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PHASE 08
Fall of Artemis
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Eurasian Military Satellite, Artemis
Lagrange Point 3
January 26th, C.E. 71
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A EA GAT-06 Yeti exploded, as the ZAFT Task Force swept past the first line of Artemis' defenders.
Sayla Hellfury fired her Rail guns into a Mobeius unit, destroying it instantly as she back-flipped too miss another Yeti that tried too cut her in half with its Carbon blade, only for her too activate her beam sabers mounted on her shield, and sliced the yeti in half.
"First enemy defense line penetrated." Sayla reported. "All units, report in."
"Le Cruset team, proceeding as planned." Matthew's voice came through.
"Mannequin team, having light enemy resistance here, but we're fine."
"Gelb Team, no problems here."
"Grun Team, we're cutting right through them."
"Indigo here…we may have a slight problem here!"
"Indigo one, Report." Sayla said.
"Me and my team are engaging four mobile suits of unknown classification." Indigo one, Dmitri Heinrich, said. "Two of them look similar too the G-Units from Heliopolis, and are using some strange beam weaponry-SHIT! We just lost Indigo 4!"
Sayla's eyes narrowed. "Hang on, I'm on my way." She shouted as she punched her GuAIZ into full speed towards her comrades.
Aztec
Zar hummed as he listened too the report from Sayla. His ships, along with Kati's ships were in their holding pattern just outside of Artemis's sensor range. "Kati…it seems I may have too launch after all." He said on the comm. "I may not be anything serious…but its best to be safe than sorry."
Kati nodded on the screen. "Yes, I agree. Its best we not underestimate these new machines." She said.
"Right, then I will launch." He said, standing up. "Besides…its been too long since I've been on the field."
Artemis
Minutes later
"Admiral, we have a new contact inbound!" Biddaulph reported.
"What is it?" Garcia barked, his patients at an all-time low at the moment.
"Its…a GuAIZ! But…its…" His eyes widened. "Its moving…Three times faster than a normal unit!"
117Jorn: Play the music my friends: 'Full Frontal' From MSG Unicorn Soundtrack
Patriot 112: Here's the link: www . youtube watch?v=eu4tCWTyqds&feature=related
Garcia's eyes widened as he remembered a certain mobile suit that also traveled at that speed.
"N-No...it can't be!" Garcia managed to croak out as the blip on the radar was accelerating straight towards his base.
"Admiral? What is it?"
"Only…one man…has a unit like that…" he whispered. "G-Get a visual on it now!"
The XO did as asked, and on the forward view screen, Garcia's worst fears were confirmed. A single Blood Red GuAIZ, mounted on its right forearm was a standard GuAIZ Composite shield, mounted on its left was a CGUE 28mm Vulcan shield, and on its waste were two Rail cannons.
"Its…its him!" Garcia said, beginning to panic. "The Devil of Endymion, Zar Hellfury!"
Everyone in the Control Booth looked at the Admiral with shocked and also fear-filled expressions. Biddaulph eyes widened at his CO's deceleration.
"What! A-are you sure it's him?"
"Of course it is, you fool! Who else has a red Mobile Suit that moves at three times the speed of a normal one?"
In the Universal Century
Char Aznable Sneezed as his Sazabi engaged with the RX-93 Nu Gundam. 'Who the hell's talking about me at a time like this?' he thought as he activated his funnels to engage his long-time rival, Amuro Ray.
117Jorn: I simply HAD to do it.
Patriot 112: Uh-huh, now, back to our regular program!
Back to the Cosmic Era
Every pilot in the EA knew about the infamous Devil of Endymion, and the Eurasians at Artemis were no man who single handily sunk Several E.A Ships during the battle of the round table, the only man who almost defeated Mu La Flaga if it were not for the Cyclops System, the one man who was more Frightful than the White Duelist Rau Le Cruset Himself, Zar Hellfury.
One thought crossed through every member of Artemis who heard what Garcia Declared…
'We're Fucked.'
Battle
Zar's GuAIZ quickly entered the battlefield, twirling and speeding past the debris of the ships and mobile weapons that were already destroyed.
One of the Drake-Class's nearby fired its two Bow-mounted 75mm Vulcan turrets at Zar, but his GuAIZ Effortlessly evaded as he drew out his MA-M21G Beam Rifle, and fired two shots, each destroying one of the turrets. In a Flash, he was then suddenly right next too the Drake's Port Torpedo rack, and he fired his 76mm Pictus machine guns into the Torpedo's, causing them too detonate taking half of the ship with them.
Then, he accelerated towards a near-by Nelson-Class battleship, and approached from below. He fired his rifle again, this time striking the Nelson's bottom twin beam gun turret, destroying it. He then quickly moved up from behind it and fired another shot, destroying the second turret.
He then activated the Beam Sabers within his Composite shield, and then in one long swipe he sliced the bridge in half. He then moved too the center of the ship, and in four neat sliced, cut the Nelson in half before speeding off, the Nelson exploding behind it.
Then, Two Drake-Class ships, along with eight Yeti's tried too team up on the single GuAIZ, the Drake's firing their Vulcan turrets at the Blood Red GuAIZ, however, Zar simply accelerated towards them, twisting and turning as he avoided shot after shot from the Mobile suits and ships.
One Yeti witch was armed with a 500mm Multistep Accelerator Cannon, and fired like mad at the speeding GuAIZ, but Zar simply dodged left and right as he shot a single beam into the Yeti as he passed by in a flash, destroying it as he twirled around and sliced another Yeti in half with his sabers.
Another Yeti, this one seeming a bit customized with a Musashi Katana in place of the Carbon blade, tried too sneak up behind the ravaging Devil, however Zar twirled around and caught the attack with his Combine shield, and in a quick twist with his wrist he disarmed the yeti, literally as he sliced off both of its arms, and half of its body.
He immediately sped away to avoid the explosion as he passed by a pair of Yeti's, decapitating them in lighting-quick speeds, and he finished off the rest of the Yeti's with four quick shots from his rifle and Railguns.
Accelerating back towards she ships, he fired his rifle at the ship's engines, destroying them. And he quickly finished each ship off with two swipes from his Combine Shields beam sabers to the bridges of each ship, finishing them off by destroying their Torpedo tubes and evading their missile fire.
During this, several of the ZAFT forces actually stopped fighting for a while too watch the Devil go to town with the E.A forces, in simple awe at how he had single-handily destroyed eight mobile suits, and four ships in less than minutes.
"Whoa" Yzak gasped out in awe.
"No kidding," Dearka agreed.
"No time to sit around and gawk kiddies! We still got a mission to complete!" Zar commanded, but as he was about to continue his assault, he made a hard left as, what looked like bullet tracers missed him.
Zar looked up, and his eyes narrowed slightly. Up above he saw what was keeping the Indigo team, as well as his Daughter, tied up. Four mobile suits, not Yeti's, each having a striking resemblance too the G-Weapons.
'Looks like the Atlantic Federation weren't the only one's with mobile suit projects.' He thought. 'Well, let's see how Eurasia handles their own Mobile suits.' And with that, the Red GuAIZ Sped towards them in lightning speeds.
With Sayla & the Indigo team
"Dammit! Where did these new Mobile Suits come from!" Shouted one of the Indigo Team pilots as the new comers came at them.
"They must've hid them somewhere here in the base, since Amalfi didn't mention these in the report," Sayla said as one of the Mobile Suits that had a white with blue and black trim paint job ignited it's beam saber and charged at her GuAIZ.
Sayla responded to this instantly as she activated her GuAIZ Fury's own beam sabers and clashed with the suit. During the Clash, Sayla activated her unit's hip-mounted RAIL cannons, and attempted to fire right into the torso of the mobile suit. However, she was surprised when a strange barrier activated, actually forcing her away from the unknown, and her shots pinging off harmlessly on the bubble-like shield surrounding the unit now.
"What the hell?" Sayla shouted as she looked at the enemy unit now.
'So…they managed to make a Mobile-Suit sized version of the Lightwave Barrier Shield?' She thought. 'I wouldn't think Garcia would have the resources or men to be able to make something like that.'
"Ha you ZAFT bastards can't do anything to us now! Now can you?" The pilot of the unknown suit shouted cockily "Our Hyperions are far superior to anything you have! Even Zar Hellfury can't do anything against our Light wave shield!"
"Wanna bet?" a voice said as a red blur streaked toward the Hyperion, "Time to teach you Arrogant Asshole's that it's not the suit that matters, but the Pilot!"
With that, Zar's GuAIZ fired off both of it's Rail cannons at the Hyperion, however the unit just activated it's Lightwave barrier again, and the rounds just pinged off.
"Ha! It doesn't matter if you can't hit me!" The pilot shouted as he deactivated the shield, and fired off a few SMG rounds at Zar, who effortlessly evaded.
"True, but eventually you will run out of power, and I can only guess that suit of yours takes up a lot of energy to use that Lightwave shield in full deployment." Zar observed as he continued to fire at Balsam.
Balsam growled knowing he was right. "Then I'll have to make this quick!" he shouted as he then drew out one of his Beam Daggers, and accelerated towards Sayla's GuAIZ. She dodged at first by moving up, however the pilot anticipated this, and he rose his Dagger up, and managed to slice on of the leg's off.
"FUCK!" Sayla shouted as she backed off, but the Hyperion then slammed into the GuAIZ, Dagger in hand.
"SAYLA!" Zar shouted.
"Say your Prayers, ZAFT!" Balsam shouted, about to drive the Beam Dagger into Sayla's GuAIZ...
Only for in an Orange Flash, Balsam's Hyperion was forced away. "What the hell!" He shouted as he looked at his new opponent, just in time to see an Orange GINN float in front of the damaged GuAIZ.
"I don't think so, shithead," Matthew's voice growled as he drew his GINN's sword, "Now I'm gonna kick your ass ALL THE WAY TO PLUTO!"
Cue Still More Fighting by Nobuo Uematsu from Final Fantasy VII
With that the Orange GINN rocketed toward the Hyperion as Balsam cackled madly and arrogantly.
"You think you can take on a Hyperion ZAFT? You are good as dead!" Balsam shouted as he activated his SMG-mounted Beam Bayonet, and charged at Matthew's GINN. However Matthew simply side-stepped it, he then elbowed the Hyperion, grabbed the SMG, and slammed the butt of it into the torso of the Hyperion, sending it away.
"You alright, Sayla?" Matthew asked while he calibrated his suit to be able to use the SMG.
"Ya...thanks Matt." Sayla said. "I owe ya one."
Zar sighed in relief. 'That was too close for comfort...' he thought.
"THAT'S IT! YOU'RE DEAD!" Balsam shouted as he accelerated forward...only for a beam from above to impact against his suit, destroying it.
"What the?" Said Zar, Sayla and Matthew all at the same time, just in time to see one of the other Hyperion Unit's flanked by two others floating from where the beam came from.
"This is Illiana Samari to the ZAFT units." Came a female voice through the Comm. "Me and my comrade's Ivan Zambois and Naomi Hunter wish to defect from Eurasia...or more specifically, from Artemis."
"YOU BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU!" Balsam shouted as he prepared the Beam cannons on his Unit's backpack.
"Get ready you two!" Illiana warned and she received confirmation from her teammates.
"EAT THIS!" He fired the twin beam cannon, but Illiana and the others just scattered avoiding the beam shot.
"That was a stupid move on your part Balsam," Illiana chided, "Now you're low on power, you can't use your Lightwave barrier and you only have enough to get out of here. So make your decision wisely,"
Balsam growled "If I'm going down, I'M TAKING ONE OF YOU WITH ME!" And with that, he accelerated his suit towards Naomi's unit, and with his last arm he latched himself onto it, and activated his self-destruct system.
"NAOMI!" Ivan shouted as he tried to save his friend...but Zar acted faster, and he sped forward, activated his beam saber, and sliced the Hyperion's last arm off, kicked it away, and grabbed Naomi's own suit and dragged it away as Balsam's Hyperion detonated in a bright yellow explosion.
"Okay, that was close," Matthew said as his GINN and Sayla's GuAIZ float next to each other.
"No time for that now, Matthew. We still have a mission to complete," Zar said as his Red Guaiz and the three defecting Hyperion Units flew next to him.
"There's still one more Hyperion Unit in a Hangar in the base," Ivan reported, "It was having maintenance problems. There was also another Hyperion built. That one was built in secret, but it disappeared along with it's builder."
"Thanks for the info, alright let's wrap this battle up!" The Devil of Endymion ordered and with a shout the other ZAFT Forces charge toward Artemis with a vengeance.
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Artemis Control Booth
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"What the hell is going on? Where's Samari and her team?" Demanded Garcia, as he saw the ZAFT Forces making their way into the base.
"We don't know sir! We can't get a hold of them!" cried an ensign as he desperately tried to get into contact with available units.
"Our Mobeius units are down by 45% strength! Yeti units are at 30%!" reported an Eurasian Petty Officer as he kept track of their current fighting strength.
"Sir! We must evacuate!" Biddaulph advised while Garcia glared at him in response.
"Are you out of your mind! If I lose Artemis to ZAFT, not only will I be demoted for this, but ZAFT will get their hands on the Lightwave Barrier Technology!" The Admiral shouted in fury.
However, it was at that moment the Blood Red GuAIZ of the Devil of Endymion appeared right in front of the Control booth. Before Garcia could say, or even think anything, the Devil activated his Composite shield beam sabers, and in one swift stroke, destroyed the Control Booth, killing Garcia and everyone else inside.
After that was done, Illiana narrowed her eyes, and smirked. 'Rest in peace...you fucking slimeball.' She thought.
After knowing their commandant was killed most of the base began surrendering from the mechanics, to the pilots of the Mobeius and Yetis, to entire warships. The other soldiers of the base beat a hasty retreat heading in either the direction of the Moon or any other E.A. Base.
The ZAFT Forces gave a cheer, as the so-called impenetrable Umbrella of Artemis fell in less than 30 minutes, with EA causalities in the hundreds along with the entire command staff dead, the defection of all but one of the Hyperion Team, and the capture or retreat of the rest. And as a bonus, the ZAFT Forces acquired the Eurasian Federation's Hyperion G-Weapons, and the Lightwave Barrier technology.
ZAFT's casualties were light, with 6 Mobile Suits damaged, with Patrick Collasauer's Enact the worst of them all.
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On the Bridge of the Mannequin Team's Nazca
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Kati let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, "I heard Garcia was a slime ball...but this ridiculous." She said as Matthew, Sayla, Zar, and the three Hyperion Pilots stood before her. The pilot's just finished explaining how they were all Coordinator's, and that Garcia had forced them too develop new weapons for him, including the Hyperion's.
After the battle, the three pilot's gave their Hyperion's to ZAFT, and they also gathered what was left of the fourth machine that self-detonated and the fifth machine that was still in maintenance. Matthew requested that he be given what was left of the destroyed unit too add it's beam weaponry too his own GINN, which Zar and Kati permitted.
"It's true, Ma'am." Illiana said. "He even did something to Balsam...we don't know exactly what, but it...changed him. He didn't even think he was a Coordinator anymore, and he obeyed any one of Garcia's command's."
Zar just sighed sadly at that, "Brainwashing, a terrible thing to happen to a person," the three Hyperion pilots nodded in agreement with, "So what will you three do now? I doubt you would want to go back to the Earth Forces, Eurasia included," Zar asked the three young pilots, but before they can give an answer...
"Commander Mannequin! Emergency call from the Homeland! Code Delta-Yellow!" the communication officer shouted, and Zar and Kati's eyes widen at that. Code Delta-Yellow was one of ZAFT's Emergency transponder codes.
"Delta-Yellow? What for?" Kati barked.
"I don't know ma'am, but the Chairman is on the line right now! I'll put it on the screen." With that, the officer typed a few command's into his console, and on the forward view screen appeared Chairman Siegel Clyne in his office.
"Commander Mannequin, Commander Hellfury." The Chairman said. "I'm glad you managed to get this transmission. We had a development here during your operation against Artemis."
"What is it, sir?" Zar said, knowing the Chairman would never use Delta-Yellow for just a little chat.
"During your Operation, the Kingdom Of Scandinavia's Space Station, Valhalla, was attacked." He said, causing the Commanders' eyes to go wide.
"WHAT!"
"You both heard right, just after you left, the colony was attacked by Mobile Suits from " the Chairman said, and then his face turned into a scowl, "And what's worse, it was the Triad Mercenary Group,"
That got Zar's blood boiling, and Kati to clench her fists. The other crew members and pilots were stunned. They've heard about the infamous Merc Army that disregards the safety of innocents, whether Natural or Coordinator, just as so they could get rich. But they never thought they would anything this big.
"Are you sure about that Chairman?" Zar growled as he had some close calls with them and saw their dirty work firsthand. The Chairman grimly nodded.
"Yes," Siegel Confirmed, "It was confirmed when a ISAF Shadow Patriot, followed one of their damaged units and took recon photos as they withdrew from the battlefield when they lost the upper-hand as ISAF, ZAFT and E.A forces present joined up to fight off their attack."
Despite the situation, Zar and Kati felt happy that at least some people in the EA didn't support terrorism, and that just as many in ZAFT didn't care if they were Coordinators or Naturals.
"But the real problem would have to be, that there was a Unknown Unit with the Triad Forces." he reported, grabbing their attention. "One of our own unit's managed to capture some video of it fighting one of the Legged Ship's Customized Patriot's."
A video then appeared in the corner of the screen, and Zar and Kati watched in shock as this machine moved with skills and abilities just as powerful as the G-Weapon's.
"The hell is that thing?" Kati said. "I've never seen a mobile suit like that."
"And it's performance is just like the other G-Weapon's...if not better." Zar said. "How could Triad get something like that?"
"That, we don't know" Siegel Clyne said, "But we do know is that the ISAF Heads of Government are meeting tomorrow afternoon to discuss how to respond to this incident,"
"And what about the Supreme Council, what is their opinion on this?" Kati asked. Some of the pilots were edgy since they have a parent on the Council. The Chairman of the PLANTS sighed, as he looked at the two officers.
"I can say this, Security Council Chairman Zala is having a hard time with this, since this incident reminded all of us of the Bloody Valentine Tragedy," Siegel said grimly. The others nodded, however it was Zar who asked the question they all feared.
"Sir...I must ask." he said. "But how many casualties did Valhalla receive? Both Military and Civilian?"
The pilots on the bridge had a feeling of dread, when Siegel gave the answer.
"According to estimates, Military Forces have suffered 120 dead, 260 wounded. Civilian casualties..." Siegel gulped uneasily at what he was about to say, "800 dead, 1,500 injured, most of them women and children,"
The ZAFT soldiers instantly paled at that. Just imagining what was like at Valhalla right, made them want to hurl out their lunch.
"S-so many..." Shiho gasped out.
"How can anyone be so cruel?," Nicol said as he trembled at the numbers.
"It's just part of Human Nature, pilot Amalfi," Sayla told the younger pilot, "While we good for great compassion, we also, for great violence,"
"But this is..."Dearka breathed out, "It's just not right,"
"Stupid people, do stupid things." Matthew said. "Triad are a group of money-grabbing trigger-happy Mercs who don't care about Naturals or Coordinators, only about their payday...and Blue Cosmos loves to use them seeing how they have a 'Take no prisoners' policy. I've heard a few rumor's that it was Triad that supplied the Nuke's for Junius Seven to Blue Cosmos to use."
"That is up to debate, son," Siegel said, "But it's still a high possibility"
"What should we do in the mean time Chairman Clyne?" Kati asked the Scandinavian Coordinator.
"For now, finish up with securing Artemis. I'll set up a meeting with the Council to discuss this further, I'll contact when the decision is made, farewell," with that the line was cut.
Zar gave a sigh, as Kati massaged her temples for the migraine that just hit.
"So, what do we do now?" Yzak asked, and Zar turned to all of them.
"For now, we finish mopping up here. And then, we wait for further orders from the Homeland, until then, stay frosty, and on your toes. No telling, those money-grubbing bastards are probably sneaking around. Dismissed!" with that all the pilots saluted and left for their quarters.
Zar gave a tired sigh, as he leaned against the wall.
"I'm going to need a drink," he said tiredly.
"You and me both," Kati agreed
The two ZAFT Commanders knew then, that this incident will lead into another, greater, World War. And they hoped, that the casualties will not be as terrible as the last. But, one thing is for certain, the casualties are always high.
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And cut! Sorry this was short. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and continue to read and review it! I'm sorry, I haven't been able to update, but matters at home and other Fic ideas got in the way. Next chapter, the Archangel and Morningstar leave Valhalla and continue on down the war path, see you next time on Nation of the Ice: Revisioned! Ja Ne!
Sparky's closing note: Another chapter completely updated and hopefully all the grammatical errors are fixed. Please leave a review and comments of any errors I might've missed. I would greatly appreciate it. Arigato! ^_^
