Hay guys here's the disclaimer : I do not own any part of the Mobile suit Gundam Wing/Seed Franchise
As always please read and review, and vote in the poll. In the reviews we had a few questions pop up, some will have to be answered at a later date however, I can answer the one about the OZ-17MS Serpent, if you must know the Gryph or Leo Mark Four is from Frozen Teardrop and is sort of a hybrid of the Leo, Aeries, and Tallgeese, it's more powerful flies just as fast as an Aeries and can fill multiple rolls… it shows up during Frozen Teardrop the novel that's currently being written for the 15th anniversary for Gundam Wing. Will the Serpent show up before the revolution… maybe…
So now on with the … huh?
*THWACK*
"About time you write me in…" Valder smirked as he flipped the blackjack over in his hand.
Dr. Berg laughed as he walked over "Now then time to delete this terrible writing…" he blinked as the screen went blank.
"I don't think so…" a voice said with a laugh.
"You impudent, I should have failed you!" Dr. Berg glared "How the hell!"
"That's for us to know and you to find out!" another voice said.
xxxxxx
Ch 10
Trowa groaned as he woke up "I had too much to drink… I have to remember not to take Dearka up on his challenge ever again…" he kept his eyes closed as he rolled over and tried to fall back asleep "Huh… something… smells nice…" he cracked his eye open and waited for it to adjust to the low light in the room "Oh it's just Meyrin…" he closed his eye again and pulled his pillow into him again before he realized what exactly his pillow was "MEYRIN!" he fell backwards out of bed and hit the floor with a dull crash.
Meyrin fell out on the other side of the bed "WHO'S THERE!" she blinked as she and Trowa both saw each other on the opposite sides of the bed both of them on the floor. "Trowa…" she looked down at herself covered in the bed sheets before she looked down into them "Why am I… Oh god…" she turned as red as her hair. "What happened last night?"
"I was hoping you'd remember so I could find out why we were sharing a…" Trowa blinked as he looked down and grabbed a pillow covering himself "Any idea where?"
Meyrin pointed at the lamp shade behind him on the night stand where Trowa's boxers were dangling from it…
"Have you seen my…" Meyrin asked a little timidly.
"I believe they are at the end of the bed…" Trowa leaned back as he slipped into his boxers and noticed her dress and undergarments all in a heap at the end of the bed.
"So we really…" Meyrin asked as she looked at Trowa.
"Looks that way…" Trowa said as he sat back down on the bed facing away so she could get dressed.
"What if…" she asked as she sat behind him pulling her undergarments on.
"I intend to take full responsibility, if anything happens…" Trowa's tone was firm "I don't even remember… remember never to drink more than two glasses of scotch…"
"That's good to know but I don't think we'll have to worry… it seems you were sensible enough…" Meyrin smiled as she looked into the waist basket next to the bed "I don't remember doing anything… one way to umm…" she stopped as she felt Trowa's arms wrap around her.
"Feel up for some coffee?" Trowa asked pulling her close.
Meyrin smiled and nodded "Sure… though I think we're the only ones awake…" she pointed at the clock reading five thirty AM
Xxx
"You know… it really is a shame…" Relena said looking over from her seat reading in bed
"What is?" Heero asked.
"That you have to cover up that perfectly toned butt of yours…" Relena flipped a page in her book as Heero finished pulling his pants on.
"Are you going to sit there reading all morning?" Heero smiled at her "Or are we going to enjoy breakfast for two before the others start waking up…"
Relena closed her book and slipped out of bed "It's only six o'clock… I enjoy sleeping in…"
Heero shrugged as he made his way over to her "I was thinking a nice pancake breakfast would brighten your morning dear… if I remember right you like yours with strawberries and whipped cream…"
Xxx
Athrun cracked open his eyes and smiled as he sat up he went to move the bed sheets and blinked "What?" he saw a lump curled up next to him he moved the sheet and Meer rolled over wearing a pink and white lingerie "AHHH!" he yelled as he fell backwards off the bed with a dull crash.
Meer's eyes opened as she sat up in bed she rubbed her eye still sleepy.
A knock came on the door "Hello commander, good morning are you awake yet? I thought maybe we could go to the dining room together sir…"
Athrun looked horrified "Oh shit what did I do… if Lunamaria or any of the others see me with Meer I'm a dead man… I'm engaged to Cagalli, what in the hell is she doing in here anyway!" "Uhh… OK!" he jumped up and started to rush around the room grabbing his cloths.
"Commander?" Lunamaria asked.
"Uhh… Be right there!" Athrun yelled.
Meer got up from the bed and started for the door and Athrun's eyes went wide " No don't!" He warned trying to be quiet.
Lunamaria raised her hand to knock again when the door opened "Oh thank you… but please feel free to go on ahead without us…" Meer smiled at the shocked Lunamaria
The door opened across the hall and Athrun grimaced as Quatre walked out in a bathrobe "Hay Athr… never mind carry on…" he spun on the spot and walked back into his room.
"I'm a dead man…" Athrun mumbled.
"I… Uhh.. But… Right then…" Lunamaria stuttered out as Meer shut the door on her face.
Shinn blinked as he came out of his room "Why do you look so shocked Luna?"
Lunamaria looked at him "Oh… Nothing…" "The commander, and Lacus… did they get back together…"
A door opened to her right and Trowa walked out wearing his standard uniform "We'll miss breakfast if we… Back in!" he nearly leapt through the door and slammed it shut with a muffled scream that sounded like a girl behind him.
Shinn's jaw dropped open "Was that…"
Athrun's door opened again and he was standing there "Did I just hear…" he stopped as Lunamaria glared at him "I'm dead…"
Lunamaria turned and marched over to Trowa's door "Commander, pardon the intrusion…" She opened the door and her eyes went wide she mouthed a word Athrun couldn't make out before nearly fainting on the spot.
Athrun and Shinn both ran over as Trowa caught her "Well that's an interesting start for a day…"
"Why did she…" Shinn looked and saw Meyrin and then over his shoulder Meer was wearing a bathrobe standing behind Athrun "Alright, what happened…"
Meyrin and Trowa both looked at each other for a moment then blushed before Shinn turned to look at Athrun.
"Nothing…" Athrun tried to back away from Shinn's glare.
"Like hell commander I could hear you in my room…" Shinn said pointing down the hall to the door next down the hall after Athrun's.
Meer looked at him puzzled "Umm… Mr. Asuka, Athrun was asleep when I… But it sounded like…"
Meyrin went as red as her hair as Meer looked at her Lunamaria started to regain her senses "Wha…"
Athrun looked at Trowa who turned a light shade of red and sighed "Yeah…"
"Sis are you alright?" Meyrin asked a little worried looking down at Lunamaria.
"Yeah, but you've got some explaining to do…" Lunamaria sat up with a little help and glared at both her and Trowa.
A door closed behind them and made them all jump as Wufei looked down at them "Well this is an interesting…"
"I think we should all go get some breakfast… before it's gone…" Trowa got up and held his hand out to Meyrin who took it and they made their way down the hall rather quickly.
"Well that's one way to get out of a…" Athrun started and received glares from not only Lunamaria but Mayu who was next to Wufei "Nothing happened I swear."
"Very likely story commander…" Mayu glared at him "I know Athrun's innocent, Wufei helped him into his room, he was too out of it to have done anything beyond sleeping it off…"
Athrun groaned and ran a hand through his hair "How am I going to talk my way out of this one..."
Lunamaria stood up "Come on Shinn, let's go get some breakfast…" she gave Athrun one last glare and nearly dragged Shinn to breakfast.
Xxx
Relena took the last bite of her pancakes and smiled "You know Heero, I was a little surprised that you knew how I liked my pancakes…" she stabbed her fork into a halved strawberry covered in whipped cream and ate it.
Heero nodded and sipped his coffee in the porcelain cup "I learnt a lot about you while acting as your 'bodyguard'…"
Relena smiled as she saw Trowa and Meyrin making their way down the steps to the small dining area "Well it looks like they've finally made it to breakfast…"
Heero looked over his shoulder "Yeah…" he waited as they made their way over Trowa saluted Relena who nodded.
"You know Trowa…" Heero smiled at him.
Trowa looked at him "What…"
"Remind me not to let you drink at the wedding…" Heero chuckled as he took another sip of his coffee.
Meyrin started to laugh "Heero I thought you lacked a sense of humor…"
"Only while I'm on a mission or on duty…" Heero smiled at her.
Trowa and Meyrin took the table across from them so they could chat while they waited for their food as soon as it arrived Shinn and Lunamaria started down the steps into the dining area both wearing their new black and green preventers uniforms. "No way, the chairman's gone already?" Shinn asked as he looked at Lunamaria.
"Yeah… he's a busy person after all, really it's a wonder we even got to have dinner with him yesterday." Lunamaria started over towards a table near a person Heero hadn't seen, he was wearing a black preventer's uniform.
"Who is that… could he…" Heero stood and made his way over as Lunamaria and Shinn continued till they almost reached the same spot.
"You're pretty lucky Shinn… getting commended by the chairman, getting the day off yesterday and the whole day off today. Yeah life's a bowl of cherries for you…" Lunamaria spoke with a slight tone of distain in her voice.
"What's with you?" Shinn asked as he stopped and looked at her.
"Nothing…" Lunamaria said as she turned to look at him Heero stopped next to her and looked at the amber blond haired lieutenant wearing the FAITH member's pin and the same preventer's uniform.
He looked over at them "Hay you two, you're with that group of pilots from the Minerva right?" the lieutenant asked.
Lunamaria nodded and saluted "Excuse my manners, good morning to you sir."
Shinn followed suit "I think he escorted Lacus last night, though he was wearing a red uniform… no way…"
"Lieutenant, pardon my interruption but… who are you?" Heero asked politely in a cold tone.
The Lieutenant looked up at Heero "So he's one of my superior officers, either Lieutenant Commander or Major…" "I'm sorry Lieutenant Commander I failed to introduce myself, my name is Heine Westenfluss."
"I'll assume you are the pilot we were expecting for the Minerva?" Heero watched Heine with caution "Athrun's new pilot… I'll look over his file after I get to the Dominion, if he's under Durandal's control like the other's then I think we've found his second knight…"
Heine nodded "That's correct sir, and I'll have a guess and say you're the commander aboard the Dominion, am I right?" he smiled at Heero.
Heero nodded "Yeah, and you should meet your commander any second now…" he looked towards the stairs and saw Athrun and Meer walking down them.
"And then the soldier's face turned a bright shade of red, all he said was 'thank you' in this really loud voice." Meer giggled as they descended the stairs.
Heine stood and saluted "A pleasure to see you this morning, Miss. Lacus."
Athrun blinked and saluted in return as he shrugged Meer off, she walked forward and smiled "Hello good morning."
Heine lowered his salute "Your show yesterday was quite a success, the soldiers on the base were completely blown away by your performance, something like that can really help boost everyone's moral."
"Did you enjoy the concert Mr. Heine?" Meer asked smiling.
Heine nodded and smiled "Why of course." He turned to face Athrun "There was so much going on yesterday you and I were never properly introduced, former Special Forces, Heine Westenfluss, it's a pleasure to meet you Athrun." He held out a hand and smiled.
Athrun took the handshake with a smile "Nice to meet you too, Athrun Zala."
Heine smiled "Yeah, I know you're a celebrity but I only heard that you returned to active duty recently… You used to be with the Le Creuset team right?"
Athrun nodded "Yes…"
"I was assigned to the Hawkins team during most of the Great War, you and I might have crossed paths at Jachin Due." Heine smiled.
Two aids walked over "Uhh… Miss. Lacus, we must really discuss your schedule for today, terribly sorry but if you could just follow me?" he held a hand towards the stairs.
Meer looked crestfallen "What…"
"If you'd please…" the aid asked again with a sigh.
Meer sighed "Ok… I guess I have no choice…" she looked up at Athrun and smiled "Alright Athrun, I'll be seeing you later…" she turned and followed the aids.
"Let's see now…" Heine said as he returned to his seat, "So you three and that blond fellow I met yesterday make four of you, you're Minerva's pilots."
"Uhh… Yes." Athrun blinked.
Heine smiled "The Impulse." He pointed at Shinn, he moved to Lunamaria "A ZAKU Warrior." He turned to Athrun "The Savior." And he thought for a moment "And the last one pilots a Blaze ZAKU Phantom."
The others were a little shocked that he already knew so much about them Heero narrowed his gaze "He's not special forces for nothing so it would seem… he's decent with observation at least…"
"Yes, that's right…" Athrun smiled.
"And you're a member of FAITH, the Captain too…" Heine mused as he turned to look out the window at the sea.
"That's right…" Athrun spoke again.
Heine rested his chin on his palm "Though few in number's you actually have a lot of fighting strength… so why is the chairman assigning me to such a powerful ship…"
"You've been assigned to the Minerva!" Athrun's eyes went wide "Heine Westenfluss is the last man on my team, the ace pilot who fought against Mad Dog Morgan and nearly won before their fight was interrupted by Genesis… He's on par with the rest of us on a piloting skill… I have to agree why is the Chairman assigning him where his skills could be used elsewhere…"
"Yeah, looks that way once I return to duty that is… I'll be visiting the ship later to officially introduce myself. You know this could be a pain in the ass, three faith members on one ship…" Heine smirked.
"It shouldn't be any problems at all…" Heero smiled then looked over his shoulder "Hay Trowa, we've found Athrun's fifth."
Trowa got up from his seat and walked over causing Heine to blink "Another Lieutenant Commander and a FAITH member… just how powerful are the Preventer's?"
Trowa held out his hand "Pleasure to meet you, my name is Trowa Barton."
Heine took the handshake and smiled "Heine Westenfluss. Are all of the Preventer's above Lieutenant FAITH members?" he blinked.
"Close, only veteran pilots who served during Operation Meteor and the last war are along with the senior officers." Trowa smiled as he looked up "Speaking of which…" he saluted the man approaching "Good morning Field Marshal Kushrenada."
Treize returned the salute as the other pilots saluted him, "Good morning Mr. Barton I trust you're feeling better than you were at the end of last night…"
"Yes sir." Trowa responded calmly.
"Good because we move out tomorrow morning, enjoy the rest of your day off…" He started towards the table where Relena was seated "Oh and Commander Yuy, have you seen Wufei?"
Heero looked at him and shook his head "No sir, not since this morning…"
Treize nodded "After you're done your meal find him I wish to speak with the both of you regarding our next assignment."
Heero nodded and turned back to the others, "I'll see you later then, any of you know where Wufei went?"
"I think he said something about giving the Altron a once over before sparing with Nataku…" Athrun smiled as Heero nodded.
"Alright then that means he's in the Dominion's Hangar." Heero made his way to the stairs then continued off.
Xxx
"Alright Ryuta, it's just like the simulator, ready?" Kira asked from the cockpit of the Freedom.
"Yeah…" Ryuta gulped "I didn't expect that I'd be…"
"Alright Ryuta, you're clear for launch." Lacus's voice echoed in his ears as he nodded.
"Ryuta Lowe, XXXG-01W Wing Launching!" he said as he got pulled into the back of his seat in the cockpit the Wing being launched out of the hangar at full speed followed by the Freedom.
"Alright we're going to go through some basic maneuvers, the pilot assist AI should be active so it will take care of the small things but you still have control." Kira's voice echoed in Ryuta's ears.
"I can do this, if father and brother could then I can do this!" "Alright…" Ryuta said again.
"Ok then, try to keep up." Kira smirked as he rolled the Freedom into a high speed turn.
Ryuta transformed the Wing and rolled following him the g forces pulling at him the pressurized flight suit keeping him aware of his surroundings. "How does Heero do this without a flight suit?"
Kira pulled the Freedom vertical with Ryuta following into a rolling scissors pattern.
Ryuta grit his teeth "I'm not keeping up I have to push the thrusters harder…" he pushed the speed to it's maximum the Wing rocketed ahead of the Freedom breaking the sound barrier in the process as it broke through the cloud layer, he rolled leveling off skimming the surface of the clouds.
Kira smiled "He is Heero's little brother, figures he's a natural pilot… what…" he zoomed in on his sensors "Approaching earth forces… damn." "Ryuta we've got company time to cut and…"
"Why should we Kira if they've already seen us then we'll end up leading them to the Archangel?" Ryuta asked as he transformed the Wing and the Freedom caught up.
"He's hard to argue with and we're supposed to stay concealed until the Orb fleet arrives…" Kira paused to think "I cant allow them to find us… but with Ryuta here…"
Ryuta blinked as his screen lit up "What's this…" he started to read "Pilot Zero One your mission has been confirmed intercept and destroy approaching Earth Alliance forces." "Kira did you send this?" Ryuta asked.
Kira blinked "Send what?"
Ryuta sent Kira the message "This looks like the orders we got from… it's not from the Archangel then what… it can't be a leftover from Operation Meteor…" he blinked "The AI?" he typed in the code to activate the ZERO system "Freedom, confirm where this message originated fro…" he stopped as the screen went blank in front of him "What's…"
"Kira, It's been some time…" a sarcastic voice spoke in his ears in the darkened cockpit "Before you ask no… we're not alive however the ZERO system contains a little something, let Ryuta carry out his mission."
Kira blinked… "The AI is… ZERO is…"
"That's right Kira… our collective consciousness." Another voice spoke calmly with the sound of someone with a bad head cold or his nose was stuffed up, "The other's don't realize it yet but soon… we realized what would transpire after hacking into the data for the Freedom and the Justice."
"Alright, understood." Kira nodded "Ryuta carry out the mission parameters."
"Mission acknowledged." Ryuta said before he killed his thrusters and went into free fall down through the clouds coming in right above the Earth Forces Dagger's equipped with Flight packs. He took aim with the buster rifle and fired the large beam caught the two machines and instantly vaporized them. "Mission complete, returning to the ship." He transformed the Wing and flew in the direction of the Archangel.
"Who would have guessed that they were this crafty…" Kira smirked to himself as he rolled and headed back for the Archangel.
"Give us some credit." Another voice echoed in Kira's ears causing him to shudder.
Xxx
Shinn sped along the coastal road on the red motorcycle he borrowed from the base's motor pool he drove thinking about what Durandal and Treize had said the night before until he reached a spot to stop, the rocky cliffs overlooking the brilliant blue ocean above Diocuia.
The gull's flew gliding on the warm coastal breeze as he stood next to the bike. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the ocean until he heard something that sounded like a girl's voice singing a little tune.
He looked over across the cliffs and on the next outcrop a little less than fifty yards away a blond haired girl in a blue dress danced along whirling in a carefree way singing the tune. He chuckled to himself as he closed his eyes again and listened to her voice lilting on the breeze.
"AHHH!" the girl screamed followed by a splash his eyes snapped open again and he looked to where she was.
"Did she just!" he took off at a sprint for the other cliff face when he reached there he looked around until he reached the end and looked down getting onto his knees "WHAT! You're kidding me, she fell!" he watched as the girl struggled to try to stay afloat "She doesn't know how to swim!" he got up and stripped off the outer layer of his cloths that would weigh him down before leaping off the cliff down into the water.
He swam down after her grabbing hold of her after nearly sinking twenty feet down she struggled against him as he pulled them to the surface. She thrashed against him struggling thrashing out in an attempt to keep herself from drowning.
Shinn winced as her nails struck his cheek cutting three gashes across his face he dove down again and wrapped his arms around her waist temporarily pulling her down then kicking hard pulling her up with him "JUST CALM DOWN!" Shinn yelled as she gasped for air getting her on top of him so she would stay above the surface she calmed down and relaxed.
As they breathed floating there for a second Shinn started to pull them back towards the shoreline as they reached the coast they struggled to their feet in the shallow water before collapsing in the foot and a half deep water both still gasping coughing up some seawater Shinn looked at her "Are you trying to die you twit!" he yelled at her.
Her eyes went wide with fear as Shinn continued "You were right on the edge and you can't even swim! Playing around like a little…" he stopped yelling slowly as she started to back away from him her eyes wide with fear.
"I… No, no…" her breathing was unsteady "I don't… I don't want to die…" she shook with fear.
Shinn looked at her for a second puzzled as to what she was doing before she got up and started to charge out to sea again "NOOOOO!" she screamed.
"Hay wait up, hold on a minute!" Shinn pushed himself up "What in the world!" he ran after her in the shallow water she was already in waist deep water.
"Nooo, I don't want to die!" she tripped on a rock stumbling into the water again. "I'm so scared!" she said as she slowly tried to walk further, Shinn grabbed her around her waist.
"If I get shot I'm gonna die!" she struggled against him before she ran her elbow into his cheek knocking them both into the water again… as Shinn pushed himself up she was starting to rise out of the water.
"This girl… she's been through something…" Shinn thought as he looked at her.
"Please stop it, I'm afraid, I'm so afraid of dying!" she stumbled again and collapsed into the water as Shinn ran over he pulled her up into a hug cupping the back of her head into his shoulder.
"Yeah, I know you're gonna be fine. You're not gonna die, don't worry I'll protect you, I swear I'll protect you." Shinn spoke softly in her ear she started to cry into his shoulder as he pulled back "I'm sorry, I apologize for upsetting you like that, Really I'm so sorry but you're safe now, ok?" he looked into her eyes as he spoke and started to help her back to the shore.
Xxx
Wufei shut the door behind him as he and Heero entered Treize's quarters aboard the Dominion "You wanted to see us Treize?" Wufei asked.
Treize nodded "It's pertaining to the upcoming mission, we have reports that the Orb Union's fleet is approaching the Mediterranean to join the Earth Alliance's Phantom Pain unit. As such I've ordered the Archangel to take up position to intercept it, we shall be joining them in the attack."
Heero blinked "Why are we putting the representatives in danger?"
Treize smiled "Because we're going to play the role of the white in our little game of chess, the ESUN is backing Cagalli's claim to Orb's throne and is going to help her reclaim it, but we're going to use this to our advantage to dismantle Durandal from within."
Wufei blinked "From within?"
Treize nodded "Wufei, Durandal has many pieces on his board yet he's still missing one, a second Knight, the one that arrived today Heine Westenfluss is his second Rook, we're going to play his pieces against each other, and we have a means to do that…"
"And you want me to get close to Shinn…" Wufei glared at Treize.
"Yes, however we need him to think we're weak, that our forces are divided." Treize said as he pulled up an image on the screen.
Heero nodded "That's the same setup as the chess match."
Treize nodded "Correct we're going to use a false front to cause him to become insecure and loose his ground, he'll think he's in control however…"
"He'll be walking face first into the trap." Wufei glared "That's underhanded Treize…"
"Not when he's using underhanded methods to achieve his own ends." He pulled up a message "He's been in contact with Logos, he's fueling the war for his own ends, and what are his own ends…" he pulled a small book from his desk and sat it down it was a brown leather bound book worn from use.
Heero took the book and opened it to the marked page "The Destiny plan…" his eyes went wide as he realized what Durandal had intended to do.
Treize nodded "He's moving this world into a completely controlled dictatorship where everyone's lives are planned out for them, complete control."
Wufei grit his teeth "War will end but the people will not be free…"
Treize smiled "Then you agree Wufei."
Wufei nodded "I accept the mission."
"What's the plan?" Heero asked.
Treize pulled up an image of the Wing Zero and smiled "We're…"
Xxx
The sun was starting to go down as Shinn helped the girl towel off her head. She was still stifling her tears as Shinn smiled at her "You'll be just fine… you're completely safe here, I won't let anything happen to you. I'll protect you."
She stopped and looked at him "Protect me?"
Shinn nodded "Yeah, so relax you don't have to worry anymore… you're not gonna die, I promise you." He placed his hand on hers and she smiled at him as she lifted his hand to her cheek.
"Protect…" she smiled and closed her eyes.
Shinn nodded "You bet…" he stood and started to help her dry off again.
"Are you cold?"Shinn looked down at her and blinked he knelt down again and got a closer look at her ankle it was bleeding with two cuts around the joint "You must have cut it on the rocks… Does it hurt?" he asked as he wrung out the cloth he was using drenched with seawater.
She watched as Shinn tied the makeshift bandage around her ankle then he stood and looked around "The question is, now what do we do…" he looked at the high cliffs "And you can't swim…" he pulled the necklace with his dog tags out from his shirt "I bet this is gonna get me in a lot of trouble… oh well, here it goes…" he took a small silver tag between the two of them and broke it in half along the seam line it glowed for a second and he smiled. "The port's a bit away so they'll take some time, there's some drift wood over there that I saw, I'll make a fire so we can warm up…"
Xxx
"It's risky they might realize…" Heero said as Treize shut down the screen.
"It is, however you have to admit it is a good way all we have to do is take the right direction…" Wufei smiled "I'll do it…"
Treize smiled at the two "Very well then, as of this moment consider yourselves free to act at your own will until we are at the correct point."
Both Heero and Wufei nodded and saluted.
"After we leave this room we are not to speak of this, you are to carry out your missions with no further contact we cannot run the risk of Durandal or his pawns catching wind of our movements, after you leave this room Operation Phoenix has begun."
Heero moved to the door "Mission acknowledged." He pressed the open button to come face to face with Athrun who blinked.
"Field Marshal I hope I wasn't going to interrupt…" Athrun asked.
"No, you weren't Athrun what is it?" Treize asked.
"We've received a distress signal from Shinn, apparently it's near the coastal road I was about to ask if we could go retrieve him… using one of the high speed boats." Athrun asked.
Treize nodded "Heero, Wufei go with him and make sure Shinn is alright." He smiled and the two nodded as they steered Athrun out of the room and towards the hangar.
The door shut and Treize smiled "The first move has been made Durandal your downfall has begun."
Xxx
Shinn and the girl sat facing opposite directions as their cloths hung to dry by the fire "Are you from the nearby city? What's your name, do you understand?" he asked in a calm tone.
"My name is… Stella, city… I don't know…" Stella spoke to Shinn as he prodded the fire with a stick.
"Huh… well there must be someone who would worry if you were missing, your father, what about your mother?" Shinn asked.
Stella blinked "I'm with Neo, and Sting, and Auel… Father and Mother, I don't know…"
Shinn nodded "I see… something really terrible must have happened to you too…"
Stella looked over her shoulder at him "Terrible?"
Shinn stopped and looked back at her "No, sorry you're completely safe now… don't worry I'm here no matter what happens I'm ready and I'm gonna to protect you."
Stella blinked "You'll protect me? I won't die…"
Shinn smiled at her "You'll be fine, you wont die."
She turned back to looking at the far wall as Shinn smiled at her "Uhh… my name's Shinn, it's Shinn Asuka, understand?"
Stella looked back at him and smiled "Shinn…"
Shinn nodded "Yes, Shinn can you remember that?" he smiled at her.
She clasped her hands in front of her "Shinn…" she got up and walked over to her cloths and fished around in the pocket of her skirt.
Shinn blinked as she turned around holding something, he turned bright red and looked away averting his eyes "Oh man… Not good Shinn, think of something… anything…" "I uhh… Ok... I uhh…" his eyes were wide when Stella held out a hand in front of his face holding a small pink shell.
"Here…" Stella smiled at him he blinked.
Shinn turned to look at her "For me… Ahhh…" He went a bright shade of red and closed his eyes shaking his head. "This is… for me…" he took the shell, he smiled at her "Thanks Stella…"
Stella smiled as she sat down next to him and giggled as Shinn looked away still embarrassed.
A short while later after they had dressed the small cove was lit by the lights from the approaching boat, "A distress signal while you're on leave, you just can't have a regular day off like everyone else can you Shinn…" Athrun yelled from the boat as Shinn came out of the small cave.
"Commander?" Shinn covered his eyes shielding himself from the light.
"How did you manage to get shipwrecked all the way out here, I thought you took a bike…" Wufei yelled.
"It's kind of a long story, but I wasn't shipwrecked…" Shinn yelled back, as Stella came out of the small cave in the cove and hid behind Shinn "Something happened…"
Athrun blinked as he saw her "This is going to be one interesting boat ride…"
As the two of them climbed into the boat and Stella sat in the back wrapped in a blanket Heero started to turn the boat towards the port again. "This girl here fell off the cliff and into the ocean, I dove in save her and brought her to shore, but then we were stranded…"
"Is she from Diocuia?" Athrun asked.
"Well she hasn't given me a clear answer on that…" Shinn blinked as Athrun looked at him.
Wufei blinked "What…"
"I think she lost her parents in the war, she probably survived something traumatic…" Shinn said looking at Wufei.
"I see… what's her name?" Wufei asked.
"Stella." Shinn smiled.
"And her home, did you find out?" Heero asked as he drove the boat.
"No not yet…" Shinn sighed.
"So the only thing we know about her is her name… we'll bring her back to the base and can't see if we can dig up some more information." Athrun smiled and looked up at the cliff face as they turned to head back.
"STELLA!" A boy's voice echoed from the top of the cliff where headlights could be seen aiming out and two figures on the cliffs.
"HAY STELLA, WHERE ARE YOU, YOU SILLY GIRL!" another boy's voice yelled.
Stella jumped up and looked back at the Cliff "Sting, Auel!"
Wufei smiled "Looks like we won't have to search much… Miss. Stella please sit down we'll pick up the speed and see if we can catch them before they leave…"
Stella took her seat again and Heero gunned the engine pushing the boat up to its full speed in less than ten minutes they were in the harbor again and in a jeep heading up the coastal road.
Shinn saw the blue car that was on the cliff coming down in the opposite direction "Right here!"
Athrun looked at Heero "Stop the car…"
Heero slowed the car to a stop and hit the horn twice flagging the car down.
The blue car slowed as Stella turned and looked at them "That's Sting!" she cheered.
Sting blinked "Stella…" he looked back and saw her in the back of the car.
Auel stood and turned to look at it "That's a ZAFT Jeep…" they backed up before the two groups got out.
Sting smiled "Stella…"
"Sting!" Stella ran over.
Auel came up behind Sting and looked at the three wearing the black and green uniforms "Hold it… those are Preventer's uniforms… Treize told us about them…"
Sting made a motion for Auel to shut it as he caught Stella "Silly thing, what happened to you?" he looked at her.
"She fell into the ocean, luckily I just happened to be close by…" Shinn smiled at the two boys "What a relief you guys are here, we just wanted to help but we didn't know anything about her… we weren't quite sure what we were going to do…"
Sting smiled at him "Is that so… I'm sorry to have caused you any trouble… Thank you very much."
Heero looked at Auel who was averting his eyes "I've seen these three before, when I reviewed the data from Armory one… they're the pilots of the three stolen machines… Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss…"
Wufei turned the Jeep around and stopped next to the others, "Let's go…" he leaned out looking at the other three.
Athrun nodded "Right…"
Sting nodded "Again, we can't thank you enough; ZAFT and its soldiers have my gratitude…"
Stella looked at Shinn as they climbed into the Jeep again "Shinn, are you going?"
Shinn nodded and smiled at her "Sorry but I have to… It's alright, everything will be just fine now that you're back with your brothers that is…"
Stella looked crestfallen Shinn sighed "I uhh… look I'm sure we'll see each other again…"
Heero closed his eyes as he took over the driver's seat from Wufei "We have to go Shinn… you ready?"
Shinn blinked "Uhh… Yes sir."
Heero shifted into first and pulled out as they started away Shinn looked back "I'm sorry Stella, but I meant it really we'll meet again!"
Stella watched as they slowly shrank "Shinn…"
"I'll come and see you!" Shinn yelled right before they rounded the corner.
"I wouldn't advise that…" Heero spoke with a cold tone.
Athrun looked at him "And why is that?"
"Fraternizing with the enemy is a capital offense punishable by death…" Heero's tone was cold.
"What made you so frosty… was it the fact that we pulled you away from your planned dinner with Relena?" Wufei asked.
"I remember those three… from the Armory One footage, they were the pilots of the Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss…" Heero's tone was cold as the other three's eyes shot wide.
"Why didn't you say something we could have captured them!" Athrun yelled.
"One, we aren't armed… we got caught off guard… two what good is capturing the pilots without the machines?" Heero asked.
"You're forgetting the third thing Heero…" Wufei smiled.
"There is no third thing, Shinn don't get mixed up with her if you do she'll only bring you pain in the long run…" Heero spoke calmly.
Wufei chuckled "You forget that wars have a strange way of having people switch sides… just look at us… how many times did we switch sides during Operation Meteor? Don't worry about it Shinn…"
Shinn nodded as they sped back towards the base.
Xxx
Kira entered the briefing room and the pilots stood and saluted him as he took his place at the head of the room "Alright, be seated this is our current state of affairs." The screen flipped to an image of the Suez canal "With ZAFT cutting off the route from the Indian Ocean to Suez it has forced the Orb fleet the long way around the cape of good hope. It's taken them some time to get here but they've made it, the plan is to allow the Dominion and the Minerva to initiate the assault."
"What…" Clotho gaped "And we're just supposed to sit back and let the ESUN do all the work?"
Kira shook his head and smiled "No… of course not, our orders from the Field Marshal are to standby until the Minerva uses it's mega particle cannon, when that happens we take it out and commence our attack."
"So Treize is going to use it as a signal?" Orga asked and smiled "He really is clever, did we get any messages from them?"
"Only one, that Operation Phoenix is go… and you know what that means…" Kira looked at the pilots.
They nodded "So we have to play the part of the rogue military unit that is taking no side in this conflict… just as the Gundam's did in the end of the last war and the Eve war…" Ryuta looked at Kira.
Kira smiled and nodded "It's all to lure Durandal out, to make him think that the ESUN is on shaky ground, to make him think he has control of the situation."
"Will I be?" Ryuta started to ask.
Kira nodded again "Yeah, you'll be going out in the Wing. I'm sure Heero will find that a little surprise."
"Then what are our orders do we have clearance?" Shani asked.
Kira shook his head "No… remember we have only clearance to take out the traitors and OZ Prize any of them get in your sights take them."
"What about ZAFT, and the ESUN?" Ryuta asked.
"If ZAFT gets in your way cripple their machines, if the other pilots get in your way do the same, if they look like they're going to do serious harm to you and you can't handle them, I authorize the use of class D flairs to allow for an escape." Kira smiled "But make it look realistic…"
Xxx
"I see… The Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, if it were up to me, I'd wait for them here, and attack them when they arrive, we should confront them as that ship comes out of the strait, I think that's our best bet…" Yuna Roma Seiran smiled as he looked at the map table.
Neo nodded as Yuna continued, "ZAFT has the Minerva and I understand your concern with that ship and the Dominion, but that's the beauty of my plan if those ships are the core of their defense and we destroy them then their entire line will crumble."
Neo smirked "I see you're not the supreme commander of Orb for nothing… what's your take on the plan Colonel?" he looked to the man in the smoky black and blue uniform.
"It's a good plan, however… you're forgetting who's commanding those two ships… Treize Kushrenada such a simple plan won't work against a master tactician like Treize. Granted because the strait is narrow we have a limited amount of room to maneuver in, but that's where we have the advantage, we'll push in from the right driving them left into your forces Captain Roanoke."
Yuna looked at him "What makes…"
"Representative Seiran, sitting down in your room and reading a few books on naval strategy doesn't make you a veteran." The Colonel smiled "You have to know what it's like to have the blood of men on your hands for that title."
Yuna shrunk visibly before the veteran Colonel "So this is the leader of OZ Prize…"
"OZ Prize shall lead the attack, and if I'm lucky I'll get to settle my score with Treize…" the Colonel turned and Neo smiled.
"I'll look forward to it Colonel Farkill." Neo smiled at Valder Farkill as he exited the bridge towards the deck where a jet black grey and crimson red suit stood waiting for it's pilot.
Dr. Berg smiled "The Hydra will outperform those fluke's that my students developed, it was designed to hunt them down in the first place."
Neo looked at the elderly scientist "And what of the other machines?"
"The others are the Mercurius Shuivan, Vayeate Shuivan, and Leo Custom's N, R, and S. those are OZ Prize's machines. Then there are the machines developed for the Orb Union" he looked out at the machines "The Virgo II mobile dolls, they aren't much of a challenge for the Gundam's but for finishing off the mass produced units they are more than capable for the job."
Neo smiled as the Hydra launched being followed shortly by the other unit's of OZ Prize "Today the Minerva will sink…"
Xxx
"Distance to the Dardanelles three thousand." The radar operator said aboard the Minerva.
Talia nodded "Take us to condition red, lower the bridge! Prepare for anti warship and anti mobile suit combat."
Xxx
Treize smiled as he entered the bridge of the Dominion "Noin, I'll be joining you on the bridge for this battle." He smiled as he made his way to a seat in below the captain's chair.
Noin blinked "It's not like you to…"
"For this battle I must stay back and allow the events to unfold, this is to allow the opening moves to be completed." Treize smiled at Noin who blinked.
"Treize has something planned… but what…" Noin nodded and turned "Arm Gottfried's and Valliant's!" she ordered.
Treize looked out the bridge window's "When the Dark General of Destruction takes the field of battle, what shall they do? Duo, Wufei..."
Xxx
Athrun zipped up his flight suit and picked up his helmet "I never expected I'd have to fight the pilots I trained…"
Athrun looked up as he heard a locker slam shut seeing Shinn gritting his teeth obviously angry "Shinn…"
"What!" Shinn snapped at him.
"I know what you feel like right now, but trust me it's a lot harder for me…" Athrun started walking out of the room.
"Oh yeah, what makes you say that!" Shinn glared as Athrun reached him.
"I trained most of Orb's pilots after the war, for me… Its…" Athrun stopped as Shinn looked at him.
"If you can't shoot them down then don't fight." Yzak said as he shut his locker startling the other two.
"Yzak…" Athrun looked at him.
"You know I'm right Athrun, we talked about it back then… we agreed it would be nearly impossible to shoot down the Archangel after getting to know them so well." Yzak looked at him "And it's the same for you and those pilots…" they made their way into the ready room.
"You don't have to worry about that…" Dearka said from the door as he leaned against it "Orb has a minimal number of pilots from the looks of it…"
Yzak looked at him "What's… you can't be serious…" he looked at the screen showing the incoming suit types.
"Virgo II's great…" Athrun grimaced "Those things are on a whole other level when it comes to mobile dolls… and what about these unknown suits…" he looked at the six suits in the lead.
"Three look like Leo's but custom jobs… probably high performance types… one looks like a Gundam…" Dearka looked at Athrun "It's them alright…"
They entered the elevator to the hangar "Shinn, I'll say this once… don't get caught off guard, we wont be able to protect you in this one, OZ alone was a serious handful their pilots all trained to the point where they could match us, with the mobile dolls on their side it will be a serious fight…" Yzak said as he made his way out of the elevator towards the Blu Duel.
Shinn looked up seeing the orange ZGMF X-2000 GOUF Ignited that Heine piloted standing next to the Savior. "It's them, they were the ones who killed Representative Attha… why am I feeling angry her family is responsible for…"
Xxx
Yuna smiled "Right, let's get started commence operation Dardanus Dawn!"
Captain Todaka and the sub captain looked over at him and gaped Yuna blinked "What you mean that you don't know… The son of Zeus and Electra, it's where the name of this strait came from, Greek mythology, cool name for an operation eh?" he winked at the two commanders.
Todaka grimaced "Please I don't care if I die let a stray round hit the bridge and kill this traitorous bastard…" he looked at the sub captain "Begin launching the mobile suit teams."
The sub captain nodded "Begin launching mobile suit teams, teams one, two, and four lift off!"
Xxx
"Activate Igelstellungs, all weapons free!" the sub captain on the John Paul Jones ordered.
The captain smirked "Orb's pretty gung ho eh? Considering how far they had to travel to get here…"
Neo smirked "They're energetic because they still have something they desperately want to protect. Such people have great strength, let us pray that they emerge victorious it would be a great relief if we could finally take out those ships…"
Xxx
"Thermal ID twenty signals at one O'clock mam, checking thermal patterns they're mobile suits, identifying Orb Murasame's and Astray's… wait, another forty suits are following identifying Virgo II class mobile dolls!"
Talia nodded "Launch the Joule and Zala teams ascend, ten to port!" she ordered.
Xxx
The Aegis class cruisers opened fire with a barrage of missiles and cannon fire as the mobile suits clashed over the strait the Minerva and Dominion opened fire with their smaller armaments and missiles ripping into the enemy mobile suits and dolls.
Heero rolled flying high above the suits looking for the carrier "Where is their command ship?"
The Black Gundam from OZ prize slowed with the other five suits "Attention Preventers, I hereby issue a challenge to Treize Kushrenada come out and face me if you dare!" his voice was cold and filled with death laced in his words.
The pilots slowed as the Orb forces pulled back holding an attack line almost like they were circling for a duel between two combatants.
"I must decline, for there are two on this battlefield who have more of a right than I do Valder…" Treize's voice echoed across the battlefield.
"And who would that be?" Valder scoffed "None of your pilots are worthy of my prowess!"
"Two people you have caused great pain to are present this day, the first lost everything in a sequence of events from his friends to his family, he lost so many of his loved ones that he believes death itself follows him." Treize spoke calmly.
Heero looked down at the Deathscythe Hell "Duo…"
Hilde opened a channel with Duo "Duo don't…"
"It's him… that bastard… he killed them…" Duo's voice echoed across the channels shaking with rage "You killed…"
Valder's laugh echoed in their ears a cold heartless laugh "It's that pathetic orphan, I remember now to think that crybaby who stole that Leo to try to save that priest and nun who protected the rebels actually became a Gundam pilot! Its pure irony at its best I remember that day when I ordered the troops to open fire on the Maxwell church!"
"YOU BASTARD!" Duo roared as he kicked the Deathscythe to it's full speed charging past Hilde drawing the beam scythe as he went.
"Duo NO!" Heero yelled as he rolled his friend blindly charging at Valder.
Valder smirked as he activated the two shoulder claws and they opened revealing two beam cannons mounted in them "Now die like the pathetic cowards who were your parents!" he fired the Deathscythe took the hits the high powered beams scalding the surface of the armor as Duo closed.
"DIE YOU MURDERER!" Duo lifted the scythe high the shroud spread wide arching high like a devil's wings before he could strike the beam cannon mounted on the shoulder swung up and fired forcing him to dodge the high powered beam.
Valder dropped behind the Deathscythe Hell and smirked "Just as pathetic as you were then…" The claws latched onto the cloaks hinge points "Enjoy your last moments on this world boy, perhaps you should cry like you did when you found the nun still alive and she died as you tried to save her…"
"You forget Valder, there was a second…" Treize's voice echoed across the battlefield.
Valder smirked the Deathscythe trying to struggle against the powerful claws holding the shroud that he couldn't get around to get to Valder "And who would that be…"
"Your first assignment against Operation Meteor… do you remember it?" Treize asked.
Valder laughed as he remembered "Ah yes the purging of that old colony in the L five cluster, Colony A0206, I remember that was the first time I had seen a Gundam. The pilot was pathetic and when the beam cannon he was using ran out of energy the prototype Leo protected him, and it turned out to be his wife, what a pathetic man needing to be protected by a woman!" he laughed as Duo stopped struggling realizing who his ally was.
"Wufei… this bastard killed his…" Duo looked at the Altron.
Wufei snarled "You…"
Mayu looked at Wufei "Wufei don't…"
"YOU COWARD! YOU KILLED HER!" he charged the Altron launched its arms latching onto the Hydra and whipped it off of the Deathscythe towards the sea.
Mayu watched as the Deathscythe and Altron battled the Hydra being pushed back again and again "Wufei and Duo can't get the upper hand on this guy… he's a monster…"
Wufei glared and then looked at the Minerva and smirked he opened a line with Duo "Duo lure him towards the Minerva we'll use the positron cannon to vaporize this bastard!"
Duo smirked "Done!" he rolled and took a slash at the Hydra before dropping away towards the surface making Valder follow him firing as Duo rolled through the shots.
Wufei gave chase "He'll have to be held in position for this to work… the Altron… no Nataku has the strength to do this!" "Minerva take aim and ready the Tannhauser we're going to vaporize this bastard for what he did!"
Talia blinked as Treize opened a line and nodded to her "Give them what they want."
Talia nodded "Thirty to port, establish the Tannhauser's firing axis, once they're in position we'll fire!"
Arthur nodded as the Minerva started to turn slowly.
The Deathscythe slowed and Duo readied himself keeping an eye on the Minerva as it slowly turned.
Valder closed and slowed "Finally ready to face your death boy?" he chuckled "I'll make it swift and painless for you."
Duo laughed catching Valder off guard "The only one who's gonna die here today is you Farkill! Now Wufei!" he yelled as Wufei latched on with the Arms of the Altron the two more powerful arms of the Altron holding it in place.
Wufei laughed a cold laugh "Now die Farkill, for the pain of our loved ones!"
Farkill watched as the Minerva's front opened revealing the massive positron cannon "Clever… but not good enough." "You're a fool thinking you can kill me that easily…" he flicked a switch and the legs of the Hydra retracted up under the skirt armor revealing even more thrusters and activated them at full power as the Cannon readied to fire pulling the Altron into the firing line as he rammed the Deathscythe into the ocean surface.
Wufei's eyes widened in horror "The Altron cant…"
"FIRE!" Arthur ordered not realizing who was in the firing line. The cannons charge started to spark within the housing as it readied to fire it was too late Wufei couldn't do a thing.
A green beam streaked down from the sky and sliced through the Tannhauser causing the cannon to explode within its housing shredding the bow of the Minerva! The explosion knocked away all three of the combatants from the ship.
"What was that! From where!" Quatre yelled as he looked around for the beam's source.
The source soon made itself known as the Freedom streaked down from the cloud bank and slowed firing on the mobile dolls.
Shinn's eyes went wide "What the…"
"The Freedom… Kira!" Athrun said as the Savior slowed.
The white black and blue Freedom opened a line across the battlefield "Attention Orb Forces, this is your only chance lay down your arms and turn over the traitor Yuna Roma Seiran." His voice was cold.
The Archangel burst through the water surface as the Minerva descended and crash landed on the water from the damage launching its remaining machines in the process at the lead was the pink and red Strike Rouge "I am the Orb Union's chief representative Cagalli Yula Attha, I beg you lay down your arms and turn the traitors over."
"Cagalli…" Athrun smiled tears running down his face.
"It is true that for various reasons I have been forced from power but it is still I Cagalli Yula Attha who holds the seat of Chief Representative of the Orb Union, lay down your arms!" Cagalli ordered calmly.
Xxx
Neo picked up the phone on the bridge of the John Paul Jones and called the Orb Union's flagship the Takemikazuchi "Yuna Roma Seiran, how do you explain this?" he ordered.
Yuna picked up the phone "Well you see… its…" he stuttered.
"Who is that person!" Neo glared at him "Is she really your countries representative, if so then why did she wait until this moment to appear out of nowhere with that ship and then order your forces to withdrawal!"
Todaka looked at Yuna "How will you slip out of this one Seiran the noose is already around your neck?"
"Unless I get a satisfactory answer IMMEDEATLY, things will get very sticky very quickly for both you and your nation, do I make myself clear?" Neo glared at him.
"Yes… well it's just…. Umm… what I'm trying to say is…" Yuna grit his teeth "She's just… The preventers were the ones responsible in the first place she's an imposter, it's a ploy by the ESUN to make us surrender Lady Cagalli died at their hands!"
"That's all we needed to hear." Neo smiled.
Yuna hung up the phone and Todaka looked at him "Lord Yuna what are you talking about!"
"That's the Strike Rouge sir, and look at the crest that's Lady Cagalli's" the sub captain gaped at him.
"Shut up you two, that's an order, just because it's her crest and her mobile suit doesn't mean that it's her! Those bastards had her suit aboard that ship they left her to die like Lord Uzumi!"
Todaka was awestruck "This man… deserves to die… that's Cagalli's voice I know they made it out." "You're wrong sir." He looked at Yuna calmly "With respect for Lady Cagalli and the Orb Union you are a traitor."
"If you don't attack then the Earth Forces will attack us and our country, you will be responsible for letting it burn… so I'll give you this second chance Todaka, Attack." Yuna glared at Todaka.
Todaka grit his teeth and turned to face the front "Lady Cagalli, Commander Yamato please make it out of this alive and bring our nation back to us." "Aim missiles at those unknown mobile suits…" he ordered calmly.
Yuna smirked "Good choice captain."
The bridge broke out into a murmur "Sir we can't…"
Todaka looked at the sub captain "Don't trust their deception, we can't trust the rebels." He said as the Sub captain looked at him shocked.
"OPEN FIRE!" Yuna ordered.
"FIRE!" Todaka yelled.
Xxx
Kira and the others watched in horror as the Aegis class cruisers opened fire and a wall of anti mobile suit and anti ship missiles streaked towards them, Kira and the others within his unit pulled forward and opened fire the missiles erupted in a wall of fire as they were taken out by the eight mobile suits.
Kira glared "Zero-One, mission is go, intercept and eliminate the traitor!" he ordered, his voice echoed across the channels.
"Mission acknowledged, I'll kill Yuna Roma Seiran." A voice said as a high speed craft broke through the clouds and streaked down along the water's surface towards the Orb Fleet.
Heero blinked as he got a good view of the suit as it streaked along the water's surface towards the fleet "The Wing!" he rolled and flew down following the suit at high speed as it streaked through the mobile dolls trying to hit it rolling and dodging the shots.
Yzak watched the two "What's going on, Archangel can you read me!" he yelled.
The pilots each tried to hail the ship as it closed on the Orb fleet when Nicol finally gave up and flew towards them "Cagalli, guys can you read me…" his voice trailed off as the Strike Rouge turned and fired on him the shot ripping through the Trikeros shield and exploding.
The pilots all watched as it happened the other suits guarded the Strike Rouge as it flew back towards the ship aiming their guns at all sides in the battle.
Noin opened a channel with the pilots "Attention all ESUN pilots, assume the Archangel is hostile, if they take a shot at you return fire!"
xxx
Duo grit his teeth as he and Wufei rolled and dodged the attacks from the Hydra as it drove them back. "Damn it Kira guys what are you thinking!"
Wufei smirked "Operation Phoenix, like a bird that rises from the ashes Orb too shall rise again." He punched in the private channel "Hey Kira, long time…"
Kira smirked "Little busy right now Wufei… what is it?"
"Mind giving us a hand with this guy, I was kind of hoping you'd let the Minerva fire…" Wufei smiled, "This guy is…"
"Valder Farkill… I know… but it's gonna have to look like I'm firing at all three of you so…" Kira smiled.
"Yeah just don't miss and nail the cockpit…" Wufei smirked.
The Freedom rolled and dove on the combatants taking aim he fired nailing the thrusters of the Hydra rolling he fired the rail cannons into the Deathscythe Hell the shells ripping through the active cloak and causing it to hit the ocean surface in a large wall of water.
Wufei smirked as he launched the arms at the Freedom "I'm not going to make this easy Kira…"
"Yeah…" Kira smirked as he typed in ZERO "Neither will I…" he rolled in close along the arms before getting point blank ramming the Altron with the shield and using his beam saber to cut the right arm off before flipping over and kicking the Altron into the sea.
Xxx
Heero smiled as he punched in the code "Zero-One confirm code name."
The Wing rolled around an Aegis cruiser being followed by the Wing Zero at high speed closing on the carrier "Code name Odin Lowe, it's been some time brother."
"Ryuta I'll guess that your code name was Mom's idea… either way, we can't take him out yet… we need to wait a bit…" Heero rolled over a Kuraokami Destroyer and leveled off next to the Wing.
"Why not… it's best if we…" Ryuta looked at Heero on the screen.
"Because, he's aboard the Takemikazuchi and that's Captain Todaka's ship, if we can we have to force him to abandon ship." Heero rolled and sped up.
"Well then… " Ryuta smiled.
Xxx
Arthur looked back at Talia "Captain maybe we…"
"Would you settle down for a moment… our ship is at a serious disadvantage here… what's going on, I can barely make any sense out of this, I can't see Orb actually withdrawing their forces now…" Talia sighed "What is Captain Ramius thinking…" she looked at the Archangel "What are they trying to accomplish, and why are they firing on us?"
Xxx
Neo smiled as the Windam's, Chaos, Gaia, Abyss, the Blu Duel, Verde Buster, and Strike Noir launched "Good… there was a little confusion with that strange interlude but it looks to have worked out to our advantage… now that it's wounded now's our chance to take out the Minerva!"
The pilots smirked "Lemme at it, I've been waiting for this chance…" Auel smirked.
"Don't get cocky, after all… it's time we show those dirty coordinators who has the upper hand!" Mudie smirked as she followed Sven and Shams.
"Colonel Treize… what did you find…" Sven thought as he flew into the battle.
Xxx
Athrun rolled through the shots from the Chaos "Damn it! What the hell's going on!" he gave chase as he saw Heine and Shinn cutting through any suits that got close to the Minerva.
Rey and Lunamaria were on the deck supporting them taking out any suits they missed.
Heine rolled and opened fire with a multi barreled beam gun mounted on the forearm ripping through a Murasame that closed before drawing the beam sword in the shield of the GOUF.
The Gaia opened fire on Heine from the shoreline after he took out a Windam "Ahhh you little pest!" he rolled and flew towards the Gaia extending the Slayer Whip crashing into the Gaia sending an electrical surge through the suit.
Stella screamed in pain as the electrical blasts went through the suit she jumped back and transformed into the mobile suit mode taking aim with the beam rifle only to watch in horror as the whip wrapped around the rifle.
Heine smirked "This is no ZAKU pal, NO ZAKU!" he pressed the switch sending a powerful surge through the whip forcing the Gaia to drop the rifle before it blew up.
Stella glared "BASTARD!" she drew the beam saber and readied to fight the GOUF she charged.
Heine glared and ducked under the first strike before she came back around and he blocked it with the shield being knocked away.
Xxx
"Four mobile suits off of Minerva's starboard!" Chandra looked down to Murrue from his station
Murrue nodded "Fire in between don't hit their mobile suits!" she ordered.
Chandra nodded and looked down to Natarle.
Natarle smiled "Aim Gottfried's and Valliant's for the ones attacking the Dominion, FIRE!" she ordered as the Archangel opened up the large caliber linear cannon slugs streaking past the Dominion as the beams from the Gottfried's forced the mobile suits to break off their attack on the Minerva.
Xxx
Arthur gaped "But Captain, that ship helped us…"
Talia looked at it "They start off by destroying our cannon, now they're helping us what's going on here? It's absurd but could they be here solely because they want to stop this battle?"
Xxx
Shinn flew forward "Commander Yamato please respond!" he watched as the Freedom closed at high speed before rolling and cutting the arm off of the Impulse.
Shinn watched as it slowed and fired it's linear cannons into the water at the Abyss hitting it in the back destroying its main thrusters forcing it to retreat.
Heine glared from the shore "Who in the world is he! THIS IS GETTING CRAZY!"
Kira rolled and closed on the two on the shore "I think it's time…"
The Gaia launched itself off of the shore at the Freedom in its mobile armor mode only to have Kira roll dodging the attack and cutting the front arms off of the suit before kicking it into the ocean.
Athrun closed "Kira stop it, what's going on why are you fighting against us!" "This is just like back then… we fought against all sides but why is he fighting…"
Heine opened fire with the multi barreled gun mounted on the forearm "Attacking all of us, what in the hell makes you so special!"
Kira dodged the shots with ease the ZERO system calculating the movements of the suit to a precise degree not a single one hit as he closed he cut the arm off of the GOUF "What in the…" Heine blinked.
Athrun blinked "Kira…"
"Don't worry…" a voice echoed in his ears.
"Who…" he looked at the screen as it went blank and the four letters appeared Z.E.R.O. "The… it's the…"
"That's right…" Another voice said in his ears "The ZERO system, that's correct Athrun you should know how to use it right?" the voice asked.
"It can't be… your dead…" Athrun thought then heard several voices join in laughing.
"Only our physical forms died, you have to think more broadly when it comes to existence…" the voice said again the man almost laughing in his ears "But for now… that is all…"
Stella glared as she pushed the Gaia up in the shallows "You little… Nobody does that to me!" she activated the two beam blades and launched herself at the Freedom.
Heine closed on the Freedom and blinked as he heard an alarm blaring in his ear "Huh what…" his eyes went wide as he saw the Gaia.
Athrun charged ramming the GOUF out of the way with the flight mode of the Savior just before the Gaia could hit it "Heine!"
They rolled and watched as the Freedom spun and kicked the Gaia away again the Chaos flew past and caught the machine flying away as the Orb and Earth Forces fleets launched a return signal.
Athrun held the GOUF "You alright?"
"Yeah but… how did you?" Heine asked.
"The ZERO system… the higher reaction time it can give a pilot an edge… but I'd like to know why Kira and the Orb Branch…" Athrun paused as he watched the Orb Branch flying back into the Archangel.
"Kira… you mean the pilot of that suit, you know him." Heine blinked.
"He's an old friend, and commander of the Orb Branch's units Kira Yamato pilot of the XXXG-01F Freedom.
Xxx
Noin looked down at Treize who smiled as the Archangel turned away and slowly dove into the sea "Field Marshal, I doubt you'll tell me but what in the hell just happened?"
Treize smiled as he looked up at her "The Opening moves to Operation Phoenix, the operation to help Orb rise from the ashes of war."
Noin blinked "Operation Phoenix…"
"Operation parameters are classified beyond those who need to know… so after this have the Officers report to the briefing room." Treize stood and walked from the bridge.
Noin looked at the Archangel as it submerged again "Just what is going on here…"
Xxxxxx
Another chapter complete, and holy hell Heine survived? Yeah I think Heine has a little bigger role to play in the long run so… NO ZAKU PAL NO ZAKU!
Yeah I thought it would be nifty to see Ryuta using the skills he's been learning and what better machine to put him in than the XXXG-01W Wing yeah guys Wing clawed its way back from being nearly destroyed by Libra to become the suit of Heero's little brother, now the question comes what is Operation Phoenix and why is it so highly classified… Treize?
"In this game of chess, one must hide his movements to eventually win." Treize smiled as he walked over.
Now for the… what in the…
*Screen goes black*
"Hi…" a voice says "We thought you will probably ask a question about us… well no we're not telling until we see you next chapter." The voice almost had a smirk as it spoke.
GET THE HELL OFF MY COMPUTER DAMN IT!
The voices erupted into laughter.
"How about, this ald…" the screen flashed a bright high powered light and ald passed out.
*THWUMP!*
"See you next time…" a white grin appeared on the screen.