Finally! This chapter and the last one both drove me completely bonkers; between them they've probably eaten over 80% of the total time I've spent working on this rewrite. But it's finally done, and while I thought about posting it this Friday, I decided that after two weeks delay, I'd go ahead and post it early. I'll probably limit myself to updating on Fridays in the future though, which may be easier now that I won't have to worry about school on Fridays and just the FNMs I attend.
Anyways, here it is: Talbadiya, the final confrontation between Kira and Andy. You've all been wondering how this would turn out, so I'm sure you're not actually paying any attention to what I'm writing here, but I'm saying it all anyways. Oh well.
There are a few twists here and there, some of which I hinted at, but I'm sure a few I managed to fail to imply and came out of the blue. For those, you have my deepest apologies, I'm trying to stop pulling stuff like that without some kind of foreshadowing, but nobody's perfect.
Disclaimer: All Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Kenneth DiFalco or any members of his team, but I own all other OCs. I do not own the "original ship" that "appears" in this chapter either. If I don't own it and it's not part of SEED canon, it's probably owned by Solid Shark.
Phase Thirteen: The Battle of Talbadiya
February 20th, Cosmic Era 71
Banadiya, African Community
"Kisaka!" called Kira when he spotted the older man at the designated meeting point. Kisaka spun around to face them, his eyes widening slightly in shock before he rushed over along with the two guerillas with him.
"Cagalli, Yamato," said Kisaka. He stared at Cagalli curiously. "What happened? Where have you been?"
"Long story," said Kira, glancing at Cagalli—she looked like she was still processing what had just happened. Perhaps reevaluating everything she thought she knew about ZAFT. "We should get going, I can tell you on the way."
"Yes… that would probably be for the best," agreed Kisaka.
The Archangel
It had been an hour since Kira had returned, and he'd been immediately dragged off to the captain's office for debriefing with Murrue and Mu, while Natarle was keeping an eye on things on the bridge with Tolle, Miriallia and Pal.
Lacus, Flay, Sai and Kuzzey were waiting outside the office for Kira to get out so they could ask for themselves what in the world had happened.
"Alright, I think I understand," said Murrue after hearing the whole story and asking several questions along with Mu. "Under the circumstances, I think you did the right thing."
"Yeah, but just in case, try to keep it quiet," said Mu. "Don't let on that you saved the Tiger's life, even if it was just an accident."
"Well, the thing is, I'm not sure I did," said Kira softly, but the two caught the statement anyway.
"What do you mean?" asked Murrue. Kira shifted nervously.
"It was all a bit too… contrived," he said after a moment. "Mr. Waltfeld had been following us since we entered the city, and I think he may have suspected an attack like that was coming. I think he would've been fine even if I hadn't intervened, and that he may have planned to take advantage of the attack to force Cagalli and myself to come to his headquarters."
"Sure, but that doesn't make much sense," said Mu. "I mean, what's the point of it all? I get that the Tiger is no stone cold murderer, but this still seems rather bizarre."
"I don't know either," said Kira. "It was just a strange feeling I got." Of course, he also suspected it might've been Lily's work—he didn't know enough to be sure.
"Still, try to keep the details to yourself," said Murrue. "That will be all. Dismissed ensign."
"Ma'am," said Kira with a small nod before turning to leave.
"And Kira?" said Murrue. "It's a relief that you're safe."
Kira didn't look back at her, but a small smile formed on his face.
"Thank you," he said softly before stepping out the door.
"Kira!" said Lacus as soon as the door closed, running up to him. "What happened?"
"It's… a long story," said Kira.
"Well, not like there's much to do," said Sai. "We were all really worried when we heard you and Cagalli disappeared."
Kira let out a small sigh at that.
"It's…" he started, but fell silent, uncertain what he could possibly say. "Well, we're fine; let's just say that Cagalli nearly got us in a lot of trouble and leave it at that for now, okay?"
"Are you sure Kira?" asked Flay. "She seemed to be really out of it, and that was a pretty high-class dress she was wearing…"
"I imagine she took it harder than I did," said Kira simply. "But, if you don't mind, I'd kind of like to rest for a bit."
"Ah, yeah," said Kuzzey, speaking up for the first time. "You must've had a busy day. Come on guys."
"Yeah…" said Sai softly. Flay didn't say anything, but looked like she wanted to object. Lacus gave Kira a small nod and turned to leave when Kira muttered something under his breath, just loud enough for her to catch without the others hearing clearly.
"Rebecca…"
Lacus stiffened slightly at that, eyes going wide in shock. Sai gently led Flay towards the cafeteria with Kuzzey while Kira headed towards his quarters. Glancing back and forth, Lacus decided to follow Kira, and hoped that the others wouldn't pressure them about the upcoming conversation.
It only took a few minutes for the two to arrive at Kira's quarters, where the bag Rebecca had handed Kira was lying on his bed. Kira locked the door behind Lacus before sitting down in the chair of his desk while Lacus sat down on the bed.
"Kira… what really happened?" asked Lacus softly. "How did you know that name?"
"I met Lily," said Kira just as softly. Lacus gasped in shock.
"Rebecca was there as well," continued Kira. "Lily kept quiet about knowing me, but Rebecca seems to have known who I was—that bag there has her birthday present for you apparently—and one of Lily's subordinates, Shiho, probably recognized me instantly. Waltfeld also knew who I was, though he doesn't know about you at all."
"You're sure Lily hasn't told him?"
"Not completely," admitted Kira. "But I got the impression that Waltfeld's incredibly intelligent himself."
"Well, tell me exactly what happened."
He did—for the second time in as many hours, Kira detailed his meeting with the Desert Tiger and Knight-General, though he gave away a bit more than he had with Murrue and Mu, since there was no reason to hide anything from Lacus.
"I see," said Lacus with a small frown when he was finished. "I wonder what sis is up to…" Shaking her head slightly, Lacus finally opened the bag from Rebecca and pulled out the contents: a model kit of some sort and a copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
"Okay, that should do it," said Sai, stepping away from the Skygrasper simulator the next day.
"Yeah, we're just waiting on Ensign Yamato's scenarios now," said Sophia as she stepped up to the seat and patted it slightly. "So, what do you say Argyle? Want to give it a shot."
Sai chuckled weakly.
"Nah, I think I prefer my work up on the bridge," he said.
"Same here," agreed Sophia, glancing at the blank screen. "Might not be a bad idea to give it a quick test though; make sure everything's in working order before Yamato starts programming scenarios for it."
"Well, why don't you give it a shot then?" said Sai. "I know you're no pilot, but you could probably do better than me."
"Not right now," said Sophia. "We'll round up everyone and start running them through it in a bit; who knows, maybe we'll find someone who could reasonably fly wingman for Commander La Flaga."
The next day
By the time Kira got around to programming scenarios for the Skygrasper simulator, Sophia had run all of the volunteers, most of the bridge crew, and all of the mechanics save Murdoch through the simulator, with widely varying ratings.
As Kira went about the programming, he made note of just what scores had come up—Arnold and Tolle had gotten a respectable "score" far ahead of the average, with Sai, Mir, Kuzzey and Flay scoring down at the bottom, Flay falling far short of the others. The best rating went to Sophia, who had soared far, far above the others—if these scores were anything to go by, she could probably have been one hell of a pilot if she'd wanted to be, but in general was far more interested in engineering; in that respect, Kira suspected that he had a lot in common with her.
"Alright, we're almost done here Kira," said Sai, who was working with Sophia and Murdoch to hook the Skygrasper simulator to the mobile suit simulators.
"Got it," said Kira. "I'm about halfway done over here; I've got all the basic simulations programmed; just have to improve the AI and physics engine."
Sophia let out a low whistle.
"Damn… kid's a genius," she muttered to herself. She knew his reputation, but that hadn't really prepared her for just how good he really was.
Of course, Sophia had hardly interacted with Kira—there hadn't been time up in orbit, and then he was sick, then they went straight back into the action. She needed to take the time to talk to him and Lacus a bit, though that was difficult right now, as the two had been very reclusive ever since Kira came back from Banadiya.
Lacus, currently working on what software maintenance she could do solo on the Strike, was mostly consumed by thoughts of her sister. Just what was Lily up to? How much had she told Rebecca? What was she planning, how far would she go…?
The questions rolled around her mind, but Lacus could discern no answer. She knew her sister well, but in the end, they were different people, and only Lily could know what she was thinking.
Martius Three
Ken wore a predatory grin as he stared at the prize sitting in the abandoned hangar: a large, though incomplete, warship hull that outsized anything ZAFT had right now.
The Arkbird was a three hundred meter long prototype high-speed cruiser that had been developed as a competitor to the Nazca-class destroyer. The design was never finished, rejected by the higher-ups in favor of the cheaper, more compact destroyer.
Since ZAFT's primary weapon was the mobile suit and the warships rarely entered direct combat, it was perfectly understandable: the Arkbird was a fair bit larger than the Nazca, with heavier armor and weapons and the same acceleration and velocity, but it didn't carry any more mobile suits. Sure, an Arkbird would take out a Nazca no problem one-on-one, but for every Arkbird produced, they could have one and a half Nazcas; the destroyers were simply more efficient and practical for heavy production.
But the incomplete prototype frame had been tossed into a random storage and left to gather dust. However, in yet another sudden bout of good fortune, Intelligence had come through, revealing the location of the Arkbird and the plans to use the design as a blue-print for a limited run support vessel for some next-generation prototype mobile suits; the new warship, currently codenamed Infinite, would be faster than any vessel currently in deployment, but would trade-off a good deal of firepower and armor to maintain low-costs and mass that would help it achieve its great speed.
Actually, their ability to attain this information deeply unsettled Ken—there were just too many instances of good fortune lately, and it made him uncomfortable. The easily obtained Murakumo convoy that had pretty much everything they could have wanted and more; the information on a potential Neutron Jammer Canceller development and now this, information on weapons intended to end the war in ZAFT's favor. Both of those last two were items that Ken would've expected Zala to guard extremely carefully; no way in hell was it mere chance they'd gotten Intel on both of these vital pieces of data.
No, there was almost certainly someone responsible for it, someone who could hide even from him, someone who could predict Ken, and possibly Lily as well, with amazing precision. And the idea of someone predicting him so well filled Ken with a fear he hadn't known since his near-death at Endymion.
The worst part was that he had no idea if this person was a friend helping them achieve their goals, or an enemy trying to lure them into an act that would expose them and leave them vulnerable.
Understandably, Ken felt the need to act on the latter assumption; he did his best to keep their group unpredictable, and had everything triple-checked to make sure they weren't tracked. Still, the fact that they'd successfully smuggled the Arkbird here concerned him somewhat as well.
In spite of all that, the warship was a considerable boon to their organization; they hardly had the resources to build a warship from scratch, and while they could certainly steal up other ships, everything different about their organization from their enemies could be a valuable asset, plus they could modify an incomplete hull to suit their specifications.
Of course, this wasn't the only reason for Ken's good mood in spite of the looming threat of their mysterious "backer:" the Desert Tiger had been brought into the fold along with his chief lieutenants and several members of his team. This would make their plans on Earth significantly easier to execute, and also meant that Lily would no longer have to be weary of stepping on glass while she was in Banadiya.
Then there was the progress they'd made: between allies on Earth, the stuff they'd gotten from Murakumo and what they could get away with filching off of ZAFT, Zodiac now had its own weapons development program running that would, hopefully, be enough to squelch whatever ZAFT brought out.
Last, but certainly not least, news from their Earth allies had confirmed that the Frontier Project was ready on their end and just waiting for the command from Ken or Lily.
All of this would take months to pan out, which fit their plans perfectly: it would be a few months before the assault on Panama could begin, and only once it fell would they know whether or not Zodiac would have to step out of the shadows.
Stepping into the room from a side door, Reine took one look at Ken's predatory grin and shivered.
"Stop that Falcon, it terrifies me," she said quietly. Ken didn't respond.
The Archangel
The next day
"Lacus? I'm coming in," said Kira just before opening the door to her quarters. He stepped inside, glancing towards the desk where Lacus was working on assembling the model Rebecca had sent with Kira as a present. The brunet glanced at the box, actually taking the time to read what it was supposed to be this time, and realized with a small measure of shock that it was a model of an old military fighter jet, an F-15 Eagle (whatever that was; Kira really had no idea what the difference between pre-Cosmic Era fighters would've been).
"Hi Kira," said the rosette softly.
"Hey… you doing okay?" asked Kira.
"Yeah, I'm just… I'm confused," said Lacus, turning her attention away from the assembly. "I've been trying to figure out what sis is up to and… I just can't. I don't know what goes through her head, and that makes me feel like I don't know my sister at all, even though I know better… I know that I'm the one who knows her the best. Better than anyone, even Falcon, Hope or Fate. But even still…" Lacus shook her head, "with everything you told me… there's something going on. Something hidden from more than just us…"
"Why are you so certain of that?" asked Kira.
"Because I know Lily. Because ever since she joined the military, when she wants something done, she always has at least three plans for getting it done; she loves martial competition, but she hates death and war, and she wants this over with so much that I'm sure she's trying to find a way to end it… and because, between Lily and Falcon, we're probably already part of that plan. And I have no idea how we factor into that, and it makes me nervous as well as confused and… and I'm babbling now. I'm sorry."
"Its fine," said Kira. He shook his head. "To be honest, I've been worried about it all myself. I saw how much Lily's changed, and that whole meeting made me nervous." After a moment or two of silence, Kira spoke up again. "Do we just… wait?"
"I think so," said Lacus softly. "Wait and continue as we've been…" But the fear of fighting Lily again was evident on Lacus's face.
Later that night, after most of the ship had either gone to bed or joined the Desert Dawn outside for a late dinner, Flay sat in the seat of the Skygrasper simulator, staring at her new score.
It was a slight improvement over her previous score, but still pretty low. She'd seen Cagalli score respectably in the simulator and for some reason that had made Flay's blood boil. She hadn't liked the girl since she saw the blonde try to slap Kira the morning they first met, and when she heard about how Cagalli had been one of the guerillas to pursue the Desert Tiger and require Kira and Lacus to bail her out, then had been with Kira on whatever it was that had happened in Banadiya… it had just added to her dislike of the girl.
It wasn't exactly rational, but Flay wanted to beat that girl, so she was spending whatever time she could get away with practicing at the simulator, with only one or two mechanics generally around to notice her at it.
Tonight though, someone else had spotted Flay going at it: Sophia had come down to the hangar to put in some more work on their machines, and saw the redhead in the simulator, completely focused on her practice and totally unaware of her surroundings. The black-haired lieutenant walked over to the simulator, glancing over Flay's shoulder to see that the redhead was currently using just the basic simulator—probably trying to familiarize herself with just the basics before getting into the more complex stuff (though, of course, she was mostly just trying to beat Cagalli).
"You know, you should probably relax a little," said Sophia.
The redhead's response was to practically leap out of her skin in fright. Sophia only barely suppressed a giggle at that as the redhead fell to the ground next to the simulator chair.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," said Sophia, offering Flay a hand up, which the young crewman accepted. "Just trying to offer a bit of advice; you're tense, and that can negatively affect your performance."
"I see… um, thank you lieutenant," said Flay.
"No problem," said Sophia, giving the redhead a small smile. "If you'd like, I could give you some tips… I'm no pilot myself, but it might at least help."
"Ah… yes, I'd appreciate that. And, um, could you… not mention this to anyone?"
"Sure… but why?"
"Well…" After a moment of hesitation, Flay began to explain her desire to beat Cagalli to the black-haired lieutenant, leaving the woman completely befuddled.
ZAFT Mansion, Banadiya
Shiho stood at the window of the study where she'd met Kira, staring out over the city, her thoughts still whirling from recent events.
Her mentor's part in an internal rebellion against Zala didn't surprise her; truthfully, she'd have been more surprised if Lily hadn't been plotting against the Defense Committee Chairman.
What had surprised her—and, to be entirely frank, hurt her a bit—was that Lily hadn't trusted her enough to tell her sooner because her foster father Takeshi was killed in the Bloody Valentine. Granted, a lot of people had gone nuts over that sort of thing, so it was understandable, but it still hurt her to realize that Lily had, for a time at least, thought so little of her.
Of course, it probably helped that Shiho and Takeshi hadn't been especially close; he was more a friend and mentor to her than a father. While he'd taken her in when she was just a baby, she spent far more of her young life in the case of some friends of his while he was busy with his duties in the Orb military. They'd only really started getting close and living together when he retired and moved to the PLANTs.
"Shiho? You're still up?"
The brunette looked back over her shoulder at Rebecca as the blue-haired pilot entered the room.
"Like you can talk," said Shiho softly before looking back out the window.
"Lacus is like a sister to me," said Rebecca with a small shrug as she walked up to stand next to Shiho. "Next time we meet in battle, I know it'll be her… and I'm sure that I'll end up fighting her for at least a few minutes. What's on your mind?"
"I'm just thinking about Zodiac," said Shiho. She shook her head slightly. "I can hardly believe you were all in on this; and that stalemate plan… crazy."
"Don't forget about the fact that Lily's willing to do all this even though everything she knows about warfare says it can't be done," said Rebecca. "She's estimated about a one in a hundred chance that the mass drivers will actually be the end of it… and then Zodiac comes into open conflict with both sides."
"She'll manage it," said Shiho softly. "If it's the General, nothing can stop her."
Although Rebecca didn't doubt their ability to succeed either, she gave Shiho an odd look, amazed by the amount of faith the brunette was placing in Lily.
The Lesseps, Flagship of the Waltfeld Team
Four days later
"You know… under any other circumstances, I think I'd be complaining about this a little more," said Andy lightly as he set the reports given to him down on his desk. "Tell you what though, the brass at Gibraltar must be out of their minds sending us all these ZuOOTs and only two more BuCUEs."
"They said they couldn't supply us with anymore of them," said DaCosta, looking at his own copy of the reports. "It's fortunate for us; it seems that our superiors are still underestimating the threat posed by the Archangel."
"Yes, but then again, they also sent us the LaGOWE prototype… plus those two brats," added Aisha. She looked thoughtful. "It seems… odd, doesn't it? For them to send us such valuable weapons, but only two BuCUEs when we told them we'd need twenty BuCUEs to fight the Archangel."
"They may have realized that the prototypes are at least somewhat irrelevant," said Shiho, glancing at Lily. The General gave a slight nod of approval, and Shiho went on, "I mean, when you get down to it, the Alliance probably already has all the essential data to continue production. The live test data they'd get if the Archangel reached Alaska would certainly move up the timetable significantly, but Alliance mobile suit deployment is an inevitability at this point. The rest simply depends on getting a working OS."
"I'm no expert, but having the test data, even if it is just for Coordinator-piloted machines, would help a lot, right?" asked Aisha. The response was a shrug from pretty much everyone there.
"At any rate, we'll need to shuffle around the pilot roster a little," said Andy, "put those we trust in positions where they're less likely to be killed. We can only do that for my team and the new pilots… sorry General."
"We all knew what this would mean Commander," replied Lily, "so don't worry about the danger to my people. But Ken would prefer if we didn't let Elsman get killed."
"Oh, that shouldn't be a problem," said Andy with a faint grin. "After all, about the only reasonable place to put them is likely to be one of the safer places in the coming battle."
Outside, Yzak and Dearka had just gotten blasted by another sand-filled wind when Andy and Lily exited the Lesseps.
"What are we doing in this awful place?" questioned Dearka.
"If you think it's so awful, you could've waited in Gibraltar," said Lily coolly, drawing their attention as she approached with Andy. "Our job would've been a lot easier if we didn't need to babysit you." Yzak barely suppressed a snarl at that, but his expression—and clenched fist—said it all anyway.
"They say you can't really appreciate the desert until you've lived here," said Andy lightly, giving them a welcoming grin. "After being stationed here a year, I think I'm beginning to understand. So, welcome to the Lesseps. I'm Andrew Waltfeld, the commanding officer here." The two Reds saluted immediately.
"Yzak Joule of the Le Creuset Team."
"Dearka Elsman, also of the Le Creuset Team."
Andy briefly returned the salute before focusing his attention on Yzak.
"You know," he said with a faint smirk, "when one doesn't have a bad scar removed, some might think it's a symbol of your… commitment." Yzak looked away. "Or… perhaps it symbolizes something different, like pride in your battle scars… or given the way you've turned your head, perhaps broken pride and humiliation?"
"Why don't you just tell us where the legged ship is?" asked Yzak through grit teeth.
"Because it's neither your concern, nor your responsibility," said Lily. "You will learn the location of that ship when we make our move… and no sooner."
Yzak turned to glare at Lily, but the instant his eyes met hers, he withered and looked away. Those cold blue eyes were just unnerving—pitiless depths of calculated action and merciless cruelty, a monstrous sky or ocean just waiting to swallow you whole.
"I see," said Andy, drawing everyone's attention; he was staring up at the Duel and Buster. "Yeah, they're the same type of machines as those other two."
"Speaking of the Alliance's mobile suits, Commander, what information can you give us about your engagements with them?" asked Dearka.
Andy pondered that for a moment, glancing briefly at Lily. Then, he let out a small chuckle.
"Well… I guess you could say we did as well as the Le Creuset Team."
The Archangel
"Are you serious?!"
Flay really couldn't blame the officers for that reaction.
She'd spent most of her free time—and she had a lot of it right now—in the Skygrasper simulator, sometimes with Sophia coaching her. She'd moved up from the basic simulations to the more advanced ones, her performance steadily improving under Sophia's instruction and her own raw determination.
Which was why she'd approached Murrue and Mu and requested assignment as the pilot of the second Skygrasper.
"She's serious Murrue," said Sophia, standing next to Flay; she'd offered to vouch for Flay to the other officers. "I've been watching her practice in the simulators like crazy; she's improved, a lot. Frankly, her performance at this point is second only to mine among those who've tried it out, and against the Tiger and the General, we need as many machines in the air as we can reliably get."
"Even still…" started Murrue. When the captain said no more for a few minutes, Flay finally spoke up again.
"Captain, please," she said. "I volunteered for this because I wanted to do everything I could to help end the war, but all I've done is run around helping Kira and Lacus when they were sick. Right now, I don't have any clear job, I can't help the mechanics and you don't exactly need help on the bridge right now but this… I know I can do this if you'll just give me the chance. Kira and Lacus have risked everything to protect us time and time again, so please… let me try to protect them a little as well."
Silence followed that small speech. After a moment, Murrue let out a small sigh.
"Very well," she said, much to Flay's relief, "but I want you to undergo real flight training with Commander La Flaga. We won't be moving out for a few days, so that will give him time to assess you. If he says you aren't ready though, then you will listen to him and stay out of the Skygrasper until he says otherwise. Is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am."
Later that night…
While it never quite reached the rebels, word of Flay's decision to pilot travelled through the Archangel ridiculously fast, and it did not take her friends very long to corner her after she returned from her training flight with Mu.
"Flay are you crazy?!" demanded Lacus as soon as they'd cornered her on the observation deck.
"Of course not!" said Flay. "I just…"
"Flay, even I know that piloting's incredibly dangerous," said Tolle. "Are you really sure about this?"
"I was thinking about it for awhile," said Flay, "this wasn't just a spur of the moment thing. I really think I found a way to help."
"Flay, you've been a big help already," said Kira softly. Flay's eyes turned to Kira with a small amount of uncertainty. "But we're really worried about you."
"I appreciate that," said Flay softly, "I really do. But I'm worried about you too. If I can help you fight, then…"
"We all help in our own ways," said Mir, "so don't think you have to do this Flay."
"I do," replied Flay. "Please… I really need to do this."
She wouldn't look any of them in the eye at first, but she soon made eye contact with Sai. In that instant, a wordless exchange seemed to happen between them, and Sai nodded.
"Okay Flay," he said, shocking everyone else into silence. "You have my support for this. Just be careful, okay?"
"Yes, of course!" said Flay, smiling at them, immensely grateful for Sai's support.
Two days later
The Desert Dawn had moved out of their base taking everything they could with them, knowing they'd need all the firepower they could get in the coming battle. In the air behind them was the Archangel, the true power on their side in the coming conflict, and they all knew it—just one of its catapult deck legs was practically large enough to swallow up their whole convoy.
In one of the lead jeeps, Cagalli stared down at the green stone in her hand with sad eyes.
"What's that?" asked Kisaka, glancing over at her.
"It's something… that my friend Ahmed was going to carve and give to me someday," she answered slowly. "His mother just gave it to me."
"It looks like a chunk of malachite," said Kisaka. "It's huge."
Cagalli frowned, thinking about Ahmed before her thoughts suddenly shifted to her meeting with the Desert Tiger and Knight-General over a week ago.
To them… he was nothing more than another enemy to be killed. He wasn't even human to them! she screamed in her own mind, fist clenching around the chunk of malachite. I swear… I'll make them pay for this Ahmed!
She never did allow herself to think too deeply about how closely the General had resembled Lacus.
The Lesseps
When the alert sounded, Andy had been in the middle of his next great coffee blend, so he was slightly irritable when he stepped onto the bridge with DaCosta, Yzak and Dearka on his heel, not that his irritation actually showed. Lily and the rest of the Clyne Team were already on the bridge.
"Tell me the enemy's position," said Andy.
"Yes sir," said the sensor operator, slumping ever so slightly in relief at his CO's return—the General terrified him just as much as she did everyone else. "They're moving north by northwest from their last position." He brought up an image from their recon drone.
"It's the legged ship," said Yzak.
"They're heading for the remains of the Talbadia factory district," said Andy. "Heh, you predicted them perfectly General. Although I admit, I can't say I wouldn't do the same thing. If I was their commander, I'd try to blow right through us."
"What do we do sir?" asked DaCosta.
"I'd hoped that they would wait a little bit longer," said Andy, "give us more time to bring in additional BuCUEs. Can't change that though." Although, the real reason he'd wanted them to wait longer was, of course, because that would work better for Zodiac's timetable.
The fact that in a few more weeks he could be called away to prepare an attack on Panama and that the Archangel could then just waltz right out of their territory was simply a bonus to that scenario.
"Aren't we attacking?" asked Yzak.
"We are," said Andy grimly. He stood up straight and directed his attention to the rest of the bridge. "Listen up, we're moving out! Code zero-two. Notify the Petrie and the Henry Carter immediately!"
The Archangel
The crew knew they were about to run headfirst into their second largest battle, and that unlike last time, they would be the ones outnumbered by ZAFT.
It was an unsettling thought, and those in the mess hall were mostly eating mechanically more than anything. The exception, sitting next to Kira and opposite Flay and Lacus, was Mu, still as bright and cheerful as ever.
"You three really need to eat up," said Mu, "keep up your strength and everything."
Kira couldn't fault him for that, but none of them felt like eating. Now that the prospect of the battle was looming over them, Flay was looking pale and nervous, while he and Lacus were busy thinking about Waltfeld and Lily.
"Here," said Mu, sliding something onto Kira's plate, "take this as well."
"Huh?" Kira looked down at the dish added to his plate, a doner kebab just like back in Banadiya.
"Nothing beats fresh local eats," continued Mu, picking up a white bottle, "and try this—it tastes great with yogurt sauce." Kira looked away at that, firmly drawing the older pilot's attention, as well as the attention of the two girls.
"Something wrong?" asked Mu.
"It's just… the Tiger said the same thing," replied Kira, "that it tastes great with yogurt sauce…"
"Huh… you don't say," said Mu. "That man knows his food. But… I tell ya, it's a lot easier when you don't know your enemy personally. Just forget him."
Kira and Lacus both looked down at that. It wasn't just Waltfeld and Lily, but Rebecca as well. For Kira, there was also Shiho, and then for Lacus she could tack on Athrun in past and—probably—future battles.
"When you're fighting for your life, any hesitation could mean the end," continued Mu, not really taking notice of their reactions—but Flay definitely did. "Take it from someone with personal experience in the matter."
Before anything more could be said, the sound of large, distant explosions reached their ears.
"Yes, Launcher on both Skygraspers." Mu paused, listening to the response as the three junior pilots donned their flight suits. "I'll tell you why: because that sword doesn't do anything out here except look fancy!" With that, Mu shut off the intercom before the mechanics could question him again, then turned to look at the teenagers, now fully dressed in their G-suits. "I really hate to say it, but we can't rely on the fighting strength of those guerillas."
"Yeah, I know," said Kira with a small sigh.
"Wouldn't be so bad—we've already proven we can thrash the Tiger—but the Blood Princess… man, oh man." Mu shook his head, not noticing the way Lacus winced at the mention of her sister's darker nickname, though Flay took notice. "Y'know, I've fought Le Creuset to a draw several times and broke even with the Falcon until the Cyclops hit in our one showdown, but the Princess thrashed me pretty thoroughly at L4. Everyone thought she'd be an easy target the way she was performing at the time."
"Commander, who is the Blood Princess, exactly?" asked Flay. "And… why is she called that?"
"Her name's Lily Clyne," said Mu with a small shrug, "daughter of the PLANT's leader, Siegel Clyne. She's ZAFT's most bloodthirsty ace," Lacus winced again, "and a brilliant strategist besides. I hear even ZAFT's other top guns are scared shitless of her."
"I… I see," said Flay, gulping slightly in fear.
"Well, you shouldn't have anything to worry about," said Mu with another small shrug. "Strategist or not, she loves fighting. She'll want to fight Kira or Lacus, and I don't think even she can hope to beat the Strike or Sakura in drawn-out combat."
Don't count on it, thought Lacus, half fearfully, half regretfully.
"Commander La Flaga, Ensign Yamato, Ensign Hirano and Crewman Allster," came Mir's voice over the PA suddenly, "to your vehicles immediately."
"Whoops," muttered Mu as the four pilots left the locker room.
A few minutes later, the initial skirmish had begun, with ZAFT attack helicopters bearing down en masse on the Archangel and surrounding guerillas. Roughly ten kilometers ahead of the ship, the Lesseps and the Petrie deployed their half a dozen BuCUEs and remaining attack helicopters, while the Archangel's catapults opened and the two Skygraspers were loaded.
"La Flaga… Allster… Skygrasper One and Two, prepare for takeoff," said Mir, running over her final checks. "All clear for launch. Ready when you are. And Flay? Stay safe out there."
"I will," said Flay, though she was unable to hide her nervousness as she braced herself for the upcoming G-forces. "Flay Allster, Skygrasper Two, I'm launching!"
Mu's Skygrasper shot out of the port-side catapult followed half a second later by Flay's own Skygrasper, both immediately pulling up and ascending to intercept the helicopters.
"Activate APU, connect to catapult," said Mir as the Strike and Sakura loaded into position. "Attach the Aile Striker pack. Ensign Yamato, do you want any additional equipment?"
"No, against BuCUEs they'd mostly be deadweight," said Kira. "Sakura, standing by and ready."
"Aile Strike now standing by, ready to launch," added Lacus.
"Roger that, please remain on standby. The enemy mobile suits are still five minutes out. We'll let the Skygraspers and Desert Dawn deal with the choppers."
"Understood." Flay…
The choppers launched missiles at the Archangel, but the Igelstellung emplacements shredded the missiles seconds after launch. Then, the Skygraspers swooped in on the choppers, Mu firing off a single shot from his beam cannon that completely vaporized one, with the others breaking formation in an attempt to evade the two fighters.
"Don't be nervous," said Mu. "Remember, right now you just worry about taking care of yourself and covering me; don't do anything you're not ready for."
"Uh, yes sir," replied Flay.
It took only two minutes for the Skygraspers to clear out the majority of the choppers, with the guerillas easily mopping up the rest that tried to escape by descending to a lower altitude.
Only a minute later, the Archangel launched its two mobile suits as the first wave of BuCUEs approached and battle was soon joined.
The Lesseps
Andy smiled up at the fancy new LaGOWE sitting at the heart of the hangar. The machine was essentially a BuCUE with modest improvements to the armor, sensors, cooling systems, and internal mechanisms. The speed and agility of the machine, however, was at least fifty percent better than a BuCUE, and the machine equipped a head-mounted dual beam saber and back-mounted dual beam cannon, with a secondary gunner seat in the cockpit. Aisha had volunteered for the role of gunner.
"You really sure about letting me use this General?" asked Andy, glancing at Lily, who was leaning against her CGUE's leg, arms folded across her chest. "I can still go with my BuCUE instead."
"For the fourth time Tiger, I'll be better off with my CGUE," said Lily coolly. "Besides, you'll need those beam weapons more than I will."
"Commander!" called Yzak suddenly as he rushed over to Andy and Aisha, ignoring Lily entirely. "What the heck is going on around here? Why are we stuck on top of the Lesseps?"
"Oh my," said Andy, "do all members of the Le Creuset Team object to their superior officer's orders, or are you just extra special?"
"No," said Yzak, his apparent bluster dying down almost immediately. "However… we have a lot more experience against them! More than you do!"
"Losing experience doesn't count," said Aisha with an amused smile.
"What?!" demanded Yzak.
"Aisha," said Andy.
"I'm sorry," she said. Andy turned his attention back to Yzak.
"You're suits are designed for artillery battles," said Andy. "They can't handle a high-speed engagement like the BuCUEs. You won't keep up."
"But sir, that… the Blood Knights are going out in simple GINNs!" said Yzak, gesturing angrily at Lily. Andy smirked, but the General saved him the trouble of replying.
"The least experienced of my pilots is more experienced than both of you combined," said Lily, "and unlike you, they've even seen real battles on Earth before. Plus, the Buster will operate best providing support from the Lesseps, and while Elsman is well-disciplined, you remain a loose cannon unable to obey orders, Joule. Having that on the frontline would destroy our cohesion, and the Earth Forces would rip us apart at their leisure."
"What did you say?!" said Yzak, beginning to lose his cool. Dearka stepped in, placing a hand on Yzak's shoulder.
"Yzak, calm down," he said, "we've got our orders." He saluted Andy and Lily. "Excuse us sir, ma'am."
As they walked away, Dearka glanced at Yzak.
"Remember what Commander Le Creuset told you at Gibralter," he said. "You're on thin ice with the General, and if she decides to have you discharged, she has the political clout to do it. It's not worth it." Yzak growled in frustration.
"Can you believe that kid's attitude?" Andy asked Aisha. "He is in for a rude awakening with that kind of mouthy insolence."
"Assuming his stupidity doesn't get him killed first," said Lily, straightening up. She glanced over at where her pilots were talking. "Everyone to your machines now."
A moment later, the main hangar gate of the Lesseps opened up. Unlike most ships, the Lesseps lacked linear catapults, since it was intended to carry BuCUEs, which wouldn't need such a thing.
"Alright DaCosta, I'm leaving you in charge of the ship," said Andy.
"Yes sir," said DaCosta.
"Don't forget why we're here," said Andy. "Waltfeld, LaGOWE, heading out!"
As he said that, Andy hit the controls, activating the thrusters in the LaGOWE's wings, and sending it flying out of the Lesseps and to the sand below.
A moment later, two CGUEs and five GINNs leapt out of the Lesseps one after another and started charging forward.
Mu gunned down his seventh chopper—just how many of these were ZAFT fielding anyway?—before glancing back at Flay's Skygrasper.
"You doing okay back there kid?"
"Y-yeah."
"Good, because things are about to get rougher," said Mu. "I'm moving forward to attack the enemy ships; it's gonna be more dangerous and you'll have to pull the trigger, so… if you want, you can stay back here and keep those choppers off the Archangel."
Flay was quiet for a few seconds before replying.
"Okay, I'll stay with the Archangel."
"Got it, we're counting on you," said Mu before the two broke apart, Flay spiraling back to the ship while Mu moved forward, keeping one eye on the sensor blip showing Flay's position.
She really wasn't much beyond the trainee level and had yet to actually shoot down any of the real targets, but she was determined and had been practicing almost obsessively. He was confident that she'd make it through this.
Lacus deflected the blade of a BuCUE beam saber with her shield and fired on it with her Igelstellungs, but the BuCUE managed to leap aside, swinging its railguns into a lock on her; Lacus responded to that by leaping into the air and attempting to land on the BuCUE, only for the pilot to accelerate out from under her. She snapped off a quick shot with her rifle, but missed her target, glassing the desert next to it instead as the BuCUE flinched away from the heat wash.
"Alicia, don't forget the mission," said Medici. Alicia glanced down for a second at that as she pulled her machine away from the Strike under covering fire from Medici's missile-equipped BuCUE.
All five BuCUE pilots—herself, Medici, Kirkwood, Erik Blacklock and Lydia Kina—had been brought into the Zodiac fold by Andy. He trusted each of them, and that meant a lot. The girl in the Strike was the General's younger sister, the Chairman's daughter and the idol of the PLANTs.
But none of that meant it was easy to forget that she was also the person who'd killed Caden.
Alicia shook her head. She couldn't focus on that—they were all soldiers here, they knew what they were getting into, and they knew what was at stake; Andy had offered each of them the chance to stay behind, stay safe, instead of going into a battle they knew they would ultimately have to lose.
But each of them had chosen to go into this battle and agreed to risk their lives to protect a pair of enemy pilots—whether or not those kids had ended up killing two of their teammates not too long ago.
"I haven't forgotten, but that shot was close—heat control is heavy-loaded," said Alicia as she continued to pull from the battle, "I'll get some distance, try to get the interior cooled; if I can get firing solutions though, I can still provide long-range support with my railguns."
"This is the Lesseps, roger that Pilot Morris, we'll provide you with coordinates."
Kira had found himself locked in battle with a railgun BuCUE for all of fifteen seconds before his danger sense went off, and he leapt away from the BuCUE just as Shiho opened fire on him with her shield-gatling.
"Shiho," muttered Kira, staring at the CGUE flanked by two GINNs, one of them a high-maneuver type—unknown to Kira, the machines of Rebecca and Yūno.
"How do you want to do this Shiho?" asked Yūno. Rebecca shifted slightly, uncertain about this fight with Kira.
"You two cover me," replied the brunette, drawing her CGUE's sword. "I'd still like to finish our duel from the other day." With that, Shiho moved forward, stabbing her sword at the Sakura. Kira shifted out of the way and attempted to retaliate with his rifle, but Shiho shifted slightly and kicked the rifle away.
"Oh no Kira," muttered Shiho as she swung her sword at him and he drew a beam saber to parry, "we're going to do this the old-fashioned way… besides, it'll be easier to pull through like this."
As Kira continued to clash with Shiho and Lacus fell under a precision team attack by Chrono, Riika and Elliot, Andy led Eric and Kirkwood to attack the Archangel directly, with Medici and Lydia attacking the resistance jeeps. Lily had yet to engage anyone, instead observing the entire battlefield dispassionately, waiting to see how Kira and Lacus would react and what that second fighter would do.
Over the Lesseps, Mu attempted to lock onto the Buster even as he jinked wildly to evade the massive anti-air fire. He got distracted, however, and pulled away entirely when an alarm sounded alerting him to a large missile barrage inbound for the Archangel.
"Evade them!" snapped Murrue to Arnold before glancing back at Pal. "Fire a round from the Valiant skyward."
"Yes ma'am!"
Arnold did as ordered, shifting the Archangel to port as Pal swung the starboard Valiant to aim almost straight up and let loose.
As the wave of plasma blasted out in the wake of the projectile, the Archangel suddenly caught on a chunk of the Talbadiya Factory, badly shaking the ship and nearly tearing control of it away from Arnold even as the impacted section crumbled under the warship's mass. The missiles fired from the Henry Carter were shot down by the Igelstellungs or decoyed by the friction heat from the Valiant round and missed entirely, but the ship ended up partially crashing to the ground next to the factory ruins, controlled enough that the people aboard were only shaken slightly, but it would still be a moment before they got back into the air, and meanwhile, a large cloud of sand was cast up from the impact and currently flying straight at the battling guerillas and mobile weapons in front of it.
"Oh my," said Andy with a faint smirk, "I don't think the resistance is going to appreciate that little sandstorm."
He was right, of course—the cloud of sand rushing through the air blasted the jeeps, turning some over entirely while all the mobile suits were forced to hunker down momentarily. Only one jeep escaped relatively unscathed, with Kisaka managing to take cover behind some of the ruins.
"The Archangel!" cried Cagalli.
"It's a sitting like that," said Kisaka, "where are the Strike and White Frame?!"
"You're gonna pay for that Mr. Tiger!" growled Mu angrily as he tried to search the battlefield below through the sand cloud and the three ZAFT ships prepared to let loose on the momentarily vulnerable assault ship. However, before anyone else could act, the second Skygrasper spun around, flying back over the Archangel.
Flay swung her targeting reticule onto the Henry Carter's center of mass and pulled the trigger on the Agni, sending a massive red beam lashing out at the warship. Unlike the Lesseps and Petrie, the Henry Carter hadn't fired any anti-beam scattering in order to maintain stealth, and so the red beam tore straight through the heart of the warship. Heat spread through the vessel, setting off some of the onboard munitions, and several explosions tore through the ship, now spouting flames from numerous holes.
The redhead followed up the blast by opening up with her machine guns and firing two missiles at the ship, inflicting additional damage before she pulled away from the irreparably damaged cruiser.
Mu, who had witnessed all of this, let out a slight whistle.
"Not bad kid," he said under his breath as he brought his own Skygrasper around to resume attacking the Lesseps and Petrie. The Archangel was even now rising back into the air, and Mu wasn't certain what kind of damage it had taken, though he thought he caught a glimpse of a large hole in the starboard-side dorsal armor.
Down in the sand cloud, Kira turned the tables against Shiho using the flamethrower mounted on the Sakura's right wrist, superheating her CGUE in seconds.
"Damn," muttered Shiho, "Rebecca, Yūno, I can't fight like this. Cover me." Static greeted her though, and Shiho's eyes widened in shock as she realized that the N-jammer levels had risen high enough that the sand cloud blocking direct laser links had rendered the radio worthless.
With that in mind, she turned and ran instead, needing to get away before her CGUE was totally wrecked.
Lacus was in a much more interesting situation then Kira was.
When the sand cloud had been kicked up, she'd managed to turn the tables on her three assailants using her new dual-grenade launcher and firing on their previous calculated positions, but she'd used all four of the grenades doing so.
The interesting part came when Lily showed up and established a contact link just like in orbit.
"The sand cloud works in our favor," said Lily, "but it won't last long. We've got less than a minute to talk Lacus, so…"
"Lily… what are you doing?" asked Lacus.
"I'm trying to end this war, and yes, you're a part of how I intend to do that. You and Kira just stay safe, okay?"
"But… Lily, I…"
"Hey, it's okay," said Lily soothingly. "Lacus, I want you to know that I'm proud of you, and I love you."
"Sis… I love you too," said Lacus, "and… I trust you. But I have to protect that ship."
"I know. We all have things we have to protect. We're out of time now. I'm sorry."
"Me too."
Lily broke the contact link, drew her sword, and swung it at the Strike, Lacus parrying with her beam saber.
By the time the sand cloud completely fell, no one was entirely certain what had happened inside, though the Zodiac forces among ZAFT had a better idea than most. Either way, Yzak was left sputtering in shock as Mu whistled in surprise.
The GINNs and BuCUEs were all in full retreat, a few missing heads or limbs, one BuCUE missing a turret, and a few of them had more extensive damage, plus there was the wreckage of at least one BuCUE down there (the pilot, Eric, had ejected and been picked up by Kirkwood). The resistance jeeps had all been effectively defeated, struggling to retreat to safety after getting unceremoniously sandblasted. Shiho's CGUE was in retreat as well, leaving just three ZAFT machines in the battle: Lily's CGUE, Andy's LaGOWE and Alicia's BuCUE now returning to the main battle.
"What the hell just happened?!" cried Yzak in shock.
"Never expected this," muttered Dearka, "not from the General or the Tiger."
However, it wasn't over for ZAFT—Mu descended on the Petrie and blasted it with everything he had, inflicting heavy damage to it, while the Archangel fired off its Gottfrieds and the port Valiant at the Lesseps. The mobile suits all attempted to leap off the ship, but only the Duel, Buster and one of the ZuOOTs made it, the rest annihilated by the massive assault on the battleship, and one of the ZuOOT tracks shattered on landing, while the Duel and Buster both sank into the sand.
"Hmm, not bad," said Andy as he surveyed the damage to the mobile suits and the situation with the ships, "if I didn't know any better, I'd say that damage really was inflicted by the Earth Forces suits and not by their wingmen." He glanced forward at Aisha in the gunner's seat. "I wonder if they'll catch on to our little deception." Aisha smiled back at Andy.
"Somehow I doubt it," she said.
"DaCosta, we're withdrawing," said Andy over the radio, "have everyone regroup at Banadiya. Alicia, I know you want to stick around and help us out, but I need you to provide escort for the rest of them. The General and I will stay here and cover your retreat." As he spoke, Andy went charging at the White Frame.
"But Commander, that's suicide!" objected Alicia—Andy wondered if she was faking the objection or not, then decided she really was worried.
"Don't worry, we'll be right behind you," said Andy.
"Shiho, Rebecca, Chrono, make sure to pick up Elsman and Joule," said Lily, dodging CIWS fire from the Strike and retaliating with her vulcan, scoring a few minor hits before it jerked out of the way.
"General, are you sure you'll be alright?" asked Elliot. "I think Riika and I can come back you up."
"I've lost my left arm, but that's not a huge hindrance," added Riika. Andy chuckled as Lily replied.
"Negative, withdraw you two, this won't take long."
The Lesseps and Petrie began to reverse, pulling away from the Archangel, much to the crew's relief. But Andy and Lily didn't let up on Kira and Lacus.
"Well kid, now it's just you and me, isn't it?" said Andy over an open channel. "You've gotten me curious, so I'm quite interested in knowing if you're really all that."
"Commander Waltfeld, just leave!" said Kira, parrying a saber strike with his own before lashing out with his shield. "This battle's over, you've lost!"
"ZAFT has lost the battle, not me kid, not yet," said Andy as Aisha fired on the Sakura, Kira defending with his shield. "You understand so little about war kid, and I'm right here to show it off to you!" As he spoke, he went charging forward again, swinging the LaGOWE head quickly side-to-side to make two quick slashes at Kira, forcing him to defend with both saber and shield and letting Andy crouch down and rush the Sakura's legs, bowling the machine over.
"Kira!" cried Flay, flying down to try and acquire a lock on the LaGOWE. However, Aisha swiftly leveled the turrets at her, establishing a lock, then fired right as she saw the Skygrasper jerk to its right. The twin beams missed, but the heat wash caused a small explosion on the Skygrasper's port-side engine, sending Flay towards the ground. Mu, instead of moving to support Kira or Lacus, rushed to Flay's side and started talking to her, making sure she'd be able to make an emergency landing okay.
Meanwhile, Lily had knocked Lacus's first beam saber away and destroyed her beam rifle. The younger sister stabbed her second saber at the CGUE's head, only for Lily to narrowly dodge left, then kick the Strike's right hip, sending Lacus tumbling to the sand.
The CGUE leapt on the Strike, lifting its sword as though to stab downwards, but Lacus shifted and fired her Igelstellungs; Lily jerked back, firing her main thruster to rise back to her feet, but then she rushed forward again and attacked the Strike as it was getting to its knees, forcing Lacus to defend and keeping her off-balance.
Then, Lily knocked away the Strike's second saber, gave it another kick, and then tried to stab her sword through the Aile Striker. Lacus, however, ejected the striker pack, tossed away her shield, and sprang both Armor Schneider, stabbing them at the CGUE.
She managed to lodge one into the barrels of the shield-mounted vulcan, but Lily somehow managed to dodge her other surprise stab and jerk away, now facing the Strike on what could almost be considered even-footing in terms of how the machines compared.
But Lacus knew that Lily still had her thoroughly outmatched in skill and experience.
Kira, meanwhile, had warded the LaGOWE off from taking full advantage of his vulnerability using his flamethrower, but he'd expended all of its very limited fuel supply. Now back on his feet, he ejected it, and opened fire on the LaGOWE using his gatling gun instead.
"How long are we going to keep this up?!" demanded Kira angrily. The Archangel couldn't do anything to help the Strike or Sakura locked as they were in close-combat with the CGUE and LaGOWE, while Mu was busy making sure Flay was safe, and the resistance was out of the picture entirely. "What's the point of all this?!"
"In war the point of the battle is sometimes the battle itself," replied Andy, "because that's what war has become kid! And don't you forget it!" He charged at the Sakura again, but this time, Kira charged right back, and as the two were passing each other, he took to the air, flying over the LaGOWE and slicing its turret right down the middle as he passed. Aisha ejected the turret rather then risk it exploding while still attached.
"General, what's the status of those guns on the Archangel?" asked Andy on a secure channel as he turned back around, not letting Kira out of his sight.
"Both linear cannons are still superheated from the last firings," replied Lily, "they still haven't properly modified them for atmospheric use. Small blessing; now it's time for us to go."
"Yeah," said Andy, switching back to the open channel. "Well kid, looks like this is it. I won't say good luck to an enemy soldier, but… I hope the two of us can meet after this whole thing is done."
"What–?"
The CGUE and LaGOWE both beat a sudden, hasty retreat, moving quickly behind a large dune to protect themselves from the Archangel's heavy weapons.
Silence followed for a minute or two, disturbed only by the desert winds.
"We… we won," murmured Cagalli, staring at the Strike and Sakura with the slightest hint of disbelief that it was over.
On the Archangel, Natarle was biting her lip nervously.
"Crewman Buskirk, run another scan of the area, this seemed too easy somehow," she said.
"Don't bother," came Mu's voice suddenly. "The enemy's in full retreat. If they had anything more, they'd have used them by now. No matter her reputation, the Blood Princess isn't the type to just throw away lives on a battle that's already been lost; she knows when to cut losses and run, and I expect the same of the Tiger."
As he spoke, Arnold brought the Archangel closer to where the two Skygraspers had landed, shaken but okay. Flay was outside, on her hands and knees, emptying her stomach of everything she'd managed to eat today, both in reaction to the wild land, and because her attack on the Henry Carter had caught up with her.
Both the Strike and Sakura quickly arrived at their position, Kira and Lacus exiting their cockpits and rushing to the redhead's side.
"Flay, are you okay?" asked Kira as the two knelt down next to her. Mu was exiting his own cockpit at that very moment.
The redhead looked up at each of them before suddenly throwing her arms around Lacus's neck and crying into the older girl's chest. Lacus wrapped her arms around Flay, Kira patting the young girl's back as the Archangel settled down next to them and the resistance jeeps, filled with cheering guerillas, approached their position.
Author's Notes: So, what did everyone think? I just love Flay as a pilot. ^_^
Obviously, Zodiac is throwing the fight here; I actually wasn't certain how to go about it, and was more or less convinced that at least a few of them would die (and while most of the Waltfeld Team was up for grabs, only Chrono and Yuno were really potential casualties for the Clyne Team), but as I was writing the ambush and the Talbadiya crash, I realized "No, wait, it doesn't make sense that those ruins could lock the Archangel in place, but I do want it to be in a bad situation for a minute." and then I realized "if a ship massing that much hits the sand even slightly uncontrolled, even with just those forward legs, that's gonna create a lot of sand." which was followed as I was writing the scenes in the storm with "wait a minute, no one can see what's happening, so Zodiac can take themselves out of the fight!" And there you have it: no Zodiac casualties in the whole freaking battle. I was not expecting that when I started writing it, and it's not the first time I've been caught off-guard with characters surviving when I didn't intend them to. It's one of the things I love about writing, how sometimes even I'm caught flat-footed by what happens.
Moving on, Cagalli gets shoved out of the spotlight here, dialed down to two or three minor appearances, but Flay gets a more prominent role, and I actually think she outdoes Lacus for chapter-presence up until the battle begins. And then I let Andy and Aisha live as well; unlike the others, I knew that they'd survive this even before I started in on this re-write. TBH, Aisha was gonna survive in the original as well, but I never got far enough to actually reveal that fact. Now, obviously, there's still going to be a few unresolved things with the Desert Dawn since Andy blatantly survived, but that'll be addressed next chapter, and no, I don't know when that'll be.
One thing, about the Valiants: it's a bit interesting to note that they have a higher heat build-up in atmosphere than in space, despite the fact that they have much better cooling. This is also a consequence of the high-velocities and the plasma stream from the projectiles, and a bit more will be made of this in the future. For now, it's just another of those things that sort of stuck in my mind as I was writing that part, and it gave me an easy out for Lily and Andy escaping.
Finally, just a small announcement: to anyone who hasn't already seen it, I've started writing my reboot of the Divinity Saga under the name "Mobile Suit Gundam Trinity," and while it's not far along nor am I sure how fast I'll progress with it, I'm really hoping I manage to fix the flaws in the original version.
Please leave a review! After how much this chapter kicked my ass and how much I changed, I really want to know if I did a good job with it. Hope to see you all soon!
Sayōnara, min'na desu!