scylla Cannon which was the red Gundam's most powerful weapon and could vaporize the entire fighter in one blast if needed. "You are a Coordinator, you're one of us!"
The Sword Strike grasped onto the Schwert Gewehr, he hated having to be in this position as he didn't want any harm to happen to Shamano while at the same time he couldn't surrender as it would mean the destruction of the Archangel and his friends along with it. "Athrun…" he muttered giving a glare.
"Kid!" yelled Mu, especially as he tried his best to fend off Rau's CGUE with the linear cannon and the three remaining Gunbarrels that he had at his disposal… fortunately since he wasn't inside a civilian colony he can go all-out without risking the safety of any innocent lives in battle. "I'm no good to him or Shamano if I get shot down."
As he proved himself to be as difficult to shoot down in combat as he was at Heliopolis and even at the Grimaldi Front, Rau was taking interest in the scene that's taking place between Athrun and Kira as from the way things are going it might actually work to their advantage provided they don't lose their captive in this scuffle between two friends. "You're just as annoying as you were at Heliopolis and Edymion, so do us both a favor and fall!" he shot at the Hawk, returning fire with the machine gun while having his M7070 28mm Vulcan System shield to block fire he couldn't avoid.
Mu just cursed lightly as he looked at the monitor to see how Kira was doing. "Come on kid…" he said as he knew things right now we're not looking good.
But he knew that he needed to keep Rau away from the Strike just long enough for Kira to help Shamano get free and then once they had done that, and then they would be able to push ZAFT back to their ships.
"Athrun just let him go!" Kira yelled as he soon knew that he would have to attack his best friend in order to save a friend which just out Kira in a position that he didn't want to be in. 'What should I do?' he thought as he knew Athrun wouldn't kill him. "Why are you doing this Athrun?"
Athrun on the other hand looked at his friend with a frown on his face. "Because you should be with your own people Kira, after all you're a Coordinator like us, so you belong with your people." He turned his attention towards Nicol as he wanted the Blitz to
"Kira look don't listen your people are that of the ones from Orb." Shamano said knowing Kira would need to hear this as he could see the look that Kira had one his face right now, as the young man felt very conflicted over what he was doing. "After all that was where you were born right?"
Yet hearing this Kira just looked at his screen when Shamano said this as his friend just went on to talk to him to help him as best as he could, even with the trouble that he was in now. "Look I have no idea what is going on and once we get back on the ship, if we get back on the ship I hope that you can tell me."
"What are you doing?" came Walter's voice through the Aegis' communication, becoming more and more annoyed that the fighter was still in their possession as if it were him then he would have already destroyed that thing right away without any kind of hesitation. "Just put that pilot out of his misery already and be done with it?"
"Quiet!" snapped Athrun, not needing to be pressured any further than he needed to be as he made a promise to Rau to at least capture the Strike and he wasn't in mood to hear Walter's BS either during a major mission and he needed to make sure his plan will work since it requires Nicol's assistance in order to complete it. "I know what I'm doing, so give me more time okay?"
Gritting his teeth out of anger, Walter wanted to take action and at the same time… he knew Rau was out there in his CGUE so he can't take matters into his own hands concerning Shamano. "You little…" he mentally cursed Athrun despite the fact that he knew the Aegis' pilot was Chairman Zala's son.
The brown-haired young man remained silent, he wanted to be act as soon as possible but he was not one to risk Shamano's safety even if it is to stop the Aegis from bringing him back to the Vesalius as he knew that the Le Creuset Team and ZAFT in general would use the technology for their own advantage in the war. "Kira… you need to understand that times have changed since we went our separate ways as kids…" commented Athrun, lowing his head as he could still remember the destruction of Junius Seven and the death of someone who he cared about as a result. "I lost my mother in the Bloody Valentine Tragedy last year."
"What?" asked Kira in disbelief as he had no idea at the fact that Athrun's mother Lenore Zala was among those who were killed when the nuclear missile from a Moebius mobile armor had destroyed Junius Seven last year and he didn't know what else to say now that he is aware of that. "Is… is this true?"
"Yes, now you know why I've decided to join the ZAFT military and why you can't stay with the Naturals any longer!" answered Athrun, gripping onto the controls of his Gundam once again and how he swore to himself that no more innocent lives will be lost at the hands of the enemy…. something he is hoping will make his childhood best friend open his eyes to the truth. "Please Kira…"
"I'm sorry Athrun but I can't I said it before I have friends on that ship and civilians as well." Kira said as he soon thought of all the innocent people that were on the Archangel.
Athrun was about to say something else when an explosion had gone off behind him, which also caused him to let go of the fighter that he was holding onto but it wasn't able to damage his Gundam thanks to the PS Armor protecting him from the projectile assault. "Okay Kira we need to drive them back." Shamano said as he ready the canon on his ship and began to fire short burst close to the Aegis in order to drive it back.
Mu on his end gave a smile as she saw that Shamano was free, and he was sure that Rau was none too pleased by all of this either. "Kid we better hurry this up." Mu said as he contacted Kira.
Walter however seeing that the fighter was once again free gave a deadly smile as he knew this was his chance to try and kill the pilot for what he had done to his face. "Oh this is just too good to be true." He said with a smirk forming on his face.
Back on the Archangel everyone gave a sigh that Shamano was safe as he was once again free. "Shamano is okay." Tolle said with a grin on his face as he knew that they just might get through this battle.
Yet the unknown ship was still getting closer. Murrue that ship is getting closer to us." Matt told his sister as he looked at the screen with a frown and began to wonder if this was a ZAFT ship.
Cagalli herself was frowning at this as she too wondered what the ship was. 'Could father have sent it?' She asked herself as she was sure that they would have picked it up if it belonged to Orb.
Something that she knew if she got to Orb she would have to talk to him about, as she still felt angry over what he had done, maybe Shamano would know why he had done it, so she made a mental note to ask him once he got back.
Murrue nodded at what Matt said as she looked at the other officers. "Make sure you keep a close eye on the ship, we have no idea whose side it may be on."
"Understood." responded the male Ramius with a nod, especially as with the rest of the crew onboard the Archangel, he too is rather suspicious on the ship that has entered the fray but the blue-haired young girl had a feeling she knew what it was. "If anything, we'll have the Lohengrins ready to fire at it should it prove to be a hostile vessel, so be ready?"
"Hold on, there might not be any need for that!" informed Selena, while the others looked at her as if wondering what made her say that though before they could respond… the ship in question had targeted the Gamow and fired its cannon again, this time towards the enemy Laurasia-class warship which made everyone shocked by what they were witnessing. "See, what did I tell you?"
Needless to say, Zelman didn't sound too thrilled with a cannon blast approaching from within the bridge of his vessel. "Take evasive maneuvers, hurry!" he ordered the entire crew while they were barely able to dodge the blast… it left some considerable damage to their warship. "Hurry and identity that new enemy vessel that just showed up!"
"Hold on a second" reported one of the crew members, frowning as despite doing the best they could in an effort to find out what they were now up against, they were having no luck at all as there was no data on the ship that had come to add the newly constructed EA warship in this battle. "There's nothing on it I'm afraid sir."
"What?!" exclaimed Zelman in disbelief, if there was no data on the vessel that had attacked them then he suspected it might be something they never knew about aside from that fighter from their raid on Heliopolis not too long ago. "We're completely outnumbered, more so after the Vesalius had been damaged earlier and forced to retreat from the area…"
"Captain?"
He was in deep thought, knowing that they won't survive if they continued their assault and remembered the command from Rau himself not too long ago. "Fire the signal flares, we're pulling out of here!" he gave his command, knowing that their mission has ended in failure along with the fact that the capture mobile suits may end up running out of energy if they remain in the battle.
After some silence, the Gamow's crew knew that they were in a huge disadvantage right now and had to comply with the order to ensure their survival. "Yes sir, firing signal flares!" began one of the crew members as the Laurasia-class vessel fired the signal flares to inform all pilots still in battle to withdraw at once.
"Huh?" wondered Walter, shocked at the fact that he and the rest of the Le Creuset Team, including their commander Rau himself bore witness to the flares that had just fired from the direction of the Gamow… mentally cursing himself at the fact that he was about to make his move on the fighter. "No, no, no, not now!"
Nicol was just as shocked at seeing this too. "What the Gamow is being attacked too?" He said in shock as the rest of his team could see the ship that was attacking it. "We better head back guys." Nicol said as each one began to full back.
"Hey Walter we need to head back now that's an order" Miguel said as he gave a frown he head back to the ship.
Walter however could only scream in rage at this as he looked at the Strike and the fighter. "This is not over if it's the last thing I do I will kill them BOTH!" He cried as he too soon left the area as well.
For Kira he couldn't help but give a sigh at this he was happy that he had not only survived but also kept his friends safe as well from the first attack as well. "Thanks for the help Shamano." He said with a sigh.
"Hey we're friends after all Kira." responded Shamano with a smile as the three soon saw the Archangel firing its own signal flares, a sign it was time for them to head back to the ship in order to make their next move.
The Blitz is just coming in for a landing as it enters the olive battleship through its lower launch hatch, its four allies having already docked in the ship. The Black Mobile Suit flies backwards slowly and plants its feet slowly on the surface of the Gamow's launch bay followed by Rau's ZGMF-515 CGUE.
Meanwhile, things are not going well in the Gamow's Locker Room as Yzak grabs Athrun by the collar of his Normal Suit and rams him against the Lockers. "Bastard!" he insulted Athrun with a scowl on his face, "Are you outta your mind?! If only you hadn't acted out of line there!" His grip is quickly detached as Miguel gets in the way and pushes them both apart, attempting to defuse the situation.
"Lay off, Yzak!" Miguel scolded the silver-haired redcoat with a serious expression.
Yzak however looked over to his friend at this with a frown on his face. "What the hell are you saying Miguel?!" Yzak exclaimed, "You saying you agree with what this idiot did out there?!"
"Hell no!" Miguel clarified, "What Athrun did was stupid and cost us a chance at getting rid of the Strike and its pilot and this fighter with have no idea where it came from! Of course I'm pissed!"
"Then why are you telling me to lay off?!" Yzak fought back hotly, trying his luck and get past Miguel.
"Because I get where he was coming from Yzak, and in a way it was a good idea after all!" Miguel responded knowing what Athrun was trying to do "If we had the Strike on our side, the Alliance would have no chance!" Yzak hesitated for a few seconds as he seems to calm down a little.
"I guess…" He trails before adopting an angry face again, pushing back towards Athrun as Miguel tries to keep him back, "But it still was a stupid thing he did!"
"It was quite a blunder." Dearka chipped in, "All because you ignored orders and as for you Walter… you weren't that much of a help either with your desire to destroy that fighter instead of assisting us take out the Strike!"
Walter growled at this remark as now he was being accused of the same thing. "Don't you start with me Elsman, you don't know what it was like to be humiliated by that fighter!" he remarked with a darkened expression on his face.
At that moment, the doors opened and Nicol stepped in. He saw the tense atmosphere and Yzak's wrestling with Miguel and quickly drifted into the room. "What are you doing?!" he cried out at the other ace pilots in the room. "This isn't the place! Stop it!"
"We went out with Seven machines, seven counting Commander Le Creuset's CGUE!" Yzak exclaims, "Yet we failed to nail it!" He tried to fight past against Miguel again, "This is humiliating!"
"But taking it out Athrun won't change anything, will it?" Nicol tried to reason with his comrades. Yzak looks back towards him with an angry expression as Nicol's stern one doesn't change. He hovers there for a few moments before moving away from Miguel and flies towards the door to leave, Dearka in tow, leaving Miguel, Athrun and Nicol alone.
"Athrun…" Nicol started to address his teammate, "I also feel that this isn't like you, but…"
"Can you please just leave me alone, Nicol? Miguel?" Athrun pleaded with them as a solemn expression is clear on his face. He leaves the room and punches the wall outside in frustration at all that has occurred. "Kira…" He muttered.
Meanwhile, Miguel hovered in the locker room with a thoughtful expression as something crossed across his mind. "Feeling troubled Miguel?" he heard Rau's voice as the blonde-haired GINN pilot and Nicol turned to see the masked commander was approaching them.
"Commander?" he wondered, somewhat surprised to see that the leader of the Le Creuset Team was onboard the Gamow rather than having returned to the Vesalius, not that there was anything wrong with it and they saluted to the older man. "What brings you here?"
"I came to check on you, it was the same expression Athrun had after my CGUE was damaged in Heliopolis" responded Rau with a concerned look on his masked face, suspecting he knew what was wrong. "I assume that it was about our failed mission."
Remaining silent, Miguel was certain that Rau may have figured out the problem in general plus with the way the battle turned out… they needed to be better prepared for the next time they strike at the enemy warship. "I still don't understand, we out-numbered them seven to three and yet we weren't able to take down the Strike, that Moebius Zero or the fighter" he commented with a frown on his face. "Plus the remaining GINNs from the Gamow were wiped out by that warship and the fighter… The worse part is that the pack that the Strike switched to must have somehow replenished its power… something that even we never calculated until just now."
"Yes, I was there when it was happening but I can't say that I blame you" said Rau, fixing his mask a bit before he continued with what he needed to say since he was unable to capture the Strike even with that advantage they had on their side. "Where is Athrun?"
"He left the room to vent some anger, he never noticed you came in when he did" answered Miguel with a concerned expression of his own since normally the blue-haired redcoat on their team wouldn't hesitate when fighting an enemy mobile suit. "Yzak and Dearka got mad at him and at Walter for earlier… I can understand Walter as he acted on his own accord but not Athrun…"
Rau's face turned serious upon hearing this, suspecting that Athrun was unable to convince the Strike's pilot Kira Yamato to see into their way of thinking or even shoot him down. "I see… well it can't be helped, in any case I would like to have a few words with Zelman concerning this mysterious attacker…" he turned his attention towards Nicol as well. "Nicol, I need you to check up on Athrun and make sure he is to report to the bridge when he has calmed down enough."
"Understood, I'll my best sir" responded the green-haired Blitz pilot as Rau's only response was a simple nod before leaving the room for the bridge in order to find out from Zelman personally more on the ship that had attacked the Gamow while they were preoccupied with fighting the three enemy units from the Archangel and he wanted all six pilots in the bridge later so they could plan their next move.
Archangel's Cafeteria
"No way!" snapped Flay, not liking the area of being near Selena ever since having heard that she was a Coordinator from the PLANTs and it made Sai, Kuzzey, Tolle, Mir, Jessie, Misha and Cagalli wonder what's up with her lately. "I said it and I mean it!"
"Oh really?" asked Mir with her arms crossed, giving Flay a serious expression on her face the moment the red-haired girl refused to speak with Selena at all while the others still can't believe that Shamano wasn't the only one who lied to them at Heliopolis. "And why not?"
"What's wrong with them?" wondered Kira, now donning the same blue EA uniform that Sai, Kuzzey and Tolle wore ever since their battle against the Le Creuset Team while he was new to being part of the military it didn't make him a soldier at all.
Remaining silent for a moment, Tolle gave a small sigh as he figured that their brown-haired Coordinator friend should know the truth yet he was sure Shamano may already be aware of it himself. "Don't ask though ever since Selena revealed that she was born in the PLANTs, Flay refuse to even speak to her." he replied with a look of concern on his face and saw the shocked look Kira had when he learned of where Selena had been born at. "Come to think of it, we still have question we need to ask Selena ourselves when she has the time."
"No way, I'm not gonna go anywhere near a Coordinator! She lied to us…" Flay countered back at Mir, answering her reasons for why she isn't gonna go near Selena after finding out the truth about the blunette. "Also I'm too afraid…"
"Flay…"
Despite Mir being worried about Flay, the younger girl saw that Kira had just shown up in the cafeteria and gave a small smile. "Oh… You're different Kira… I know that much for sure!" she tried to reassure him, as she was at the bridge when he was fighting to keep the Archangel safe from the ZAFT pilots sent to attack them then her smile disappeared, replaced with her angry expression. "But Selena is associated with ZAFT! Coordinators, they're not only smart but they're gifted with other things like better reflexes! What would happen if she betrayed us! Right?"
"Flay, that's enough!" said Mir, not believing that Flay would think that Selena would be a ZAFT spy when they've been clearly aware the blue-haired girl was assisting with getting the Archangel to Artemis much like the rest of them did. "You need to understand that she wouldn't harm any of us, sure she may be a Coordinator but…"
"You don't know that for certain Miriallia! You can't tell what a Coordinator is capable of just by looking at them! What if they happen to be really strong?" Flay had another angry expression and she remembered that Shamano lied about being Jake, along with the fact that he is going to be leaving them soon once they're no longer in danger then looked Mir directly in the eye. "As I recall, you're still made at Shamano for lying to us as well!"
"Well, that's different…" Mir began, only for her sentence to be cut off the moment they saw Selena entering the room and from the way they saw it was actually as if the blunette was rather worried that everyone is going to see her much differently than they did before the Le Creuset Team attacked Heliopolis. "Selena?"
"Did I miss something?" wondered Selena, having heard all the commotion and had a feeling that it has something to do with her revealing her true heritage, she needed to properly explain to them why she never mentioned being from the PLANTs. Yet everyone remained silent, wondering how they would respond to the remark.
Flay had her hand to her right cheek as she was completely dumbfounded that Selena even decided to try and start a conversation with them after what had happened earlier. "This is nuts!" she said with slight resentment towards the other girl. "Who would someone from ZAFT wander on her own?"
"Excuse me? I'm not from ZAFT you know, if I were then you all would have been dead by now!" Selena was not happy about the accusation that Flay had just made on her without giving her a chance to properly explain. "Besides, I wouldn't be caught dead with these guys after…."
"That makes no difference!" Flay interrupted before the blue-haired female Coordinator can even finish her sentence, causing everyone to wonder what she was thinking by saying those spiteful words. "You're still one of those Coordinators!"
"Look Flay, if it was about not revealing that I was from the PLANTs before then I'm sorry… there was a reason why I never bothered to do so." said Selena, especially as she was starting to get angry with Flay but she was using all the restraint she had to keep herself from making the biggest mistake in her life. "I wanted to make a clean-start in Heliopolis, away from the people who tormented me ever since my parents died and remembered Kira is a Coordinator too but he's not…"
"Stop it, just keep your distance!" Flay lashed out, backing away from Selena and showed that she wanted nothing to do with the other girl ever. "You must be nuts, why should I even listen to another one of your damn lies?!"
It was something everyone present couldn't believe, they were just about to say something to stop it until the red-headed girl finished with one final comment. "I don't want any of you Coordinators acting friendly with me!" The moment she said that, it caused Kira's and Selena's eyes to widen in complete horror and the latter was left completely speechless at this.
Unfortunately before the others could stop Selena, she ran out of the cafeteria in tears and still couldn't even believe what Flay just said. "Selena wait!" yelled Kira but it was too late as the blunette was gone, unable to fight the tears as she left.
"Selena…" muttered Kuzzey then turned his attention towards Flay with a scowl on his face, he and the other Heliopoilis students were not happy that one of their friends just hurt another all because she was a Coordinator. "Are you a member of Blue Cosmos?"
"No I'm not!" responded Flay with another glare and yet her friends felt as if she was acting like she is indeed a member of that group while unsure of what they should believe anymore despite their part in helping the Archangel in its time of need. "But the stance those people take, I don't think they're exactly wrong… Anyone who has their genes operated on when they're not sick or anything is against what nature intended…"
"Am I missing something here?" Another voice asked as he stepped into the cafeteria looking at the friends he had made. "I mean I saw Selena leave here and she looked very upset." He said wondering what had happened.
The others on the other hand all looked over to him as they noticed that he was not wearing an Earth Alliance uniform like they were. "Hey how come you're not wearing a uniform?" Tolle asked seeing he
With a smile Shamano just looked at the clothes he had on. "Well two reason Tolle why I'm not wearing a uniform." He began and still smiled at his friends. "Number one I never enlisted so there for I don't need to wear one, the next one is I hate to wear a uniform, not the military type anyone."
Kira on the other hand was just looking at Flay with sadness on his face after he heard what she had said, feeling that there was no hope to win her heart. "So mind telling me what happened?"
Everyone just looked at each other wondering how to say it to him in the best way that they could, after all Selena was his friend. "Well we think that Flay is a member of Blue Cosmos." Kuzzey blurted out.
"Kuzzey!" Misha yelled at the male as she couldn't help but give a sigh at how careless he was in just saying something like that. "We don't know she is."
"Look she said how she didn't want Selena around her because she used to live in the PLANT's." Jessica said as she looked over to Flay, who was not looking at them right now after what had occurred earlier.
"Oh really well one way to find out if she is part of that group" He said as he moved over to her and Kira was worried he might do something then turned his attention towards the brown-haired Coordinator in question. "I think you should check up on Selena and make sure she doesn't do something that she may end up regretting."
"Okay, I just hope she'll be okay…" began Kira with a concerned expression as he went to check up on the blue-haired female Coordinator as after what Flay had said to her, it was something that made him wonder if things might actually get worse before they get better as he reflected on Athrun trying to convince him to join ZAFT and having revealed that the Aegis' pilot's mother had died in the destruction of Junius Seven.
Shamano nodded his head as he turned to see Kira leave. "Oh yeah, Lieutenant La Flaga wanted me to let you know to put a lock onto the Strike's OS and make sure that nobody can operate that machine but you." he informed his friend of the request that Mu wanted him to mention since they'll be docking at Artemis in hopes that the Eurasian Federation base would allow them inside despite the Archangel and the Strike being from the Atlantic Federation yet he had a bad feeling about the place, not knowing why either but the good news was he was able to retrieve the Aile Striker and the shield following the conclusion of their fight against the Le Creuset Team. "That will have to wait until we can fix what happened."
Kira gave no verbal reply but nodded, understanding what he needed to do and exited the cafeteria while his friends watched him do so. "Hey Flay, may I have a word with you?" asked Shamano with a serious expression on his face, somewhat not too pleased that she made Selena cry all because she was a Coordinator born from the PLANTs.
There was nothing but silence from the red-headed female Natural as she wasn't in the mood to speak with anyone at this point. "Flay!" he tried to place his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to get her to listen to what he had to say and she got mad the moment he did so, turning her attention towards the alien.
"What do you want?!" she yelled with the same expression she had towards Selena, especially as the male Trimonight saw that her blue eyes were full of hatred… which was the first time he noticed but she never actually showed that when she learned that Kira and Selena were both Coordinators yet when Selena revealed having been born in the PLANTs themselves it was an entirely different story.
"I just wanted to see how you and the others were doing" answered Shamano with another sigh, this was starting to become like when Mir was angry with him for not revealing he was an alien all over again as well as Cagalli getting mad at him too... hoping that Flay won't be the third girl to ever hit him across the face. "More so as I wonder why you refused to be around Selena… sure she may be a Coordinator but I knew her for a long time, more than the others on this ship and I trusted her with helping me with getting my ship and fighter ready back at Heliopolis."
"How can you be sure you can even trust her?!" demanded Flay, becoming rather mad that he even brought up Selena's name let alone the fact he had known her prior to the Le Creuset Team attack on their home… the worse thing was she isn't sure what she should believe anymore after what transpired. "For all I know, she'd try to extract data from them to hand over to the ZAFT team chasing up… in fact, I'd say she might have been the one who informed them about the mobile suits and the Archangel since she worked at Morgenroete!"
Mir was shocked more than ever at the fact she even considered still believing that Selena was in league with the ZAFT forces that were chasing them. "Flay Allster!" she snapped out, trying her best to defend Selena even if her friend wouldn't want to hear any of it and at the same time, some realization came to her as that was indeed how she reacted when Shamano tried to explain why he hid being a Trimonight but with different accusations than what Flay was giving towards Selena.
Shamano gave a sigh at this and rubbed his head as he felt he was getting to old for all this. "Look Flay, I trust her and know that she wouldn't do that. As Morgenroete I think it may have been someone else that told them she was hiding as well after all." He said as he knew he needed to tell her this.
Yet the young girl just gave a frown at this as she looked at him, while her friends were looking at her as well as they too wondered what to think of this situation as well. Cagalli on the other hand was not too pleased by what the red head was saying at all either but she knew that right now was not her place to step in at least not yet.
"Okay let me put it like this Flay." He said as he looked at the younger girl. "Would you kill a child that's a Coordinator who is defenceless and is scared at what would be going on?"
Flay was shocked by this and was unsure of what to say really to what Shamano was saying to her. "I..." She said as she tried to think of the right words to say.
"Look Flay whatever people back home have told you and you have heard is all a lie, groups like Blue Cosmos like to brainwash people into thinking that they are right, sadly that is what war is. People like them and throughout History have used this means to brainwash their own people in think that what they are doing is good and that they are also in the right." He told her with a sigh hopping that it would work that Flay would at least understand.
Taking a deep breath he looked into her eyes and placed both hands on her shoulders, and act Sai was a little worried about. "There are both good people in this world as they are bad people that guy I was fighting is one of them, while Selena is a good person, and I'm sure that not everyone from the PLANT's are nasty, all I can say Flay is don't believe what people say. The members of Blue Cosmos are just filled with angry people who don't have what the Coordinators have."
Cagalli on the other hand was looking at the two as she didn't trust the red head and hopped Shamano knew what he was doing. "Look we'll be at Artemis station soon." Cagalli replied with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Oh that's right well at least we can get some supplies then, and Flay just think over what I had told you okay, we'll be there in 5 hours." He said with a smile as Flay nodded. "Also Murrue said she has giving permission for you to have a room to get clean."
With that said he left the room as he knew that Murrue and the other staff wanted to talk to him about the ship that had helped them out, while the girls just gave a light happy sigh that they could clean up at least. "Well at that is good then." Misha said with a smile on her face as she looked at her female friends.
Back on the bridge the four ranking members were all talking on the ship that had helped them wonder what they should do and wondering if this was the ship that belonged to Shamano. Soon the door of the bridge opened up as Shamano walked in dressed in his clothes with his black shirt and brown jeans and. "So you wanted to talk to me, and no Ensign Badgirule I will not be wearing a uniform." He told her with a deep frown.
"Oh really?" asked Natarle with a frown on her face as the others had chosen to volunteer if they were to assist the ship yet Shamano refuses to do so himself. "Is there any reason why? You know that we cannot allow civilians in the bridge…"
"I am aware of that; however I am not exactly a civilian am I?" Shamano responded back to the raven-haired woman who was in front of him, crossing his arms the moment she even brought up the question. "Also I prefer not to wear the uniform; it is just not my style at all."
"Even so, we still have regulations we need to follow." reminded Matt with a serious expression on his own face and more so as he was shaking his head, though he prayed that they would be allowed to enter without too much of a hassle. "While we are grateful you're your assistance you are still not allowed in here if you're a civilian."
There was a silent expression on the male Trimonight's face, unfortunately regardless of what they think… he was to follow their rules from this point forward until the time for him to depart comes. "I see… in that case, let us have our chat outside then." he gestured for Matt, Mu, Murrue and Natarle to come with him to the hallway if this were the case since there were things he needed to discuss with them as well.
"Very well then." began Murrue, accompanied by Mu, Matt and Natarle as they made their way out of the bridge in order to properly speak with Shamano without being bounded by the rules against civilians being in the room. "In any case, we are grateful that you were able to save Kira at the very last second just as he ran out of energy but you could've gotten yourself taken away by the enemy or worse!"
"I had to do what I could to keep the Aegis from capturing him as the Strike ran out of energy in the battle and Lieutenant La Flaga wouldn't have been able to make it back…"
"Still, your stunt led to the mobile suit attempting to hold you hostage and if the pilot was serious in the threat then you would have been dead if we hadn't surrendered!" commented Matt, just as angry at Shamano and at the same time grateful to him as Murrue was right now. "Plus you tried to self-destruct your fighter only to find out the self-destruct sequence wasn't working at all… and if your ship wasn't able to show up on time then we would have been ZAFT prisoners."
Shaking his head, Mu had a feeling that it would come to this and he thought that a certain Eurasian Federation Moonlight Mad Dog was reckless in battle. "Maybe you could cut him a bit of slack as it was his first time fighting a major battle against the stolen G-Weapons rather than just the GINNs" he informed his fellow senior officers with a glance from his eyes. "Even I had to admit that my plan wouldn't go perfect as I never expected Rau Le Creuset to head out there in his CGUE, on the other hand I wasn't prepared to see his CGUE used again this soon."
"I take it that you're rather familiar with that pilot in question huh Lieutenant?" wondered Shamano, ever since they first met the Hawk in the mobile suit hanger at Heliopolis that there were thing he wanted to speak with him on due to him knowing what the ZAFT forces who attacked them are right from the get go. "I take it that you actually fought this guy before? I mean before joining with us on our escape."
"You could say that… to be honest, the first time we actually fought one another for the first time at the Battle of Endymion when I was originally part of the 3rd Fleet" responded Mu, wishing that he wouldn't remember the disastrous event that led to both the destruction of the 3rd Orbital Fleet and the famous Moebius Zero squadron which he used to be part of until that battle which led to the use of the Cyclops System's activation in a last ditch effort to prevent ZAFT from capturing the Endymion crater. "At the time he was piloting a ZGMF-1017M GINN High Maneuver Type and the Moebius Zero squadron that I was part of was to engage the Laurasia-class warship known as the Galvani."
"I see, well in any case best hope we don't run into him again then." Shamano said with a frown on his face, as he began to think on what to do next.
Matt also nodded as he looked at Shamano. "So what about your ship then, from the looks of it seems to me that it's not all that fast?" Matt asked as he saw the ship was falling behind a little.
Shamano placed a hand on his chin at this. "Well it's an old ship and very damage after all most of the older systems no longer working all that well." He said with a sad sigh which they noticed and realized that it was also his home.
A/N Well took a while, but I hope that you liked it as this was another big chapter with a lot going on. Artemis will be happening in the next chapter after all a lot does happen which I want to cover all in the next chapter,
Now as for the whole brainwashing thing this is true throughout history has been used on people as it's called propaganda Hitler used it in world war 2 after all on people to get people on his side hell even other countries have been known to use it on their own people, this is how what I see Blue Cosmos doing.
Now Flay and many others will be getting more development as I like to give that to all of the crew on the Archangel after all. So until next time please leave me a review and tell me your thoughts as it's only going to get a lot darker as it goes on.
