Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED/Gundam Seed Destiny
Author's Note: Starting this chapter at 10:20 P.M., July 12th 2013. It's a late update because I was busy with other things (mainly video games xD) and I had a dental problem where I had to get my upper right wisdom tooth pulled out because it was irritating the wall of my mouth. However that can be considered an excuse, and I've got that tooth on my desk in a box for the sake of it.
Now... where were we again? Oh yes...
"Alright then..." Kendan grinned as the vibrating sound from the Lohengrin increases in both frequency and intensity, having had reached its maximum point. "This is the price of your defiance... the cost of your arrogance... FIRE!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, giving the final order.
PHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW-BUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNG
A large, green beam energy shot struck the Archangel's Lohengrin, piercing the weapon dead on and continuing onwards, rushing over top the ship and leaving the vicinity as the large positron cannon exploded violently, causing enormous tremors aboard the Archangel's body, and forcing the crew to thank whoever had invented seat belts as they were nearly thrown about.
"WHAT THE HELL? WHERE IN GEORGE GLENN'S NAME DID THAT SHOT COME FROM?" Kendan barked greatly, the view cutting away from the Archangel's bridge to show smoke... light, gray smoke, slowly rising up and out of twin black barrels, those twin black barrels belonging to the Minerva's port side Tristan.
And inside the ship's lowered bridge, the crew sat silently, not speaking a word, as the white suit, Captain Talia Gladys rest in her chair, legs crossed and arms on their respective rests, a silent look of decision, courage, and determination present on her face and inside her dull eyes...
Many jaws dropped wide open, adrenaline pumped through the veins of soldiers, and confusion conquered the battlefield in the time it takes for a beam to travel, as the most recent action of Zaft Captain Talia Gladys held a firm grip on the area just off the coast of the ORB Union. Sickening, dark gray smoke rose from the lower starboard side leg door of the mighty battleship Archangel, the crew bracing themselves and trying to handle the damage that had so suddenly been inflicted on their newly acquired vessel.
"Lohengrin one is offline! Captain, the weapon's been destroyed! Reports of fires in and nearby the gun's chamber!" Mary Walafi frantically spouted from her chair on the bridge.
"Lohengrin one shutter door is still intact, Captain." Erin Dubu announced from below.
"FCS systems in the starboard leg are offline! Attempting to restart immediately!" Helmsman Ian added.
"Fire control crews to the damaged areas immediately! Hurry and re-establish full control over the FCS!" Kendan ordered, bits of perspiration rolling down his right side as he gripped his hand rests as hard as he could, the entire ship shaking uncontrollably as it started to lean forward and to it's right. Underneath the Archangel's right leg, the thrusters located there now seemed to be malfunctioning and were offline, throwing the ship off of balance as it leaned towards the water, and started to dive forward at a shallow angle.
'Damn, we're not going to make it... well it would be better for the emergency teams if the turbulence was buffed from the water outside... but then the water might get inside the lower chambers... decisions, decisions...' Kendan thought to himself. "All hands brace for water landing and imminent surface impact! Erin, seal off Lohengrin one's hatch, and prepare to reroute the remaining smoke outside through the ventilation system!" He ordered while the ship gently lunged forward and eventually touched the surface of the ocean, leveling off as it's entire body soon found itself in the water too.
In the meantime, the battlefield was completely stunned, and shocked. While many chose to stare at the situation with complete awe and confusement, others took advantage of the situation.
With the Veneficus and the Legacy flew a fair distance apart, their duel stopped by the actions that had occurred, Rey shifted to towards the darker machine and quickly fired a shot from each of his beam rifles at it. In reaction, Kira hastily raised his gundam's right arm and blocked with the beam shield on it, firing back with his own beam rifles to return the favor.
'We're going to regroup...' Kira thought as he flew away and checked the communication channels. "Cagalli! Shinn! Stella! Come back together!"
"What the hell happened! I mean... what the hell just happened!" Shinn raged from the Judicator, pulling back and the charging forward at his opponent, the Assassin, as he elbowed the smaller mech in the torso and knocked it back.
"The Minerva... a Zaft ship? This... this doesn't make any sense..." Stella wimped, while Athrun tried to take her out with a swing from the boomerangs on his shield. "No..." She moaned in a soft voice, letting the Demoness' fall and descend below the Crusader and then powering up it's thrusters again and moving away.
"Defense Headquarters, this is Cagalli speaking! That shot... what kind of damage would it have dealt? And was that.. the Minerva which stopped it?" The Lioness anxiously asked over the lines as the three other ORB gundams gathered around it, trying to get a hold over the situation, which had just reached new levels of chaos.
"Well... well... well... what do we have here? Some disobedience inside Zaft's ranks?" Lord Djibril questioned from inside a secure location in ORB, monitoring the outside battles. "This certainly is a day to raise one's eyebrows at..." He chuckled to himself, turning to face two ORB soldiers a second later, and quickly throwing aside his amused facade. "If that shot actually hit the mainland, chances are we would have lost our chance to get into space. What's the status of the shuttle? This battle is only going to get worse as time goes on!" He demanded in a voice that was both stern and yet worried at the same time.
"It'll still take some time, sir. Be patient... the men are working as fast as they can." One of the soldiers answered.
"Tell them to work faster, dammit!" Djibril grunted, as if veins were about to pop. 'Thank the coordinator scum who did this though...'
ORB Defense Headquarters:
A massive wave of relief relaxed the entire control center as the soldiers inside observed the Archangel while Admiral Westenfluss was halted, unable to destroy them or their city. However at the same time, the higher ups realized that this was no time for gossiping and chatter.
"Thank Haumae..." Colonel Soiga muttered to himself, lifting his head up and straightening his cap a little. "This is actually very good. The Zaft forces retreated from the coast in order to not suffer any casualties! Have the ninth and tenth mobile groups, as well as the second escort fleet move in and recover that ground! Take advantage of the situation!" He ordered.
"Sir!" Several other soldiers obeyed.
Archangel bridge:
"Captain, our crews have the damage under control and it is no longer spreading to any other sections of the ship." Executive Officer Dubu reported.
"Good." Was all Kendan answered with, his tone black to the bone. "Open a channel directly to the Minerva's bridge, and open it now." He took off his glasses and began to breath into them, some sweat having had made it's way to the lens in all the rumbling chaos.
"Sir..." Meyrin Hawke whimpered, imputing a few keystrokes into her station controls, Talia Gladys appearing seconds later, Admiral Westenfluss unleashing all his pent up rage in the process.
"Gladys... what the hell have you done now? Opening fire on an allied ship? This... this is unacceptable! Unjustified! In all my years as a soldier of the Zaft military I have never seen such blatant defiance of this magnitude! Now, EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" He absolutely demanded, screeching at the top of his lungs in the process.
"Admiral Westenfluss, if you remember correctly, our orders were explicit in their nature..." Gladys began, only to be interrupted.
"Explicit? Capture or kill Lord Djibril. That is our objective, our main objective!"
"We were also told to keep unnecessary casualties, such as those of civilians, or of ORB's cities, to a minimum, no matter what, if I remember correctly." Gladys retorted in a cold tone, holding in her own pent up frustration. "Firing a weapon like a position cannon would have not ensured that those orders were obeyed. You know this as well as I do, Admiral."
"Excuse me... direct violation of our orders... violation..." Kendan quickly reached for the pin that was attached to his suit and pointed towards it with his right fingers. "You see this? Here? Violation of our orders, you say? Captain Talia Gladys, I MAKE the orders on the battlefield, above all else, and I can modify them if I so desire, not you! What the Minerva has just done is an act of treason! You have opened fire on a friendly vessel and caused moderate damage to it and you will be court marshelled for your actions once this operation has finished, do I make myself clear?!" With the anger and fury of ten volcanoes, he questioned.
"I... am willing to accept the consequences of my actions..." Talia continued to look directly into Kendan's eyes, and speak in a very acidic tone of voice, Kendan smiling as a result.
'I'll be sure you get your just deserved...' He thought, looking toward Executive Officer Arthur Trine. "You! I am official re-leaving Captain Gladys of her duties! Now take command of the ship and carry out your orders properly, Trine!" Kendan barked.
"Sir..." Arthur began. "I agreed with Gladys when she responded to your... somewhat irrational actions."
"What?" Kendan asked, the back of his head smacking into it's head rest.
"I'm sorry, Admiral, but my crew was on my side when it came to this one. There wasn't any fuss when I issued the order to stop you from committing that action." Gladys responded, the movement in her hands tensing up somewhat, while Kendan relaxed in his chair somewhat, a slight, sly grin forming on his jaw.
"Alright then, I see you've made your point. Meyrin, extend this channel to all Zaft ships taking part in Operation Justice." He ordered, and waited. "For the crimes of opening fire on an allied vessel, and for blatantly disobeying a far superior officer in the wake of those orders, I, Admiral Kendan Westenfluss, FAITH Special Forces Officer now command all Zaft forces in the area to regard the treasonous LHM-BB01 Minerva and it's crew as a hostile entity and no longer recognize it as a Zaft vessel, rather, a threat that is to be dispatched this instant by available personal! This order takes effect immediately!" He snapped his fingers in a fit of righteousness.
"What? You can't just..." Talia protested, throwing herself forward in her chair, while the bridge crew of the Minerva either gasped, cried, or just plain dead gave off surprised and shocked expressions.
"I just did. Until the Supreme Council overrides my orders, you are no longer considered a part of our military. However, chances are you won't survive until then, not in this war zone." Kendan smiled.
"YOU BASTARD!" Gladys lost it as she stood up, right out of her chair. "What were you thinking, Admiral? You think Chairman Durandal will just accept something like this! Do you?"
"Captain, two incoming Vosgulov-class submarines from port. They're arming torpedoes!" Bart stated.
"Understood!" Talia quickly turned her attention towards Bart, and then back to Kendan. "You... you think you're a soldier... you think that just because you have such a high rank and a powerful tool at your disposal that you're invincible, and that you can do anything, but that is false, and I hope you learn that lesson soon enough, Kendan Westenfluss! You're hunting down Lord Djibril, a mass murderer and a war criminal, but the methods you have employed in an attempt to bring him to Justice... make you no better than him! KNOW THAT NOW!" Talia screamed, the communications line severing a second later. "Malik, raise the ship immediately! Get us into the air! Arthur, fire Wolframs to intercept incoming torpedoes from those two Vosgulovs, just to be safe." She ordered.
"Yes ma'am!" Malik answered.
"On it! Tubes one through three, fire!" Arthur responded, the Minerva firing up it's engines and lifting upwards out of the water as two explosions took place just in front of it, from under the water, and a third, small object raced under the ship just as it lifted upwards into the air. "What now then... Captain?" He asked, worried about the fate of the ship, while Talia simply grit her teeth.
Archangel bridge:
"Alright... now what... sir?" Executive Officer Dubu questioned, as equally confused as his Minerva counterpart. "Are we... are we going to go after the Minerva?" He leaned back into the recesses of his chair.
"No... no... heck no. We're going to stay here for now, let our engineers take care of everything before we make our next move. How are the engineering crews handling the issue in the starboard leg?" Kendan asked.
"Last report stated that it's running along smoothly, but they'll still need a couple minutes to resolve all the issues." Erin answered, quick to reply.
"We'll let our mobile suits do the talking for now..." Kendan yawned, resting in the Captain's Chair as the Archangel stay near the middle of the attacking Zaft fleet. 'One way or another, we're not going to capture Djibril while leaving their cities completely in tact... no way, it isn't that cleanly cut. However, that was somewhat rash of me... but if Gladys wants to keep playing her games then so be it. The only problem is I doubt the Chairman is going to take this lightly, no matter how I spell it out to him. No matter, chances the forces on our fringe will go after her or perhaps ORB might be the ones to target her down now that she's been forced to the sides... without that soft, weak, naive Princess of there's in power, I doubt the ORB forces will be too kind towards the Minerva, considering what happened to this vessel's previous crew, due to her actions...' Kendan figured in his head, watching as the Minerva flew out of the water and towards the east, out of the fleet.
Back on the Minerva's bridge:
"I'm sorry..." Talia Gladys muttered, clearly holding back tears, and holding a tone that reflected that. "I didn't realize just how far the 'Admiral' would go in his endeavors. I'm to blame for all this... our ship has certainly seen better days..." She sighed, taking a look on the status of the battle that was going on, where the mobile suits and gundams belonging to both Zaft and the ORB Union were currently engaged in fierce combat.
"I know... Captain... but it's as you said earlier... you would never give an order like what the Admiral did... knowing you... I doubt that you would ever stand by and watch something like that unfold... well... you proved me correct... and I guess that's something to smile over." Arthur responded.
"Thank you, Arthur..." She breathed in again. "I know there's a certain line you can walk on... as a soldier... before you become little more than the terrorist you're hunting, or the commiter of crimes against humanity that you have sought to end... well... I guess some of the brass no longer care about that line. Ironic, considering Zaft's objective." The Captain explained.
"Well, wouldn't this cause a massive fit up in the top brass? I mean, those were our orders? And you wanted to stop them from being broken... so... what's going to happen, Captain? Won't Fleet Command..." Abbey asked, expressing the innocence and optimism of the young, recently assigned soldier that she was.
"Chances are... Admiral Westenfluss is going to get in trouble for this..." Talia nodded her head. "However... for FAITH Officers, the rules are a bit fuzzy and gray in the area of orders... and while I think Durandal is likely to allow us back and overturn him..." She tried to explain, when Bart burst in and talked over her.
"Incoming ORB Mobile suits! At eleven o'clock and closing fast!"
"... chances are we won't get out of this mess in tact..." She shook her head. 'Chances are some of the officers will be indecisive about this, but others won't hesitate to try and shoot us down, dammit. Lost Shinn... that girl Stella got on the loose, and now this? This is easily my worst failure as a Captain...' She thought to herself.
"Prepare to open fire! Activate CIWS and Tristans, load launchers one through..." Arthur reacted, giving out orders to respond to the situation.
"Hang on... they're slowing down, and one of them is trying to contact us, Captain. They're hailing!" Bart raised an eyebrow in discomfort, while Gladys looked out the window and noticed that there were three Murasames escorting the Elegant Sovereign gundam as the machines stopped near the ship, but still kept their distance from her.
"What are they... is that one of the machines that were recently deployed? Open... open a channel then." Talia ordered, completely and utterly baffled by the current situation.
"Captain Gladys... are you okay?" The voice of the golden mobile suit's pilot asked, sounding awfully familiar in the ears of the Minerva's bridge crew.
"Ca... Cagalli? Is that you who's piloting that ORB mobile suit? The real..." Captain Gladys asked.
"Yes, it's me. I know this is a massive shock for you and your crew, given the current circumstances and what's happened, but I'm not blind, I saw what the Minerva did... and even though you're an enemy soldier... I am grateful. Now, what happened? Why did we detect Zaft torpedoes targeting the Minerva?" Cagalli demanded as the Sovereign powered down the beams on it's shield and moved in a wee bit closer to the ship.
"But... wait a second? What are you doing here? What took place...?" Arthur frantically requested.
"Arthur, settle down! That isn't important right now!" Talia cut him off, feeling her own blood pressure rise even more, due to the situation.
"Uh... yes ma'am..." Arthur gulped, while his Captain took in a deep breath and began to explain.
"It's difficult to explain, Chief Representative. However, for some reason, in the eyes of certain officers, obeying orders is enough to get your ship exiled from the forces. Technically, the Minerva and her crew are not to be considered part of Zaft anymore." She explained sarcastically.
"What? How could?" Cagalli freaked out as her sensors beeped, the Sovereign ascending and backing away as three GOUFs approached the Minerva, and Cagalli raised her suit's right arm to defend itself, gesturing the Murasames to deal with the problem. "Well what the hell are you going to do then? If you're not 'considered' Zaft..." Cagalli grunted as she activated her beam again and sliced one of the GOUFs in half right at the waist.
'Considering how close those machines are... I think it's best not to just cut her off...' Talia thought to herself. "I wanted to retreat back to Carpentaria and explain the situation but considering how Zaft has the attack set up, that doesn't appear to be an option" She explained, while Cagalli remained silent and thought to herself about the situation.
"Okay... I understand." The Princess began. "For now, the Minerva should proceed forward and station itself along our coast... no ORB vessel or mobile suit will attack you, unless you attack us first." She issued, causing a ruckus in the bridge, and while Captain Gladys was trying to herself calm and collected, those words forced her hands to start shaking and her fingers to jitter somewhat uncontrollably.
"Is she serious?" Malik mumbled.
"How in the?" Arthur coughed.
"This day keeps getting weirder and weirder..." Bart added.
"Oh my god... what's going to happen to us now?" Abbey shuddered.
"What? Representative Attha, are you insane? You're letting us through?" Talia asked in confusion.
"Yes, now before more Zaft forces attack your ship because of what it's done, go to these coordinates and stay there! NOW!" Cagalli almost screamed as several missiles approached the Minerva, it's CIWS as well as the Murasames shooting them down.
"But why are you..."
"I saw everything. Yes, we may have had somewhat of a rough recent past, but I'm not going to sit back and just let the ship that saved thousands... if not millions of my own people's lives just get shot down because of some gun-hoe officer in Zaft's ranks! I owe you that much right now... please, for the sake of your own crew and their lives... I'm giving you temporary asylum... TAKE IT!" Cagalli replied fiercely, while Talia sighed and took off her hat, placing it in her lap.
"I see then..." She looked to Malik. "Take us there... I guess if you're giving us this option, we'll accept it."
"Thank you..." Cagalli said as Talia looked at her with a somewhat serious expression, while the Minerva's speed began to increase, the ship making its way towards ORB's Islands.
"Just one more thing..." The Captain began. "What the hell became of my Ace, Shinn? And of the Gaia? Tell me that!" She demanded.
"Shinn..." Cagalli laid her head back a little. "Is fighting for us now, if you want to know... as is the Gaia's pilot, Stella. Now, I have a nation to defend." Cagalli explained as the line was cut, the bridge bursting into gossip.
"Shinn? Defected?"
"How can that be? Just what the hell went down?"
"Well, at least the boy's okay then, if he's fighting." They whispered amongst themselves, getting on the Captain's nerves as she stomped her foot down.
"Idle chatter is prohibited on the bridge during a combat operation!" She stressed. "Bart, are any more Zaft machines targeting us down right now?"
"No ma'am. They're out of range..."
"I see..." She stood up. "Arthur, you have the bridge. Don't do anything to get us killed. I need to see the doctor for a second before I have a heart attack..." She huffed, walking up the steps towards the exit.
"Captain! Just what was that all about?" A very pissed off Athrun questioned, the Crusader moving back and rotating to it's right in order to block two green beam shots from the silver Demoness' shield. "ADMIRAL!" He backed off as the opposing suit fired what appeared to be a pink beam whip at the Crusader, which swung it's beam naginata across it's body to deflect the attack. "That's enough out of you!" Athrun grunted, returning fire on the Demoness with his two AF-6J "Hyper Fortis" Beam Cannons.
"Athrun, focus, we've got something more important on our hands right now!" Rey countered from a distance over the line, pointing the Legacy's backpack-mounted small DRAGOONs forward and firing upon the Veneficus. "These guys aren't going to go down without a fight!" The Veneficus ascended and tilted it's entire body forward so the beams flew under it's torso.
"Yes, I know that!" Athrun huffed while the Demoness continued it's assault on him, striking down with it's beam scythe onto the Crusader's naginata. "You know what, let's all regroup together, I want to set things straight and figure out just what's going on!" He pulled back a few feet and then proceeded to kick the silver gundam in the left leg with his right leg beam, which although it forced the Demoness back and allowed him to fall back, Athrun was greatly surprised afterwords with the results. 'That was a direct hit and the machine didn't lose a limb? What kind of technology are we dealing with?'
The four Zaft ZGMF-XxxS gundams seemed to group back together loosely, the Assassin and Colossus off a bit dealing with their own enemies, while the Crusader and Legacy stood back to back with weapon's drawn, their enemies approaching yet keeping their distance, and bow of the Archangel below them.
"Alright..." Athrun pressed a few keys onto his console, eventually bringing up man who was in charge of the Archangel. "What was that for? The positron blast and how you handled the Minerva?" He questioned, being a little rude as he did.
"Athrun Zala! Don't speak to me that way!" Kendan asserted.
"But Admiral! What good would firing the ship's Lohengrin at ORB do? Especially if we're to capture Djibril? And what about the Minerva?" Athrun inquired, still keeping an eye on the enemy gundams, which were currently engaging Zaft mass production models.
"It was a tactical move, boy! Not my fault that some of their military facilities sit in close proximity to their cities! Oh, and a correction: We're to capture or kill Djibril! I'll handle that traitorous ship later!" The Admiral gruffed back at the pilot.
"But..." Athrun coughed.
"Watch it!" Rey warned as the Crusader's sensors beeped off, a ball of what appeared to be purple beam energy with a bright golden yellow core flying through the air towards the Crusader, although it flew over the head of the machine, as if it was thrown poorly.
"Dammit!" Athrun looked at where the energy orb had came from, finding his target quickly. The black and red winged gundam with a glowing red and yellow internal frame peaking through in several places was currently 'generating' those orbs in it's hands and whipping them in Athrun's direction from a distance, although from what Athrun could guess, the pilot was just learning how to use the weapon for the first time. "Alright then, Admiral..." He nearly spat bitter acid, judging by his voice.
"Just think about how much damage Lord Djibril could do if he gets away. That's why I gave the order... Athrun Zala." Kendan responded in a calm and collected manner before turning off the line.
'Telling me things I already know, Admiral... still... what you did...' The Crusader broke it's double-bladed beam saber back and stored both individual handles away, only to reach for it's custom beam rifle.
"Athrun, Heine, Luna!" Rey alerted, the Legacy blocking a beam rifle hit from the Veneficus with it's left beam shield. "I'll go after this one. Athrun, take out the other one that looks like it. Heine and Luna should handle the other ones, alright?" He asked, side stepping to the right and firing the respective beam rifle as he did.
"Sounds good... however, a fair warning about the silver one. For some reason close ranged attacks with beam don't work on it." Athrun warned, breaking away from the Legacy and thrusting ahead with his beam rifle pointed sideways, letting out several shots at the Judicator.
"Oh, really now?" Heine snickered, the shoulder armor of the Assassin popping open again as the suit activated it's mirage colloid and vanished.
"That's fine with me! I'll show them!" Lunamaria answered, taking out an approaching Murasame with her chest cannon, the blast powering right through the Murasame's torso.
"Hmmph..." Rey murmured. 'Seems like we got it all figured out...' He thought, firing both beam rifles one after the other in succession as the Veneficus 'stepped back' to it's right and left to dodge, replying back to Rey with a shot from each of it's wing cannons in the process, Rey blocking one of them and evading the other.
"Shinn... stick close to me... and who is piloting each of these machines? Which one is Athrun in?" Kira inquired, backing away from the Legacy as the Zaft machine prepared a full burst from all of it's forward weapons. 'Damn...' Kira thought, opening the Veneficus' wings up and evading the shots, twisting, swerving, and rolling in the air to avoid taking damage, only to double back and combine both of his beam rifles together, end to end and fire them off at the Legacy, the forward barrel letting out a 'shot gun' blast of smaller, weaker beam bolts, the Legacy ascending up and to it's right in order to evade.
"Athrun... is in this one." Shinn grit his teeth while absorbing several oncoming beam shots from the Crusader with his right beam shield. "And Rey... Rey Za Burrel is in the other machine!" The Judicator raised it's right arm and generated another beam orb from it, tossing the ball directly at the Crusader, which seemed to easily bash it away with it's beam shield. "Err... who the hell designed a ranged weapon like this?" The red eyed coordinator barked and complained as he was forced to evade a pair of shots from the Crusader.
"That's why I said stay back and try to get the hang of it first, Shinn! Alright, if that's Athrun's machine..." Kira gave off a regretful sigh, losing his focus for a split second, only to snap back in an instant as the Legacy unleashed a burst from it's twin RL-532 "Xiphias Drei" Rail Cannons and lone RL-223 "Calidus" Multi-Phase Beam Cannon. "Gah!" He screamed, the Libertas Veneficus blocking the salvo but not having enough forward momentum to resist being violently pushed back in the air while in the process.
"Kira... you okay?" Shinn asked with worry as the Crusader outright unleashed it's Fatum-10 lifter and launched it at the Judicator, all beams on the device activated in the process. "Damn you!" Shinn swore while raising the feet of his machine over it and stomping it down, the lifter and main body of the Crusader moving together to link back up, giving Shinn some time. "Alright, play time's over, Athrun!" Shinn growled, each hand of the Judicator reaching up and over it's head in order to grab onto the handles of the two stored anti-ship swords located there, bringing them forward out of their holsters and unfolding them to reveal a pair of two dark blue, almost twenty-six meter long blades. Of these two blades, three beams erupted on each. One of them was green, and it ran the outer cutting edge, starting and covering the handle only to extend all the way to where the tip began. The tip emitted a volatile, powerful dark purple beam as well as an energy orb inside the indent of it. The last beam of each sword was also green of the same shade as the first, and it ran the back length of the blade down to the handle. "Alright, face me!" Shinn roared, bringing the right-handed blade across the Judicator's body and swinging the left one behind it, under the respective wing as it burst forward and ignited both it's thruster and wings of light, rushing at the Crusader.
Athrun's eyes widened somewhat due to the larger machine, which was emitting a very prominent particle effect, although that did not deter him from preparing for melee combat by storing his beam rifle back and taking out his beam naginata once more, keeping the blade behind his suit's body while swinging his multi-purpose shield forward against the Judicator while it swing across with it's right anti-ship sword, the two weapons conflicting with each other and forcing their respective gundams to deflect to their left in a ninety degree turn.
"Arrgh!" Shinn quickly turned around and came right back at Athrun. With that, the Crusader attempted to perform an uppercut attack with it's naginata, however the Judicator interrupted this by rotating it's left arm back up and blocking Athrun's blade with the beam on the back side of his anti-ship sword. Right after that Shinn swung from the side with his right handed blade, and Athrun stretched out the Crusader's left arm to block with the beam shield on it, the two machines locked neck and neck in combat.
"Who's piloting that anyway?" Athrun quickly reached up and pressed a few keys on his controls to open up his communications lines. "What's happened to ORB anyway? Why are they doing this? It doesn't make any sense!" He complained.
"You're the one who's attacking so shut up!" Shinn responded, breaking away and attempting to strike back, the Crusader rising upwards a few meters in confusion as the Judicator pulled back it's right arm again and prepared for a swing.
"That voice? SHINN? What? Why are you in that machine?" Athrun questioned, kicking forward with his right foot to block the beam on the front of the Judicator's right anti-ship sword.
"Yes, it's me! And I'm in this machine so I can deal with you!" Shinn backed off again, only to swing upwards and diagonally with his left arm, sending another dark purple and yellow energy ball at the Crusader, which front flipped to avoid the attack, albeit barely.
"And Kira's in that machine, just so you know! Just to screw you up a little more!" Shinn warned as the Crusader came at him again and the two suits clashed the weapons in the right arms against each other.
"Kira... Kira's alive and fighting?" Athrun questioned frantically. 'I have to talk to him, I have to reason with him, but first I must shake Shinn off...'
'So Athrun's in that red machine... and someone named Rey is in this machine...' Kira thought to himself as the Legacy and Veneficus stared each down, the light gray gundam shifting to it's right, firing it's abdomen cannon, and then raising it's right arm in anticipation for return fire, which was received as Kira shot back with both of his beam rifles one after the other, their accurately aimed shots striking the Legacy's blue beam shield and pushing it back a bit. 'Rey... Rey... Rey...' Thoughts raced through Kira's mind while his foe backed off to it's left and tried to increase the distance between the two ranged gundams. 'It looks like...' The Ultimate Coordinator focused on the Legacy a bit more, analyzing it's movement patterns, and the look of the machine in general. Suddenly, if only for a split second, the gundam belonging to the most skilled Ace Kira had ever fought, the ZGMF-X13A Providence gundam, superimposed itself onto the Legacy's body in Kira's reflective, dark lilac eyes. '… his machine...'
'If you're not going to be aggressive then I will.' Rey kept a stone cold expression, manipulating his controls and forcing the Legacy's into a forward dive towards the Veneficus, attempting to get underneath the black, winged machine.
"Damn! He's good." Kira groaned, shaking his head as if to snap out of a daydream, only to find his enemy quickly approaching the area beneath his gundam's feet. In reaction to this, Kira pulled up on his controls, hard, so much so that all four thrusters on the bottom portion of each of the Veneficus' feet, the thrusters on the skirt armor, shoulders, and backpack intensified several fold, the magnitude of the generated thrust pulling the Veneficus up quickly while the Legacy aimed the six small DRAGOONs on it's backpack upwards and fired twelve beams right towards Kira. However before the beams managed to hit the Veneficus, the Black Freedom quickly folded it's large, energy emitting wings backwards as if to flap them, thrusting forward and evading the large volley of harmful green beams as they passed behind where it was.
Following this move, Rey kept his unflinching expression and managed to flip the Legacy back over one hundred and eighty degrees so that the front side was now facing the Veneficus. As the targeting screen popped up, all of the blonde's cross hairs focuses in on a single point in front of the gundam, and with another fold of the small DRAGOONS, an activation of the two Rail cannons, and a calibration of each beam rifle, the Legacy unleashed a complete full burst, numerous bright, blazing beam rays and Rail gun discharges blitzing towards the Veneficus as Kira turned around, raised both hands up in front of his suit's body and activated their beam shields, Rey's bombardment striking the dark blue barriers with such massive force that the Veneficus was thrown higher into the air and out of control.
"Ugh... arrr..." Kira groaned in pain from the g-forces as he worked to both stabilize his machine and avoid more damage from Rey, however the FAITH pilot had now switched from ranged combat to melee, and was charging right towards Kira head on with both of his beam sabers drawn in each hand and at the ready.
"Alright, lets see how powerful you are when I get up close..." Rey hissed, the Legacy's backpack halves bent backwards and all of it's additional thrusters activated as it blitzed towards a still recovering Kira, attempting to take a horizontal swing across it's body with it's right arm as it got close, swinging the limb quickly towards the black and blue mobile suit.
"Not... quite..." Kira fussed, leveling the Veneficus off in a nick of time and raising it's left arm out, the forearm striking against the Legacy's right hand and preventing it from moving forward, causing no damage. Right after that the Legacy raised it's left arm up and tried to swing it down onto the Veneficus' head, only to end up blocked as Kira kicked upwards with his machine's right foot, the toes connecting with the Legacy's elbow, giving Kira a chance to move backwards and get out of melee range, at least for a couple seconds. Knowing that he didn't have much time until Rey came at him again, the brunette acted fast and placed both of his unique beam rifles back onto their respective skirt armors and then reached towards the suit's back, drawing out his own dark blue beam sabers and charging forward as Rey did the same, both machines locking beam blades together.
Meanwhile, in an unknown underground location in the ORB Union:
The ever impatient Lord Djibril sat in a room overlooking the shuttle launch bay, his arms crossed together and his left foot periodically tapping the ground at a frequency of about 1.4Hz. The lead Logos member wore an upset and disgusted grimace across his aristocratic face, looking off out the window to observe the ORB personal that were loyal to the Seiran family as they prepared his shuttle for take off. Despite his love for Paladin, he wasn't even looking at the fluffy, overweight black feline, who sat on the ground, it's front legs propping up it's forward body while it looked at it's weary owner with glazed eyes.
Paladin then blurted out an excited meow, as if he wanted attention, yet Djibril ignored his pet completely. "Meow." He went again, and although Djibril's eyes tensed up slightly and his foot tapping increased in its frequency ever so slightly, a vein of annoyance appearing just a little on the right side of his face, directly under the ear. "Meow." Paladin cried once more, and the third time was the charm.
"WOULD YOU STOP IT!" Djibril roared from above, and in the blink of an eye he turned his attention towards Paladin, his left eye twitching ever so slightly.
"Meow..." Paladin backed down, frightened but the ever so sudden hostility, only to turn away and walk towards another part of the room.
"God dammit... what's taking so long? It's just a shuttle. In this day and age it should take minutes, not hours, to prepare one! Err!" Djibril lifted his tapping foot up high and slammed it down onto the metallic floor.
"Meow!" Paladin seemed to his this time, and although Djibril wanted to have an episode of rage, he was halted, as someone unexpected entered the room. "Meow!"
"Quiet!" Djibril ordered. "Ah, Yuna Roma. What brings you here right now?" Djibril asked as the young Prince took his seat near Djibril and crossed his legs while placing his arms over and behind his head.
"Djibril, I knew I'd find you here"
"As if it wasn't obvious..." Djibril answered.
"Heheh... yes... considering the current state of ORB, thanks to a certain nose picking Chairman." Yuna blurted in a comical fashion.
"Get to the point, Seiran. My shuttle should HOPEFULLY be ready any minute now." The Logos member cast a daring glare towards the guards. "And I intend to leave the Earth and take my place among the stars... for the purpose of casting a great Requiem." The Lord chuckled the last bit.
"Oh, I know. Just... you inspired me earlier, with your words, I mean, back at my father's mansion."
"I did, didn't I?" Djibril questioned.
"Most certainly. I felt like I was paying attention to a man who knew what he was doing, and when he was doing it. A proud, educated, and skillful leader who is not afraid to go against public opinion for the sake of doing what's right. I admire you, Djibril. I understand where you're coming from, and I agree with you. However, the thing is... I intend to leave with you, if you don't mind." Yuna smirked, although in a friendly fashion.
"What? Why would you do that? Don't you already have someone down here waiting for you? Considering how you managed to get a hold of her?" Djibril turned somewhat towards Yuna, interested in conversing with the purplette.
"Oh, her... I think all of this is said and done, I'll deal with Cagalli. Once she knows what I'm capable of, that is."
"Huh, love can wait, I guess. Still, why do you wish to take part in my journey? The places I am going to... are no place for a Prince like yourself."
"Oh, don't flatter me." Yuna joked. "I commanded the ORB forces at the Dardanelles, remember?"
'And you failed miserably at it... a hefty setback on our part.' Djibril thought.
"I'm perfectly clear for space travel, friend. But... if you want to know why I'm coming with you, I think you'll allow it."
"Oh, and why's that?" Djibril inquired in a stern tone, reaching for answers.
"Because, there's the ORB forces in space... and if I'm out there, I could... you know... hehe... potentially take reign over them for you? After all, unless our bratty Princess decides to head up into space herself, she can't directly overthrow me, and from what I know... she no longer controls the Archangel."
"Uh huh..." Djibril smiled, raising an eyebrow.
"And although we do have some Izumos in reserve down here, I don't think that it'll be enough to get past Zaft after they realize you've left ORB. It's the perfect plan, don't you see?"
"I see..." Djibril spoke heavily.
"Brilliant, ain't it? I certainly am brilliant..." Yuna giggled.
"Oh, alright then, fine. You can come with me... I'm certain that this plan of yours can prove somewhat useful, and I doubt the ORB forces in space are going to be little more than deaf ears when I speak." Djibril turned back towards the shuttle. 'Well, he is a Prince of ORB... he'll be useful one way or another.'
"Ahh!" Lunamaria screamed violently, the ZGMF-X35S Colossus raising up both it's large, blood red beam cannons under it's shoulders and folding them into shotgun mode, firing them in tandem with it's shoulder-mounted beam Gatling guns, an almost infinite amount of small beam shots horizontally raining across the battlefield towards several ORB mass production models, and while some of them did manage to raise their shields, those defenses only covered part of their body, while other areas were exposed, and subsequently, suffered direct hits. Folding her cannons back up Luna spotted a lone Murasame coming at her from below, pumping out numerous green lasers from it's ranged weapons while it tried to come up below the Colossus. "Why you! I've fought in space, and air combat is practically the same thing besides the different g-forces!" She admitted, pulling back as the prismatic beam shields mounted on her machine's knees activated and spread their defensive fields out, intercepting the shots. "So take this!" A large, powerful beam erupted from the Zaft gundam's chest, blazing towards the Murasame, and although it tried to evade the shot, it still suffered a hit to it's right wing and was thrown off balance due to that. "Good enough, now back to work." She commented, only to have her radio beep on seconds later, revealing her sister's face. "Meyrin!"
"Luna! Are you alright? I mean... are you..."
"Yes, yes. Don't worry, Meyrin. I'm fine." Luna responded, looking into her sibling's eyes and noticing that she seemed to be worried or distressed, desiring the ability to inform her elder sister of something new. "What's up? Have we managed to secure the target yet?"
"I wish." Meyrin tilted her head to the side. "I've got new orders for you, since you're apparently 'doing well out there' as the Captain says."
"And? What does he... what does he want me to do?" Luna paused, noticing the look on her sister's face.
"Go and... sink the Minerva. That's what he said." The feed of Meyrin tilted it's head towards the Captain's chair, the sound of an affirmative 'yes' echoing in the background, coming from a masculine voice.
"The Minerva... but?" Lunamaria swallowed at the very thought, only to pull back on the Colossus and move away from the front lines a tad, for her own safety, as Meyrin disappeared and Kendan took her place.
"Miss Hawke..." The Admiral began. "Are you willing to carry out your duties as a soldier or not?" He requested, stoic and demanding in his expression.
"Um... well... why the Minerva? Isn't our target-" She barely managed to speak.
"Yes, however that machine you have has the possibility of dealing too much damage to ORB." Kendan rolled his eyes. "In addition to this, the Minerva seems to be sitting by itself near ORB's coast... as to why, I don't know, by they're not threatening it, from what I can tell, and something like that cannot be allowed to continue. Do you understand?"
"Yes... sir... whoa! AHH!" A horrified Lunamaria Hawke shook her head in surprise as a pair of bright verdant beams passed by the front of her suit, her nerves pulling the machine back in the nick of time.
"What the hell is going on right now? Miss Hawke..." Kendan demanded.
"Ugh... I'm engaging an enemy mobile suit right now. Sorry, Admiral..." She quickly flipped off the communication lines, right in his face.
"Why that..." He turned towards Mary, the radar operation. "Is the Colossus actually engaging an enemy mobile suit? And what kind?"
"Uhh... yes, she's engaging one of the new ORB models, one on one, Captain." Mary answered.
'Luna... fighting one of ORB's top notch...' Meyrin squeezed her right hand.
"Understood. Have Heine assist her. The two of them should be able to take that machine out no problem." Kendan issued.
"Aye, Captain."
"Is it the same one as before?" Lunamaria questioned, unfolding her right beam cannon into it's sniper rifle mode and firing off a shot, aimed directly at her golden opponent, the blast deflecting off of the Sovereign's right chest and bouncing away, blitzing past the Colossus' left arm. "So it isn't a fluke... shit!"
"You're not going any further, sorry!" Cagalli grit her teeth, and with a flick of it's arm the Sovereign targeted the Colossus with it's left shield and fired away, unleashing one pair of beams which were deflected and then moving to try and get behind Lunamaria's machine.
"Err..." Luna grunted, knowing full well that this machine was like no other. She quickly evaded the first pair of offensive shots and then pressed a couple of buttons on her controls, activating all four of the Colossus' MX2343 "Prisma" Beam Shields, and then crossed her left arm over the machine's body to block another pair of shots. "Dammit! Well then... ugh... have some of this!" She frantically opened fire with her head mounted CIWS, the Sovereign rolling and twisting in the air for the sake of making evasive actions, all the while closing the gap between the two machines with beam fangs at the ready.
"I'm sorry, but you shouldn't have attacked ORB if the first place if you didn't want to have to face the consequences that come with pissing someone like me off!" The Lioness warned, striking down with her right armed shield, and roaring in the process, only to have Luna block it with her left arm, although it appeared that the Colossus was on the back foot.
"Ahh... why won't you just..." Luna fumbled unleashing additional fifteen point five meter CIWS shells at the Sovereign, aiming for the head.
"I've fought Kira one too many times to know what that move is..." Cagalli responded while tilting the Sovereign's head away in order to block the shells from damaging the optics and sensors, the Elegant Sovereign's armor blocking the point defense weapon fire while Cagalli swung inwards with her left arm, and Luna blocked the attack, but just by a little bit. "NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF ORB AND TAKE THE REST OF YOUR FRIENDS WITH YOU!"
"Rooooarrrrr... NO!" Luna pushed back and then kicked the Sovereign in the side of it's left leg with the Colossus' right foot. "No, no, no! You're not doing that again!" She deactivated the beam shields on her arms and proceeded to reach for the Colossus' most powerful weapon: the two individual parts that formed it's LC-1000PC "Kristallnacht" Compact Mobile Suit Positron Cannon, took them off of the side skirts and combined them together, several light indicators flashing on while the two gundams gained distance, the vibrating periodic noise made by a cannon of that type buzzing in the air.
"That's foolish, I already..." Golden eyes opened their lids as the Sovereign's sensors went off, warning Cagalli of the danger. "... an anti-matter gun? For crying out loud!"
"Now take this!" Luna yelled, unleashing the blast of powerful positrons, the beam causing the air around it to explode due to the reaction as the shot headed directly for the Sovereign, but Cagalli was too good to take a hit like that, and managed to gain some height, enough height. The beam then went on to ignite the sky and blaze throughout the battlefield, taking out a few ORB mobile suits that were behind the Sovereign.
"That's... too powerful..." Sweat rolled down the blonde's face as she realized that something else had taken place besides that cannon shot. For some reason, the flare-like device mounted on the Sovereign's backpack, on it's upper left side, had been severed in all the commotion, and an object that appeared to be a blur or distortion of the air was now making its way towards the Colossus as Lunamaria stored her cannons back, a somewhat smug look on her face.
"Luna... you alright?" Heine questioned, the shoulder armor of the Assassin closing back up as it came out of stealth with one of it's beam blades drawn in it's right hand.
"Fine... just dealing with this one..." She gave the golden gundam a mean look, the two of them moving apart as an additional pair of beam blasts intervened in their conversation, although these ones did not come from Cagalli.
"Ahh! There you are! I was wondering where the machine with mirage colloid went! I know your secret!" Stella giggled... although in a pissed off way, the silver Demoness flying in next to it's golden sibling, it's staff extended and in hand while purple beams blazed from each end.
"Her again..." Heine growled. "I was trying to take care of their ground forces... and she got in the way. Then I was ordered to help you! Watch out, it's a tough one." Heine warned as Stella approached him straight on, thrusting the spear end of her staff forward, the Assassin raising it's left arm and evading the strike while he beam passed under it safely.
"Understood. Wasn't that the one Athrun warned us about? In that case then..." Luna fumbled around with her controls, preparing her weapons for fire.
"No you don't!" Cagalli intervened, performing a corkscrew in the air and coming between the Demoness and Colossus while Luna fired a chest cannon blade, the beam striking the Sovereign and deflecting away, forcing Luna to evade her own shot, the four of them now engaged in a brawl, high above the area where the Minerva was resting.
The ORB-04 Judicator tilted it's head back in order to avoid an overhead swing from the Crusader's beam naginata, only to strike upwards with it's left arm, the anti-ship sword meeting the same blade that had recently been used against him. Athrun's next move was to thrust his AJ-001S "Abwehr" Combined shield forward with it's beam boomerangs activated, the Judicator raising it's right arm upwards and intercepting the beam with the back half of it's other large sword.
"This is ironic... it really is..." A very bitter Athrun sparked as he he attempted to kick upward with his right leg, forcing Shinn to either break away or take damage, the red eyes coordinator taking the former option as the two gundams distanced themselves.
"What's ironic, Athrun?" An equally moody Shinn buzzed back, thrusting his blue, left handed blade forward completely while the Crusader moved back to avoid suffering from the weapon's massive reach, giving off a two-shot salvo from it's Fatum-10 cannons. "Huh? Well!?" Shinn continued while raising his free hand and blocking the blasts with it's beam shield as the Crusader turned to it's right and ignited it's engines to move away.
"I'll let you figure that one out later, but for now..." Athrun grumbled, watching the duel between the Legacy and Libertas Veneficus in the distance. "... Kira... doesn't have to be this way..." He muttered to himself, the words so weak that they were not picked up by the transmission microphones.
"For now what? You bring something like that up and then hold back?" Shinn questioned, swinging both blades across the Judicator's body one above the other, in succession, and launching a pair of beam energy balls at the Crusader. "What's wrong with you?" He asked assertively while the Crusader turned half way towards the Judicator and stored it's beam sabers back in their holsters, reaching for the pair of shoulder-mounted beam boomerangs it had above as Shinn closed in, leaving a blazing trail behind him in the form of his wings of light. "Or are you just being an ass?" The ORB gundam closed in while the Crusader activated both AJ-M77M "Return" Beam Boomerangs swing it's arms to the left side, so as to throw them to the right in a second. "Well?" A very annoyed Shinn continued his pseudo-interrogation while the Crusader flung it's two arms to the right at the approaching, darker machine. 'Oh damn...' Shinn thought, pulling back on the controls and bringing the Judicator to a halt so he could pull out a defensive pose to deflect the beam boomerangs only to find that... they weren't actually launched. "Yeah, you're being an ass!" A pissed off Shinn Asuka commented while Athrun used the velocity gain he had over Shinn to power towards Kira and Rey, storing boomerangs back onto his suit's shoulder. 'Fake me out like that, dammit!' Shinn grunted, powering forward again towards the other three gundams.
"Kira! Kira! And Rey! Stop this! NOW!" Athrun yelled across the communication lines as he intercepted the two blue machines in the middle of their fight and forced them to break off from one another, the Crusader coming to a defensive halt in between both of the machines.
"Athrun... Zala..." Kira said softly towards the other pilots.
"What?" Shinn blinked twice, coming to a stop some distance away from the other thee mobile suits, but closer to the Veneficus, both ORB machines closing their wings shut and deactivating the particle effects in them. "Kira why are you...?"
"Shinn! Shut it!" The Veneficus turned it's black, metal head towards the Judicator, giving the gundam a quick glance, focusing on the Legacy and Crusader right afterwords. "Athrun..."
"Athrun? We'll try to..." Rey quickly attempted to give out tactical orders, only to have the Crusader quickly fall back and grab onto it's right arm with it's left hand to hold it.
"No! Rey! All of you! Enough of this! We don't need to be fighting like this!" He reasoned, scanning around the field and looking at the other three. "Kira... so you are alive... how? What happened?"
"Have you ever heard of a lie, Athrun?" Shinn questioned.
"Hmm?" Rey mumbled.
"Shinn?" Athrun's eyes popped slightly.
"Because that's what happened. Sorry to say it but I flat out lied in my report about Operation Angel Capture. Is that too hard to believe? Is it?" He asked in a harsh tone, as harsh as a brutal summer day upon one's mind and body.
"What? Shinn? You would..." Athrun shook his head in disdain. "And I thought something like that was above you, but apparently not."
"Big words coming from you of all..." Shinn nearly spat, the Judicator slicing through the air with it's right-handed anti-ship sword.
'So this is the real Kira Yamato and he survived... interesting. Now to see how things turn out. Athrun... let's hope you were right before, although I'm prepared if you weren't...' Rey thought to himself keeping to the back, gaining a distance from the Veneficus and it's ultra-accurate arsenal of ranged weaponry.
"Shinn! I said shut it! Now listen!" Kira barked, glancing at his black haired comrade yet again. "Athrun, what do you want? Tell me. Now."
"I think we should..." Rey tried to suggest as the Crusader let go of it and motioned towards the Veneficus by about twenty meters.
"Kira, listen to me. Do you know what you're doing? Do you know what you're inhibiting, by standing between Zaft and it's target right now? What could become of all this?"
"Athrun, I know what you say you're after, but there's more to it then that." Kira responded, the limbs of the Veneficus tensing up in anticipation.
"Like what? We're here for Djibril? Is that too hard to comprehend? Is it? Is it really?"
"Athrun..." Kira growled.
"LOOK! This may be the Lacus in me speaking... but we don't need to fight each other, I'm sure if we give each other a chance to lay everything out and talk... we can end this, right now. I DON'T WANT to attack ORB! However, I WILL if it means Djibril is placed in the hands of Justice, as he deserves. I know you, Kira, and I know someone like you detests men like him."
"And yet yo-"
"That statement was made by Yuna Roma Seiran, a fool, if there ever was one! It wasn't made by you, it wasn't made by Cagalli, and all it did was escalate a battle that should have never taken place in the first place, understand." Athrun explained, only to have Shinn speak next.
"Why don't you just stop this non-"
"SHINN! I mean it! Athrun... Athrun... Athrun... Athrun... Zala..." Kira spoke, his volume lowering as he repeated that same name over and over. "I know what you're saying... I know what you're saying but it doesn't matter, because at this moment... Chairman Durandal..."
"Do you even know what the Chairman's true objective is? DO YOU REALLY KNOW THAT, KIRA?" Athrun yelled, his voice pushing Kira back in his chair somewhat, and causing him to open his eyes even more. "Because that's why I'm fighting right here and right now... to make that a reality..."
"I hope you don't know what you're talking about..." Kira muttered across the lines.
"Kira... no..." Athrun shook his head. This fight was far from over.
Minerva sick bay:
Captain Talia Gladys buttoned up her uniform and put on her hat, and proceeded to walk towards the exit of the medical room, the ship's doctor giving her a few final words.
"These are hard times for us all, Captain. While I didn't see what happened, from what I gather, you made the right decision... if only you never had to make such a decision in the first place. Such a shame." The doctor shook his head.
"Thank you... although you probably won't be calling me Captain for much longer... as sad as that sound-" Talia replied as she entire vessel seemed to shake and rumble, causing the Captain to nearly fall into the wall and forcing the doctor to take hold of some medical equipment for the sake of it not breaking. "What the hell is going on? I thought they said they were giving us asylum."
Back on the bridge:
The tremors had continued as Talia made her way back to her nervous bridge, filled with crew members who were worried sick to the bone.
"What the hell is happening! Arthur, status report! Now!" Talia brutally demanded, carefully walking down the steps and into her chair.
"Tubes three and four, launch! Reload all torpedo tubes following that!" The Executive Officer shouted. "Captain... incoming fire... from several Vosgulov-class submarines targeting the coast. Some of their shots are coming towards us and we're taking them out... that's what's making the shaking!"
"Dammit! They've managed to break though this far! What the hell is ORB doing? Judging by their movements... come on, give me an answer!"
"ORB forces are pulling back and attempting to consolidate their defense around several points. That's how those submarines have pulled in closer, ma'am." Bart informed.
"Understood... dammit..." Talia straightened herself up in the Captain's Chair, and then looked out the window, her eyes narrowing as she noticed the white and red behemoth closing in towards the shore with the rest of the Zaft fleet. "What's directly targeting us right now? And has the Archangel activated it's main weapons? I don't want to get hit because we listened, took a chance at 'asylum' and are now a sitting duck!"
"Besides two or three Vosgulov-classes... nothing right now, but more Zaft forces are closing in..." Bart warned.
"Alright then... Arthur, how are we doing on Wolframs?" Talia questioned.
"We've still got thirty-two left, ma'am. Launching around two per minute..."
"DAMMIT! Captain... ugh..." Bart blurted out. "Laser designators detected... from the Archangel."
"That bastard! Is he really that... err... I hope he gets court marshelled out of the military after all this is done, whether we live of die!" Talia righteously complained, turning towards the front of the bridge afterwords. "Fine then, if he wants to play that game, then it doesn't matter what side we're on... the Minerva isn't going down without a fight, and I don't care who's attacking us!" Talia ranted.
"Captain?" Arthur inquired.
"Raise ship immediately! Port twenty! We are engaging the Archangel! All weapons free!" The Captain commanded, with all of her authority, as the Minerva began to rush forward, tilting upwards and bursting out of the ocean as it's massive wings and powerful nuclear pulse thrusters carried her upwards, the ship taking a turn to it's port soon after to go bow-to-bow with it's new enemy.
Archangel Bridge:
"I knew you'd make a move Gladys. However you've performed far too many inappropriate actions, and it's time I taught you a lesson you will never, ever forget." Kendan clenched his teeth and tightened his fists, observing the oncoming warship in the distance.
"Captain... Admiral... are we seriously going to go after..." Executive Officer Dubu questioned.
"Damn rights we are. Five to starboard! Lower bow fifteen! Activate all functioning weapon systems. We will now destroy the Minerva!" Kendan ordered.
"Aye..." Erin mumbled, clearing his throat. "Prepare Igelstellungs for interception! Helldarts to standby mode! Stern missile launchers are to load Wombats. Gottfrieds and Valiants... target the Minerva!" Erin issued, the rear missile launchers of the Archangel opening their flaps as the two pairs of primary guns for the ship opened up and extended outwards into firing position.
"Activate CIWS! Launchers one through ten, load Dispars. Aim Tristans and Isolde! Target the Archangel!" Arthur listed as the Minerva's twelve 40mm interception guns coming online, it's missile launchers lifting open to reveal explosive projectiles, the two double beam cannons of the Minerva calibrating up and down to lock onto their target as the lone triple beam cannon rose up at and angle and extended all three of it's barrels outwards, both vessels closing in on each other, meter by meter, second by second.
"Now fire!" Kendan yelled.
"Engage!" Talia signaled.
And with that, the battle between heavy warships begun, beams and missiles shot from their respective guns and launchers, the Archangel and Minerva exchanging heavy fire as their respective point-defense guns works to knock out missiles and their helmsman tried to evade everything else, a cloud of smoke appearing in front of the Minerva as linear shot from one of the Valiants struck it's bow, off to the side of the Tannhauser shutter. However the smaller ship was not to be taken lightly, and performed the same, only this time two of the Isolde beams struck the Archangel's port leg and the third blitzed towards the center section.
As the Phase comes to an end, both ships crossed by each other, scoring a direct hit on the others hull with their respective double beam cannons...