Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is related in anyway with the popular Japanese Anime known as Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, including its sequel Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. I only own my own story, the plot of said story, and any characters that I have created. So please no lawyers I have no money to give them.
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Divergence
A Mobile Suit Gundam SEED AU Novella
Written and brought to you,
By William R. Woods
aka "Deathzealot"
With input and ideas from SethMKlein
Chapter BGM is ZIPS!! From T.M. Revolution
Phase Ten: The Battle of Mendel
The Special Assault Ship Loki is a class of ships produced for special operation missions and ambushing the enemy. To do this it is equipped with the new Mirage Colloid technology which allows the ship to sneak around virtually undetected. The ship is based on the hull of an Odin Class Support Ship, which gives the Loki Class very heavy firepower to use in any required mission. It is also able to support and launch a full dozen mobile suits which give the Loki the ability to stand up against pretty munch any threat it comes across. However the prototype was stolen by the Valkyrie Faction after their defection, used to help end the war…
Taken from an The Ships of the First Bloody Valentine War
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Bridge
AFS Dominion
Mendel Nearspace
July 5, CE71
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The space around the L4 Colony of Mendel was quite peaceful, if you can call a debris field peaceful that is, but that soon changed as small group of ships slowly approached the colony. A single mobile suit that had been hiding behind a piece of debris fled towards the colony to notify those in the colony of the approaching enemy ships. On the bridge of the lead ship, Captain Natarle Badgriuel noted the sentry mobile suit but was not surprised at the appearance of it. With a nod she turned to look at the ship's radar officer who sat above her own seat, back-to-back with the ship's communication officer.
"Well Lieutenant? Is the Archangel here or not?" she asked with a frown. The man others known as Radar acted as if he didn't even hear her, but soon nodded after a few minutes looking through his readings.
"Sorry Ma'am, there are many different ships in the colony's harbor, but the Archangel is along them. Also there seems to a lot more ships then those that we know left Orb. Looks like your hunch was right, for I detect two Laurasia Class ships and a single Nazca class ship, along with three unknown ships," the young officer reported with a frown on his face, one that his captain copied for yes she figured some sort of ZAFT presence would be here but that was a lot more ships then she expected to go against, not to mention three are unknown therefore she was not sure of its strengths or weaknesses. With a shake of her head, she knew that they had no choice but to go forward with the mission.
"Very well, Operator launch Skull Squadron and have them start their overwatch mission before launching the rest of our machines. Communications relay the same orders to the other ships, and have the Washington Class ships take up escort positions around the Dominion, while the Drakes shall take positions to escort the Carriers. With that out of the way, let's give them a wake-up call. Weapons prep the port Lohengrin and fire at the colony itself," she said as she started to snap orders out to the bridge crew. A series of "aye ma'am"'s answered her orders from the bridge crew members she had addressed.
"My word it is quite a view from up here isn't it?" a voice sounded from behind the captain. Frowning Natarle turned her chair to see the blue eyed and brown haired young man who floated slightly behind her chair. This was Julian Thantos the man from National Atlantic Defense Conglomerate, who is supposed to be keeping an eye on the new machines that the ANDC produced and were on the Dominion right now.
"Mister Thanatos I allowed you to be on the bridge so you could get a first person view of the new mobile suits in action, but I must stress that you do not get in my crews way. For this ship is a warship not a cruise liner. Do I make myself clear?" she said eying the man with distaste, who only just rolled his eyes slightly but nodded in understanding.
"Captain! Lohengrin is charged and ready for your orders to fire," the weapons officer reported from his position in the CIC. Natarle nodded as she eyed at the colony, and wondered what the future was going to bring for her and her crew. With a sigh she leaned forward and gave a nod.
"Very well fire!" she ordered and watched as the ship's portside Lohengrin Cannon fired at the colony. The beam of anti-matter managed to hit a few pieces of debris which where vaporized from the intense beam before it finally hit the side the colony just as she instructed but thanks to the thick hide of the colony which was thick enough to protect the colony from various hazards of space, so the beam while powerful shook the colony and melted the side of the colony where the beam had hit, but did not pierce into the colony itself.
"Skull Squadron has launched and have taken their assigned overwatch positions. Also all mobile suits have been launched, and the other ships have reported the same as well," the mobile suit operator reported from the CIC. Natarle nodded seeing for herself as a series of Strike Daggers and A1 Daggers flew past the Dominion's bridge towards the colony. Meanwhile from his position Radar frowned as he watched the readings on the ships in the harbor.
"Ma'am enemy ships are moving out from the harbor, and it looks like my initial readings were right. I am detecting the Archangel along with the two Izumo Class ships, as well as the six other ships. They are launching mobile suits as they exit the harbor. I am detecting various Orb Mobile Suits and some sort of new ZAFT model. I am also detecting four G-Weapons; two of them are the X105 Strike and X103 Buster. The other two looked to be the ones we heard about from Intelligence Captain," Radar reported as the ships were indeed moving out of the harbor towards the approaching Alliance Taskforce. Natarle nodded with hidden pleasure that Radar was so good at his job. With a nod she pressed a control on her armrest before lifting the handset from its cradle.
"Commander Gustav, I am sure you see the mobile suits launching therefore your units are free to engage the enemy, though I would like you to detach a few units of Buster Daggers to help us with those extra ships. Also don't forget we need to capture the Strike, and if possible the Buster," she ordered as the helmeted image of the Commander of the Taskforce's Mobile Suits appeared on her tiny armrest screen.
"I understand Captain and I was thinking the same thing as you are. I ordered my Duel Daggers to start engaging the enemy ships; I have also detached three units of Buster Daggers to help them out. Hopefully that should be enough ma'am. Also yes I am aware about the orders on the Strike and the Buster," the Commander replied with a small sneer on his face before he signed off. With a sigh Natarle shook her head but knew that she shouldn't be surprise. She glanced over at Thantos to see him eagerly watching as the Alliance Mobile Suits started to engage the ZAFT and Orb mobile suits. She turned and nodded to the communication officer who had been waiting for her order. With practiced ease the officer soon opened a hailing frequency with the Archangel before nodding at down at her. Taking a deep breath, the ebony haired Captain hit another control on the arm rest before raising the hand set once more.
"Archangel this is the AFS Dominion, Captain Natarle Badgruel Commanding. I have been directed by Alliance Command to arrest you all on the charges of treason and defection to the enemy. I shall give you one chance to surrender peacefully before I forcefully capture your ship," she said as soon as the bridge of the other ship appeared on the Dominion's main monitor. Natarle eagerly looked at the other bridge to see the familiar, though shocked, faces of the other ships bridge crew. As she looked she noticed several differences from what she was used to, for one all of the crew wore the uniforms of the Orb Union. Secondly Natarle noticed that their were a few unfamiliar faces along the crew, for one there was another person at the ships helm sitting next to the ships pilot, as well as a young lady taking up the position of communications. Natarle figured that these new faces were members of the Orb military who were assigned to the ship when she defected to their country after Alaska. Finally Natarle eye's rested on the figure in the center of the bridge, one Captain Murrue Ramius the woman that Natarle learned to respect a lot in her time on the other ship. After a moment of shocked silence the captain shook her head before picking up a similar handset to Natarle's own.
"I regret to say that we refuse to surrender, and that we shall no longer follow a power that betrays its own people," Captain Ramius responded with a hard look on her face, one that Natarle had never seen on the others face. Natarle smiled sadly and could only nod at the other woman.
"Very well Captain Ramius, I understand your message loud and clear," Natarle responded before cutting the connection by sitting the handset back into its cradle on her chair's armrest. With a sigh she pulled herself together, before she looked at Thantos once more to see him turning his attention back to the now growing battle. She looked up at the COMM officer and raised an eyebrow in question at the man, who only smiled and nodding at her. Natarle sighed in relief for while she gave the Archangel its warning; the COMM officer had set a second more coded message under the communication signal of the main message. It was something that the Valkyrie Faction had been planning for a while. All under the nose of her watcher, and no one but her crew the wiser.
"Ma'am, the Archangel is heading directly for us and are arming weapons," Radar reported and Natarle shook off her excitement over finishing that part of the overall plan and turned her attention to keep her ship in one piece.
"Very well prepare for anti-ship and anti-mobile suit combat! Charge the Gottfrieds and Valiants. Load the missile tubes with Korinthos Missiles, and set the Igellstungs to anti-missile defense. Target is the first ship of the Archangel Class. Communications have the Washingtons fall back for they are not going be much use against the Archangel," she ordered with narrowed eyes as her old ship approached her new ship. While she did not want to fight the Archangel, she was not going to let her destroy the Dominion, though this should be a good way to see who the better captain of the two is. With a small smile on her face she watched as the two ships approached one another.
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A1 Dagger – Skull Leader
Mendel Nearspace
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In the cockpit of a white, black, and gold painted A1 Dagger, Lieutenant Commander James Focker watched as the battle heated up. He watched as the Alliance Mobile Suits were torn apart by the far more experienced Orb and ZAFT pilots. The handful of A1 Daggers along the other Daggers evened the score a bit but only a handful of them only had Strike Packs, and even then they had Aile Packs. James watched all this from his position hiding behind a piece of debris, where he was supposed to keep an eye out for other ZAFT forces. However he was more interested in the battle, for it looks like the Alliance was loosing and badly. For with the far more experienced Skull Squadron busy with the overwatch mission, along with the other experienced units were set aside for Close in protection detail for the Carriers the other units were no match against the enemy mobile suits. Suddenly he saw something and with a frown zoomed in on another, far smaller, fight happening alongside the main battle. His eyebrows raised in surprise as he watched Commander Gustav's Sword Calamity locked in combat with what he knew to be Lieutenant Yamato's new machine, and Gustav was losing against the far superior machine. As he watched a pair of Gustav's Duel Daggers tried to sneak up on distracted pilot, but where soon destroyed by the similar red machine that was watching the white machine's back. James knew that he should not be enjoying this, but he really liked that Gustav was losing and with a flurry of blows from the white machine both of the Calamity's swords where destroyed, before a final stab of a beam saber saw the Sword Calamity destroyed. James shook his head at the sight, before opening a channel to the Dominion.
"Dominion, Skull Lead here. It looks like Commander Gustav has been taken out," he reported to the MS Operator when she appeared on his screen. The lady, a die heart Valkyrie Faction member, only raised a single eyebrow before she nodded.
"Understood Skull Lead, I shall report this to the Captain," the Operator responded with a nod of her head at the senior pilot, before signing off. With a small grim chuckle, James turned his attention back to the main battle to see the two Izumo Class Battleships had broken out their confinement in the tether strings and were now advancing on the Washington Class Frigates which had been lobbing missiles at them when they stuck in those strings. Now the shoe was on the other foot and within seconds two of the Frigates became growing clouds of debris as they were speared by the two ships powerful Gottfried Cannons. Three more just disappeared as the two battleships Lohengrins opened up and literally vaporized the offending ships, leaving only three of the ships alive which were now retreating towards the carriers. James whistled as he watched the Captains predication come true, and within minutes the Alliance Mobile Suits where on the run towards their carriers. He was impressed when he saw that little under a dozen were left out of the eighty or so mobile suits that they started out with. As he watched he saw that not a single ZAFT or Orb Mobile Suit was destroyed by the overwhelming numbers of the Alliance mobile suits, granted there were more then a few that were damaged during the fight. Suddenly a large explosion attracted his attention to the Carriers to see one of them destroyed and the two machines which had literally taken on Commander Gustav's squadron single handedly going after another carrier. Two Drake Class ships exploded as they tried to intercept the two mobile suits and found themselves being destroyed by the Buster and a Launcher Equipped Strike. The rest of the Drakes found themselves going against the ZAFT ships and as proven throughout the war, Alliance Drake Class ships were no match against the superior ZAFT Ships and soon followed their sisters in destruction. The Lieutenant Commander shook his head at the destruction and felt kind of sorry for those crews but knew many of them were pure Blue Cosmos Fanatics. Suddenly his attention was directed to his COMM as it beeped.
"Yeah Boss I got several ZAFT ships approaching the Colony from the other side. Looks like three Nazca Class ships and four Laurasia Class ships. That is a lot of firepower, I don't think we can hold them at all," Logan Faust reported with a bit of fear in his voice, James on the hand only sighed in relief for it looks like the battle is now over for them.
"Understood Logan, get back here. I believe this battle is pretty much over," he ordered with a frown before cutting the connection before the other could respond. He once again called the Dominion to report this.
"Dominion Skull Lead, looks like the Party-Crashers have arrived. Recommend we bug out," James reported with a frown not letting the operator saying anything. The woman only nodded with a grim look on her face.
"Understood Skull Lead, get your Squadron back to the ship," she ordered before signing off. It did not take long for him to inform his squadron of the retreat, only a few words managed it. Finally with a sigh James started to head back for the Dominion, just as the ship launched the retreat signal flare.. However his attention was drawn to his radar screen as it started to beep at him and what he saw made his eyes widened in surprise. Two ZAFT GINNs where not moving away from him, leaving behind a single small life pod floating along the debris. Confused but wary, James inspected the pod wondering what is going on here.
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Bridge
AFS Dominion
Mendel Nearspace
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On the bridge of the Dominion Natarle started to see the same thing James had been seeing, though she had a by far larger view thanks to the ship's far more powerful radar system. She saw the death of Gustav, and the literal blitz that the two machines did afterward towards the Alliance Carriers. Not to mention the two Orb battleships going toe-to-toe with the Washington Class ships and winning against the Missile Frigates. At the same time she was fighting her ship against the Archangel and saw that the two ships were about even. Neither ship could get a hit on each other, as well as their missiles kept getting taken out before they hit each other. Even Natarle's little trick with the missiles in proximity mode, did not really work at that well. Granted some of the missiles hit, but the armor of the Archangel held against the explosions from the missiles. However now with ZAFT ships approaching the battle, Natarle knew as well as James that with the looses they suffered they had no hope against the ZAFT forces.
"Commander Grant, launch retreat flares. Let's get the hell out of here, before those ZAFT ships decided to enter the battle," Natarle ordered with a frown just as she saw the single flare launched from Commander Focker's Dagger. Claudia only nodded before giving out the order, before starting to get the ship ready to retreat.
"CAPTAIN!! Why are you retreating??" the once silent Mr. Thantos yelled out surprising Natarle for she had not noticed him ever since Gustav Squadron's loss, for he had gone deathly quiet afterwards. With a curse Natarle turned to look at the man.
"Because Mister Thantos, we have lost too many mobile suits and the majority of our ships have been destroyed. We are in no position to go against those ZAFT ships that Commander Focker reported. Face it we have lost," she said with a glare at the man. The Blue Cosmos supporter narrowed his eyes at the Captain in response.
"Very well Captain, but I shall give my complaints to the Admiral and Director Azrael when we return to the Moon," the terrorist replied with a scowl on his face, before he turned and exited the bridge. Natarle only rolled her eyes before turning her attention to Commander Grant. However before she could say anything further, the MS Operator called out.
"Captain, Commander Focker reports he has run accross a pair of GINNs which left behind an escape pod. He is checking it over now, but he does not think that there is anything wrong with it," the woman reported with a frown. One that was copied by her Captain along with many others on the bridge around them. However before Natarle or anyone could say anything about it the COMM Officer looked down at his station in surprise before turning to look at the Captain.
"Captain I think you might want to hear this," the officer said with a surprised look on his face before entering a command into his station which brought up a message onto the bridge's speakers.
"Archangel! Archangel I am here! This is Flay Allster! Please help me! Stop it! Just stop it!" a voice cried out through the speakers, one that made Natarle's face go white in shock. A few of the bridge crew only looked surprised and wondered what was going on here.
"Ma'am! The signal is coming from the escape pod, on an international distress channel," the COMM officer reported dutifully once he recovered from his shock. Natarle quickly got a hold of herself, as she entered a few commands on her armrest control pad, before picking up the handset. As she did this, the helmeted image of Command Fokker appeared on her armrest screen.
"Commander Fokker retrieve that pod at once, then get on board immediately! I do not want to be caught in the ZAFT attack," she ordered with narrowed eyes and closed the connection before the commander could respond. With a sigh she eyed the battle to see that it had paused as if the participates were shocked over the message from Flay Allster, including the Archangel which had been in process of moving away from the Dominion after it launched retreat flares. However the COMM officer once again picked up something and looked down at her.
"Ma'am! I am getting another message on the same channel, looks like it is originates from Lieutenant Yamato's new machine," the COMM officer reported before just like with Flay's message brought it up on the speakers.
"Flay! Hold on Flay! I'm coming!" another voice responded, one that Natarle was very familiar with. Looking over at the White Machine, she watched as it boosted towards the gathering machines of Skull Squadron which were gathered around their leader. However the machine was intercepted by surprising enough the two Duel Cannons of Gustav's squadron. Both Daggers fired their shoulder cannons which hit the distracted machine, destroying one of its wings, and the machines entire head. Natarle hissed in surprise but soon relaxed as the two machines were destroyed by the second red machine that is piloted by Athrun Zala. After a brief stand-off between the two G-Weapons and Skull Squadron the group broke off, with Skull heading for the Dominion and the G-Weapons heading for the Archangel. Natarle sighed in relief before looking down at the helm officer.
"Once Skull and any remaining Daggers are back on board, turn us around and on a heading back to the moon. Let's get out of here," she ordered before sighing and taking off her cover leaving it floating in zero-gee as she leaned back in chair as she recovered from the rush of the battle.
"Natarle? Isn't Flay Allster the daughter of former Vice Foreign Minister George Allster?" Commander Lisa Hayes, the ship's XO asked as she entered the bridge having been running the secondary bridge. With a sigh Natarle nodded and looked around the bridge to see the other members of the crew were wondering the same.
"Yes she is. She was on the Archangel as a refugee, for Kira Yamato had recovered one of the Heliopolis Colony's lifeboats that been heavily damaged. Flay Allster was long the passengers, and before the Battle of Orbit she volunteered becoming a member of the ship's crew. Granted she did much, unlike a few of the other volunteers, but she still was a member of the crew. She was supposed to be transferred off the Archangel along with Commander La Flagga and myself, but somehow she disappeared. I had thought she perished during the attack, but now I guess she did not," Natarle explained with a frown, before shaking her head.
"Anyways I am just glad she is alive, but I wonder why ZAFT sent out her lifepod like that," she said with a frown, and wondered about the reasoning for ZAFT to send out her pod like that. However she soon shook it off, filing it away for later, as the ship got ready to retreat.
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A1 Dagger – Skull Leader
Mendel Nearspace
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In his Dagger James frowned at the communication monitor in confusion wondering what was with the Captain before shaking his head as he watched as his squadron rallied around him. He as quite proud that no one along them had fought against the combined Orb/ZAFT Force. Though he knew he had ordered them not to, but still it was quite surprising that none of them where bothered by the enemy. With another shake his head James turned his attention to lifepod, and only sighed before picking it up hoping the Captain knew what she was doing. However just he did so, his radar screen beeped once more surprising him.
"Ah Boss! That White Machine is heading over here!" Christina Mackenzie reported with some nerviness in her voice. James cursed before he saw she was right and the red machine was right behind it.
"Woah! Looks like two of Gustav's goons are still alive," reported another member of Skull, David Hunter. Surprised turned his attention to his radar to see that his little brother was right. The two Duel Cannons of Gustav's squadron where now racing towards the two G-Weapons. He then remembered that Gustav had ordered them along with the Taskforce's Buster Daggers to take on the ships, it looked like they managed to survive doing so. Unlike the majority of the Buster Daggers which had been caught in the impressive fire that the three unknown ships put out.
"Holy! They managed to hit him!" David said dragging James from his thoughts to see that the two had indeed managed to hit the White Machine, taking out one of its wings and its head. However the two Duel Cannons did not celebrate for long as the Red Machine took them out quickly before they could fire again. James hissed in surprise as he realized that Skull Squadron was alone against the two most powerful machines on the battlefield right now. Though luckily for the Skull, the two machines seemed to just float there staring at the gathered Skull Squadron. Suddenly James had a wild idea and brought up his Dagger's left arm before launching a communication line towards the White Machine and smiled when it hit the machine.
"Easy there Lieutenant Yamato! I don't want to fight you or your friend over there. I am just going to take Miss Allster here back to the Dominion. You don't have to worry about her, I promise she is going to be fine," he said addressing the pilot of the White Machine hoping that the kid wouldn't just shoot him on principle.
"How can I trust you? That pilot of the Blue Machine, said he was the one who nuked Junius Seven, he also mentioned he was a member of Blue Cosmos. So I ask again why should I trust you at all or anyone else on the Dominion?" the pilot responded with a hint of sounded like anger in his voice. James sighed wondering why the hell Gustav was trying to do when he told the Kid that.
"Because Lieutenant I give you my word that I shall not do anything to harm Miss Allster and if you do not believe that you should ask your friend Commander La Flagga about the word of James Focker," he responded and sweated slightly hoping that would be enough for the kid to believe him.
"Very well, if you know Mu then you must be someone to trust. Though if you are lying, then I will not rest till I hunt you down," the pilot responded before having his machine pull off the communication line and took off towards the Archangel. James sighed in relief before adjusting his grip on the Dagger's controls slightly.
"Alright Skull let's get back to the ship," he ordered and started to head for the Dominion with the lifepod still in his Dagger's hands. As they approached the ship, James thanked god that Lieutenant Yamato believed him and let him go, for he did not want to go head-to-head with him. For he was sure he would not last long against the other.
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ONS Archangel
A Few Days Later
In Route to Factory
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A few days after the Battle of Mendel found the Archangel along with its accompanying ships slowly making their way through the debris field that filled L4, heading towards the Clyne Faction Factory located deep in the debris. The combined Orb and Clyne Faction had been lucky to escape the Battle of Mendel pretty much intact, for while the Earth Forces Taskforce had been given a straight beating the ZAFT forces that arrived mid-battle gave them quite a fight. Even then three of the Laurasia Class ships were destroyed and a single Nazca Class ship, the Vesalius herself was destroyed. In exchange the Combined Fleet only suffered light damage to their ships and some mobile suits that been heavily damaged. Only two Astrays where outright destroyed during the battle, even then the two where not completely destroyed only heavily damaged. Also only one of the pilots was killed, the other managed to live but was seriously injured. It was partly thanks to the Omega Squad that their looses where so light, for the new Astray Commandoes proved to be vastly superior to the new GuAIZ mobile suits and way above normal GINNs. While Omega kept the few GuAIZ machines busy, the normal M1 Astrays tore through the GINNs proving to everyone that the vanilla Astray was superior to that of the GINN. All of this was on the mind of Captain Ramius as she looked over reports from her ships mobile suit group. She was quite impressed what a combination that an Archangel and her mobile suits proved to be. She had an inkling of it thanks to the Strike on board during that long journey to Alaska, but she never even imagined the difference having a full complement compared to a single mobile suit. Also the idea of a MS Platoon like the team of Astray Cannons on board, supporting a battleship against other ships was something else entirely. For the Astray Cannons locked their weapons onto the targeting laser of the Archangel and helped the ship take out its targets. With a shake of her head, the Captain of one of the Earth Sphere's most powerful warships wondered if this is what the first Aircraft Carrier commanders and Admirals felt during those dark days in World War II. Suddenly she was dragged from thoughts as admittance beep sounded from her quarter's door.
"Captain this is Lieutenant Noin, can I come in?" someone asked through the door's intercom. Murrue frowned wondered what her new Communication Officer wanted right now, at this time of night.
"Come in Lieutenant," she ordered wondering what the young Lieutenant wanted with her at this time. With a hiss of air, her door opened letting First Lieutenant Lucrezia Noin, the ships Orb born Communication Officer into her office. The twenty-one year old purple haired officer, had been a Morgenroete Test Pilot and had test-piloted the Astray Cannon, as well as helping Major Carter test-pilot the Astray Commando. She had then become an instructor in Orb's ad-hoc mobile suit training academy, training experienced fighter and helicopter pilots to handle mobile suits. However when the Alliance threatened her country, the test-pilot and instructor had wanted to join the Mobile Suit pilots, but she had no machine to pilot for all of the M1 Astrays had already been assigned along with the Cannons and Commandoes. Therefore she instead had been assigned as the communication officer on the Archangel, thanks to her background in communications having served as the Izumo's COMM Officer when the ship had been first launched. However Murrue knew that she may go back to piloting for Chief Simmons had reported to her that several unassembled mobile suits had been loaded onto the Kusanagi and Susanoo before their launch.
"Ma'am I am sorry to disturb you, but I found something interesting that I think you might want to see," the often cool-headed Lieutenant reported with confusion lacing her voice. Surprised Murrue briefly wondered what made the normally in control Lieutenant to be confused.
"Very well Lieutenant I shall bite. What did you find?" Murrue asked with a frown wondering what was really going on here. Lieutenant Noin however simply sighed before holding up a data-disc in one hand.
"I was going through the ship's communication log and found that during the message from the Dominion before the battle, there was a second coded message buried along the original message. It took me a while, but I managed to finally decode it only after asking Lieutenant Yamato to help me. This is the message I found and I am very confused about it," the COMM Officer reported with a frown on her face. Murrue looked shocked before shaking her head to clear it.
"And why haven't you reported this to me earlier Lieutenant?" Murrue asked with a frown for she had never heard of this and Kira had never told her either. Noin looked ashamed for a moment before only shrugging her shoulders.
"I'm sorry ma'am but I did not want to tell you for I know that the identity of the Dominion's Captain was a shock for you and therefore I did not want to upset you if it was something else," the Lieutenant said once more looking confused. Murrue blinked, before smiling at the purple haired Orb officer, she was touched that the Lieutenant was trying to help her in some way.
"Very well then Lieutenant let's see this message then, if you please?" she asked holding out her hand which the Lieutenant soon placed the data-disc in. After a few moments Murrue inserted it into her computer before bringing up the message stored on the mentioned disc. She frowned as a man in an uniform of an Alliance Vice Admiral filled the screen. Natarle could be seen standing next to him along with a large dark-skinned man that she was surprise to see, for Murrue knew him to be a former captain in the 8th Fleet. Captain Vince Grant had commanded a Nelson Class Battleship, but had been transferred elsewhere. Murrue knew him, because she had briefly served on board his ship before her assignment to the G-Project. With a shake of her head, Murrue started the message.
"Captain Ramius I am Vice Admiral Henry Gloval. I am the commander of the Alliance's Herschel Shipyards, but at the same time I am also the leader of a Faction within the Earth Forces that want to end this war as soon as possible. I am leaving this message for you, to tell you that my Faction is considering defection to your group, for we can no longer serve a government that is willing to not only support Blue Cosmos but betrays its own people. I am sure you know my two companions here and is the reasoning behind them here. Anyways this message is only to provide you with a warning of our intent to defect, but it maybe a while. Therefore Captain I shall see you soon. This is Gloval out," the man said surprising the Captain of the Archangel once more, for Admiral was very famous throughout the Earth Forces for not only his time as an Admiral, but the time his ship personally took out a terrorist ship that had been attacking a PLANT ship, destroying the attacking ship. Therefore he was one of the few Earth Forces officers that were highly respected in the PLANTs for that incident as well as several other similar instances. Murrue also personally knew that he was also respected in Orb, for his ship had protected Heliopolis Colony during a Pirate attack on the colony in early '65. With a shake of her head, Murrue shook off her surprise and looked up at the Lieutenant.
"Very well then Lieutenant this a very interesting message, one that I am sure many in the Clyne Faction would like to see as well. I shall be showing it at our next meeting when we get to the Factory," Murrue said before sighing and took out the disc out of her computer, before bringing out a folder from a drawer.
"Therefore I shall hold onto this and with that out of the way I have something to tell you. For it is good you came to me, for I was about to call on you anyways. Your request to return to piloting has been granted, but since you have a lot of experience in MS piloting Colonel Kisaka has chosen you to become one of Lady Cagalli's bodyguards for the good Princess is going to be fighting as well, in that new G-Weapon the MBF-02 Strike Rouge. Therefore one of disassembled Astray Commandoes, I believe it is the prototype you had previously piloted, shall be assigned to you. This goes into effect when we reach the factory, so till then you are to continue your duties as Communications Officer. That is all Lieutenant," Murrue explained with a small smile watching as the Lieutenant looked shocked before recovering.
"Thank you ma'am! It shall be a great honor to be Lady Cagalli's bodyguard," she responded with a small smile on her face, for while she did not like fighting she really wanted to defend her nation even then. Therefore the reasoning for joining the military in the first place.
"Alright then you are dismissed Lieutenant. Go get some sleep," Murrue ordered watching as the Lieutenant saluted before leaving the Captain's quarters. With a sigh Murrue knew she had to get some sleep as well but this new information of this Faction of Admiral Glovals was quite a surprise to her. With a smile she turned to look out of the small view-port that gave her a view of the stars.
"This is very interesting," she said with a fond smile as the ship continued on her course through the thick debris field of L4. She did not know that she would meet this new faction and Admiral Gloval sooner then she thought, for even now events where happening that would see the Valkyrie Faction no longer part of the Earth Forces. For they had been betrayed by those that they had trusted, and even now where on their way to meet up with the Dominion. Murrue did not know that with the introduction of these new faction, a new combined force shall soon arise out of the ashes of the old, one that shall bring the war to a final conclusion.
-o-Fin-o-
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Post Chapter Notes
Whew! This took yet another amount of time to finish and therefore I dreadfully sorry to keep you all waiting. Anyways I like to mention several things before finally leaving you with the specs to the Loki and the new Omake. First of all with the end of NaNoWriMo, chapters shall come far slower then they had been coming, but they shall still be faster then my normal layover time. For I have recently adopted a new chapter set-up for my stories, where my chapters shall start be shorter and therefore faster to write. This shall hopefully allow me to post chapters at least once a week and very rarely every two weeks. These chapters shall be somewhere around 4k to 5k words so they shall not be to short really, however the main battle chapters shall take around 7k to around 10k words and be the ones that shall be posted every two weeks. Hopefully everyone shall enjoy the faster posting time.
Onto something else, this was originally supposed to be the last chapter of Divergence and which would open the story for the sequel which would cover the reunion of the Dominion and the Archangel along with the formation of the new TSA. But I have since decided not to do this instead combining both together and having the sequel base in Destiny.
Some readers you may have realized that the last chapter had been updated a bit from the original. For I have since replaced the Gates with the Loki, yet another original ship design from me, which shall take the place of the Gates as the Valkyrie Faction's get-a-way ship. The specs for this new ship shall be at the end of these notes, so I hope everyone enjoys it.
Finally I would like to mention that Noin kind of snuck into Divergence here and was something new I threw in here, for I never understood the reasoning that Cagalli who is basically a princess does not have anyone guarding her back when she is fighting during Second Jachin Due. Granted there are those two M1s who accompany Cagalli and Athrun into Jachin Due, but there are no official bodyguards for her. Hence my introduction of a small unit to guard her during her battles. Noin shall be the commander of such unit and personally I think Noin is a very good character to use for this. She along with this unit shall have a larger role in the Sequel of this story, and the rest of her unit shall be introduced later on when the my new version of the TSA shall be introduced. Also this unit along with Cagalli shall fly off the Archangel instead of the Kusanagi for I thought that with the Archangel as the flagship of the little Orb Taskforce Cagalli shall be flying off the flagship. Hence the reason she stayed behind on the Archangel earlier instead of going with Kisaka to the Kusanagi.
Also I need to explain a bit about the introduction of Flay to the story, for originally I was just going to mention she was killed in the Cyclops, but I since decided not to for with Noin leaving I needed to have someone else taking over as Communication Officer, who better then Flay. Therefore she is once again turned over to the Dominion by Rau, those this time Rau has two of his men take the pod and leave it along the debris nearby to the Dominion. For with the Dominion and what is left of her taskforce preparing to retreat from the battle, he decided to have Flay turned over a bit differently. Also I like to mention that the Battle between Kira and Gustav shall be explained a bit further in the coming chapters. Some of it was already explained in the interaction of Kira and James in that scene. Though I personally liked having Kira and Athrun kicking some butt for change instead of them being held up by the Trio. This time they tear apart Gustav and his unit before blitzing the Carriers destroying two of them before anyone can do anything at all. It was quite refreshing to have them do something beside keeping the Trio busy, and I really enjoyed doing it as well.
Finally, some may ask about stuff happening in GARM? Well since this story is supposed to be from the POV of the Dominion and her crew I thought it was kind of pointless to include for nothing really changes anything with it. Therefore it shall remain as it is in the series, just without the Dominion reentering the battle. For without Azrael to push her, Natarle makes the wise decision to retreat.
Anyways that is about it, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, for it was quite fun to write, and we shall soon see the Valkyrie Faction joining the loose Orb/Clyne Faction Alliance. Stay tuned!
Loki Class Special Assault Ship
General and Technical Data
Class: Loki Class
Ships of the line: Loki
Unit type: Special Assault Ship – Special Operations Ship
Classification: SAS
Manufacturer: Earth Alliance
Operator(s): Earth Alliance; Valkyrie Faction; Peacekeeper Faction
First deployment: July 2, CE71
Dimensions: 365 Meters Long
Wingspan: unknown
Weight: unknown
Propulsion: unknown
Equipment and design features: Specialized Stealth Armor; Mirage Colloid; Sensors, Range Unknown; Specialized Sonar Systems; Communication Scrambler
Fixed armaments: 2 x "Gottfried" Mk 71 225cm high-energy beam gun; 2 x "Valient" 110cm linear gun; 1 x "Lohengrin" positron blaster gun; 24 x "Igelstellung" 75mm automatic multi-barrel CIWS; 4 x "Helldart" ship-to-air missile launchers; 4 x "Sledgehammer" Ship-to-ship missile launchers
Mobile weapons: 12
Launch catapults: One
Technical and Historical Notes
Over the course of the construction of the Odin Class ships at the Herschel Shipyards, one them was ordered to be converted into a new class of ship. The Loki Class, which is a ship built with special operations in mind as well as ambushes against enemy forces, though more then a few notable admirals liked the idea of having a cloak able ship which can sneak into the PLANT's airspace and attack them directly. However luckily for the PLANTs Vice Admiral Henry Gloval finds this out and manages to pull some strings to assign a crew that he can trust to run her. This comes in handy later on, when the Admiral and his staff are considered traitors. They would steal the ship right under the noses of the higher-ups and use it as a getaway vehicle to get away from the Earth Alliance.
The Loki is loosely based the Odin Class design and as such is sometimes called an Odin Class; however it is in fact not an Odin Class. In fact the Loki is part of its own class thanks in part to it being a ship used for special operations. Not to mention it had more weapons then the Odin, with it boasting the same amount of Gottfried cannons that an Archangel has, were the Odin Class only has one. The Loki has then in a completely different placement than the Archangel for its canons are placed in a stacked matter. With one canon right top of the leg like one off the Archangel, while the other sets directly above and to the back of the first. This gives the Loki far better weapon coverage than the Odin, as well as the Archangel for that matter. For the unlike the Loki the Archangel has its two canons on either arm and as such can not fire both to directly to one side. This is fixed by the larger ships mobility, however since the Loki is a special operations ship that is able to used Mirage Colloid to hide, it needs as much firepower in salvo to take down ships in one shot or the Loki's Stealth is canceled out. So with this thought in mind, it needs to make as much damage before the ship's enemies know it is there.
Like both of its "cousins" it does not just have to rely on its own weapons to fight, for it can launch and service a straight dozen mobile weapons. The only reason for it the Loki to have that much carrier capability is that since it was designed to work alone and without escort. However the Loki can still safely carry more then twelve, the reason for this is that it has such a large hanger, larger than the hanger on the Odin.
Another reason for the separation of the Odin and Loki Classes is that the Loki Class is eighty meters longer than the Odin and as shown by the large hanger. However that is not the only feature that is large, for example the ships cargo bays are larger than even the bays on the Archangel. Not only that it has a very good and not to mention big agriculture section that provides the ship with fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs. The reason behind this is that the Loki is designed to operate by itself without any support or re-supply for a period eight months unlike the normal four months of other ships in the Earth Sphere. The ship also has far more comfortable layout than most military ships, for example it has larger crew quarters, and the ship's corridors look like something from a pleasure liner than a military ship. All this is to provide the crew with more comfort than any other ship. Something else that provides the ship with all these options is the small crew size when compared to other similar sized vessels. This is thanks in part to the advanced automatics of the ship similar to the ship's "cousins". As such the ship has a crew of about sixty people along with about a dozen officers.
The last few features of the ship makes the Loki a true Special Operations ship. First of all it has specialized Stealth Armor that gives a very low radar return to any enemy ship, which also makes the ship hard to spot by human eyes against the backdrop of space. Backing that up is the Mirage Colloid that can totally hide the ship from view, though it has one downfall and that unlike future Mirage Colloid ships the one on the Loki has an operating time of about forty-five minutes before it has to be shut off to recharge. This is later fixed to about a new five hour limit thanks in part to the crew of the Loki. Going hand in hand with the Mirage Colloid is the two secondary thrusters that operate differently than the main engines of the ship and uses inert gases to propel the ship while cloaked allowing the ship to easily sneak around, though the ship's Commander does use these thrusters when not in cloak when he wants to lay low. Another interesting feature is the Communication Scrambler which scrambles all communication signals unless you know a certain frequency and codes to access it.
Miscellaneous Information
Notable Captains: Captain Vince Grant (Loki)
Notes: The Stealth Armor of the ship is also coated by a specialized form of the Laminated Armor of the Archangel which makes as tough and armored as the other two designs.
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Omake #3 (AN: For those D/M Fans out there)
I Hate This War
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Dearka Elsman, the blond haired pilot the Buster Gundam sat in the Archangel's mess hall staring down at the table wondering why he had to fight one of his friends. He knew he was doing the right thing, but having to fight someone he considered to be a friend was going to hard for him. Luckily for Dearka, the two did not really fight during the last battle but knew that Yzak once he got over his shock would fight him. Dearka sighed and really did not enjoy being on the wrong side as Yzak.
"Yeah Dearka, you are up late. You alright?" a voice said jarring him out of his thoughts, making him look up in surprise to see Miriallia Haw, a girl he was very interested in for unlike other girls she could under his skin as well as his head. With a sigh he shook his head.
"No I am not. I had to go against the Duel and its pilot when I went with Commander La Flagga into Mendel. The pilot is a good friend of mine and it hurt to see his betrayed look on his face when he saw it was me piloting the Buster. I did managed to talk to him, but it was still kind of hard for me," Dearka explained with a frown on his face looking up at the roof of the mess hall. Miri looked surprised before sighing and sitting down next to him.
"Dearka I think you need to talk to Athrun and Kira, for maybe it will help you out a bit, but now just tell me about your friend. Maybe it shall help a bit," the girl said taking his hand in hers with a smile on her face. Dearka looked at her for a moment before shaking his head wondering how she did it, but only smiled.
"Very well then. His name is Yzak Joule and he is one of my only friends. For with being a son of a member of Supreme Council it was quite hard to get real friends, but Yzak was in the same boat I was. Therefore we ended as friends and we would later join the ZAFT Academy together…" he said starting his story as Miriallia continued to listen and a bond soon formed between the two of them. Soon Athrun and Cagalli entered and joined the conversation. But even then both Dearka and Miriallia started something that night, and a bond of friendship soon emerged between the two.
-o-Omake End-o-
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There we go I hope everyone enjoyed that little piece of fluffiness between Dearka and Miriallia. I never understood why their relationship was never really explored all that much in either SEED or Destiny. Therefore this little bit is my way of countering that.
Anyways with that out of the way I bid you all a good night and Happy Holidays!
Ciao!
Next Time on Divergence! The crew of the Dominion soon learns the Alliance's full betrayal when the Loki appears out of nowhere. Will Natarle and her crew take that final leap to defection? Find out in Phase Eleven: The Black Angel's Defection!