Gundam Seed: Iron Brotherhood

by The Watchman

Gundam Seed in the POV of soldiers. Each having seen and lived war. Each one with a story, some with painful memories, others with dark secrets. All struggling in a world gone mad by war. A GSeed AU with slight Wing and UC crossover, Read for pairings

21. Phase17: Battle in the Sands

A/N: The fight scenes here are going to be a fairly conventional, I'm saving the real crazy stuff for the later chapters.

Phase 17: Battle in the Sands

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The Archangel was on route toward the Desert Dawn's base.

Lt. Miyuki Kajiura enters the hangar. She spots her new good friend Murdoch looking up toward the Chimera.

"What's up, Chief?" She calls with a little humor intended as she walked toward him.

"Check his guy out, he's been completely rebuffed." The mechanic points a thumb at the unit in front of him. "The UN guys replaced every square inch of the armor plating. It's almost as if it never fought in the last month. I hear, it also got a new Quantum AI, top-of-line from what I hear. Plus he's got two new striker packs."

Miyuki nods, looking at the Chimera herself. "Centurion and Myrmidon, one for close range combat and the other for water combat. They should help us get to JOSH-A big time."

He gives her an insightful look. "I was wondering… are the Chimera's Striker packs…?"

"Theoretically, they are compatible." Miyuki replies, "I'd be interesting to put the Sol Striker on the Skygrasper. I should talk to Ton-ton about that."

She looks at Murdoch, "Chief, I want to get the spare Aile pack and hardmount it to the Phantom."

"I guess the Strike Ginn's not going to be enough anymore, eh?" The head mechanic looks at her, as she nods, "Sure, but where should I put the anti-ship swords then?"

"I'll think about it. Just work on mounting that Aile pack for now."

"I'll get the boys working on it." He scratches his head. "Well, Lieutenant, I'd better get back to fixing the Strike. You never know when this ship might be attacked again"

"I'll see ya later then, Chief." Miyuki heads to leave the hangar.

After the doors leading to the hangar close behind her, she holds up her right hand. It was shaking, she wasn't sure if it was fatigue or fear. Schellezar's mobilesuit had given her a hard time during the battle. Even though she given him in several well aimed blows, though it was all for naught thanks to the Lightwave shield. The Strike Ginn wasn't going to be enough anymore, it was fine out in space, but the advantages it had there were no longer available to it.

She had to get the Phantom ready for desert combat, and soon.

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Gibraltar Base

"I'm glad to see you made it safe and sound," Le Creuset said on the monitor. "That was a pretty tough battle you three went through."

"Nearly ended up in a body bag," Dearka Elsman nods. "Could have been worse, though."

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm afraid that you're going to be stuck there a while longer, though," the masked commander went on apologetically. "There are currently no plans to bring you back to space, Command believes you may be of more use to the war right where you are." He shrugs. "So for now, you're under Lenneth Carrington's command, though she's currently on standby if the legged ship appears in her area, she will go and attempt to take it out. I expect you will assist her in any way.

"Got it, Commander," Dearka pauses. "By the way, sir, I've been hearing a lot about Commander Knowles down here…"

Le Creuset frowns. "Apparently, she's planning to head for Earth herself soon. Fortunately, as she's going to the African Community."

"That's a relief, at least." Dearka mutters, "Is there anything else, sir?"

"No, that's it for now. Good luck, to both of you." Le Creuset's disappears.

Dearka turns to his companions with a look of disgust. "We're to remain on Earth? Work with the Gibraltar forces? Well, at least we might be able to finally take down the legged ship."

Nicol Amalfi only nods, Yzak Joule doesn't respond.

Instead, he continues staring at the wall, brooding. He then reaches up for the bandages that wrapped a part of his face.

"Hey, cut it out!" Dearka yells. "You shouldn't-!"

"Yzak!" Nicol raises a hand to stop him.

Yzak brushes it off and throws the bandages to one side, the skin was healed, but it was badly scarred.

"That legged ship's going down all right," he hisses. "And I'll be the one to do it!"

Unknown to the three pilots, someone was eavesdropping on them. Belenus Maxwell, Lenneth's second in command and Quintilis City Representative Jeremy Maxwell's younger brother, leans beside the doorway to the comm. room.

So… The Strike's pilot is even skilled enough to defeat Joule, eh? In close combat at that…

Belenus knew Yzak Joule, though he wasn't one of the best around, he was no push-over.

He walks off.

If the legged ship appears within our vicinity, Commander Lenneth will definitely go for her. The question is… will she be willing to kill her?

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Somewhere in the Libyan Desert

After several hours, the Archangel arrived at the Desert Dawn's encampment, the officers had gone to meet with Sahib and his people, and their mobile suits had covered the ship with camo netting,

Miyuki examines the base to which the Desert Dawn had led them. It appeared to consist of several large caves, set within a small canyon, it was a tight hiding place for the Archangel but a decent one.

Hopefully, Andy Waltfeld doesn't already know this place…

She then realizes she was being watched, and turns her head slightly to see who it was. She finds Cagalli, who seemed to be studying her as intently as she was studying the base.

"You know," she began, "If you want to know something, you can just ask."

Cagalli twitches, "I wasn't- I mean-"

"Relax," she walks over, holding her mechanic's shirt over her shoulder as it flew with the wind. "If I were you, I'd be just as doubtful too. ZAFT turncoats are rare after all, and there's a chance I maybe a double agent. That's what you're thinking, right?"

"Something like that," she admits.

Miyuki knew exactly who Cagalli was, Antonio had asked her to go along with the charade with the others.

"I guess you want a word with me," she began. "If you do, we should find someplace a little more private."

Without waiting for a response, the older woman began walking up to higher ground, heading for a spot overlooking the Archangel. , After some thought with herself, Cagalli hurries to follow her.

"You're right," she said when they reach the top. "I do have a few things to say to you, unless you'd rather not hear it."

To her annoyance, the veteran pilot merely smirks at her.

"Do your worst, Athha," she said easily.

"Oh really?" Cagalli snorts. "Then let me be frank, Kajiura: I thought we had the same kind of ideals, but someone like that wouldn't have turned her coat as easily as you did."

Miyuki's eyes narrow. "You think it was easy for me to leave ZAFT behind? When you've got no idea how much this war has taken from me? Would you stand by and watch as your comrades went and commit genocide?"

"If something like that were going on in the first place," Cagalli glares back. "I'd have worked to change it from within, not shoot at my friends."

"Oh really," Miyuki sneers. "And here I thought you didn't like ZAFT in the first place."

"I don't," Cagalli said bluntly. "If I did, I wouldn't be here, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. And if you were the honorable soldier everyone and Antonio say you are, you wouldn't be here, either."

Miyuki raises an eyebrow.

"You have a problem with me, Cagalli?" She said evenly, "And I think it's beyond questions of my credibility. Mind explaining?"

She gave her a challenging look. Fine, if she wants to hear it that badly...

"You were at Heliopolis," she said finally, glaring. "You were, and still are, one of the project heads of the G-project. Are you going to tell me you're not the reason ZAFT got that information? It's too much of a coincidence. If you ask me... maybe what happened that day was your handiwork."

Those last words struck deep into Miyuki like a dagger, and her anger slowly began show.

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Cagalli," she said coldly. "If you knew what this war cost me, you'd understand that I never wanted to be part of it again."

"What you want doesn't matter much, does it?" Cagalli snorts in disrespect. "I think you gave that data to ZAFT, then decided you'd gotten in over your head, and-"

"Shut up!" Miyuki hisses, "You've got no idea what you're talking about, all this time you've stayed nice and safe in your neutral nation, you have no idea at all of what's happening outside your safe little world!"

"Then tell me," Cagalli yells back. "What don't I know that explains how you're the one who's just here, without any responsibility for-?"

"I never said I didn't have any responsibility," she snaps. "Believe me, I have more than my fair share. Fighting day in, day out, watching those who matter to you get killed one by one, or coming within just a hair of stopping a nuclear attack but ending up losing a quarter million people and your husband because you missed!" She clenches her fists. "So don't you dare tell me about 'responsibility'!"

Cagalli was surprised by the anger she had provoked, but she wasn't about to apologize.

"Ahem," someone clears his throat not too far from them, both turn to see who it was. They find Antonio with arms crossed, and frowning.

It was typical for Cagalli and Miyuki to be fighting. They had this love/hate –or love to hate– relationship, sometimes they were bosom buddies, and other times they'd just love to tear each other apart.

But sometimes, things do get out of hand.

"If you two are done," he continues. "I want a word with you, Cagalli. Alone."

The two give each other one last glare before Miyuki stalks off.

"I just had a little talk with Kisaka,"

Antonio leans against the wall near a cave. "You've been busy… fighting for a patch of desert you haven't been before until the recent months…"

"Tassil is Kisaka's hometown," Cagalli points out, "Orb may be neutral, but they'd understand if he wanted to go help his people liberate their home."

"Understandable," he grants that. "However, I know Kisaka, if this were a personal matter, why would he allow you to come along?"

He's sharp as usual, she thought with a silent sigh. "You're something else, you know that?"

"Yeah, I guess," He replies calmly.

She shook her head, "You remember what my father said to me once when we got into one of our arguments relating to Orb's 'neutrality'?"

"That you don't know what is happening outside of Orb?" He silently nods, "I see… So you came here to see the world yourself and so that he won't have that logical high ground anymore over you."

"Hmph, that sounds just like you." Antonio shakes his head, "Okay, we'll leave it that. But your father's definitely not going to be happy when you two get back, though."

"Let him do his worst," she snorts. "Not it'll matter anyway."

"You really think that? He's just worried for you, y'know."

"That was a long time ago," she replies bluntly. "He doesn't give damn about me anymore, he's more concerned of how much to his credibility to the Alliance and ZAFT."

Antonio thought for while before continuing.

"Mike and Miyuki were worried." He then says, "I was worried."

He then looks toward her, "Does that count?"

The two of them kept silent after that looking out toward the base.

After a while, Antonio breaks the silence. "I should be going. The meeting with your boss should be starting now."

She simply nods, not looking at him. "I'll see you later then."

Antonio doesn't answer, he simply walks down the hill with his hands thrust into his pockets. He then stops and looks over his shoulder.

"By the way, you should really at least apologize to the pilot you decked, he saved you in Heliopolis after all."

Cagalli blinks, this time looking toward him. "You knew?"

"I had plenty of time talking with him," he waves lazily. "'later, Athha."

It was about then that she felt she should be looking for the Strike pilot. Though she didn't look forward to it, she knew she ought to apologize to him for smacking him in the face.

Desert Dawn Base, War Room

"Glad you could join us, Colonel," Sahib said.

Antonio nods as he enters, Murrue, Mu, Natarle, Miyuki, Michael and Jethro were already there.

"How things go with Cagalli?" Michael calls.

"Not bad," he replies.

Natarle looks toward him, "You know that girl?"

"She's the daughter of an acquaintance of mine. She's here for personal reasons." He replies as he looks around the room at the others, "So… Shall we get started?"

"Right," the resistance leader replies, "If I'm not mistaken, you people are seeking passage to Alaska. Am I right?"

"That's what our orders say," Murrue confirms. "And that's where we'd be now, if we hadn't run into complications on the way into the atmosphere. As it is, we're left looking for the best -and preferably safest- route there."

He nods to himself. "I see. So, how well does that ship of yours fare in the atmosphere?"

"It can't fly at high altitudes," Natarle admits. "A few hundred meters, no more."

"Then it can't fly over a mountain." Sahib continues, "Then the only alternative, it would seem, would be to break through Gibraltar."

"No way we can do that," Mu said flatly.

"We have nine mobile suits and three Skygraspers, but that's hardly enough to beat Gibraltar's defenses." Antonio points out, "Next to Carpentaria, it's ZAFT's most heavily defended base on the planet. And the 'Steel Huntress' is assigned there."

"Lenneth's good at defense," Miyuki adds. "She'll make Gibraltar a very hard nut to crack."

Sahib nods again. "In that case, you could always try going east, through the Red Sea and across the Indian Ocean."

Natarle shook her head. "The Indian Ocean? Sure, we could make it, but not without resupplying along the way. We're running low as it is."

"But we could do it," Mu muses. "ZAFT's submarine forces might be a problem, but with the Archangel's firepower..."

Sahib snorts. "Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourselves? You'll have more difficulties than just supplies, and that's before you even get there. Or have you forgotten that just last night you were attacked by ZAFT desert forces?"

"Andrew Waltfeld," Michael murmurs. "Yeah, we have to take care of him first. Also, I heard he's in Banadiya. We have to go past near there to head to the Red sea."

"So before we worry about the supplies, we have to worry about him." Miyuki finally speaks out. "I've known Waltfeld. This won't be fun."

Ashman turned to her. "That's right, you too were at El Alamein, as an aerial support commander I believe. And the Tiger was a former Sword as well. So, what would you say the biggest difficulties in dealing with him are?"

"Well," Miyuki frowns, thinking. "I wouldn't worry too much about the land battleships, when the Archangel's airborne, she can even go one one-on-one with them if she has to. The Agile helicopters maybe hard to hit with ship weapons, but they aren't much for a Skygrasper. For that matter, they weren't too tough when I was flying with them against Spearheads last year. As for mobile suits... ZuOOTs are powerful, but extremely slow. They won't be much of a threat if we don't stay in one place too long. It's the BuCUEs we need to worry about. And maybe Ginn OCHERs, plus those other two mobiles suits…"

"The mobilesuit piloted by Vincent Schellezar," Jethro takes over. "Is called the CAT1-X Hyperion, it's made by the Eurasians for space combat, it's armed with a pair of CIWS, five RBW Type 7001 "Romteknica" beam knives, two "Forfanterie" beam cannons, a RFW-99 "Zastava Stigmate" beam sub-machine gun and its most unique offensive and defensive weapon, the "Armure Lumiere" mono-phase lightwave shield. That's what I got from Scandinavia's Royal Military Intelligence and our updated database, they had been aware of the unit for some time now. It's independent from the G-project."

Natarle shook her head, "That mobilesuit was made in Eurasia?"

"It's a very good design," Miyuki comments. "And there's that Legionnaire, the pilot definitely isn't run of the mill, he definitely knows what he's doing in that thing. He took off one of the Strike's arms, that's closest anyone's been to actually damaging the Strike."

"Guys," She turns to the UN soldiers. "Anyone came to mind when you saw the video file on it?"

They look among each other with frowns, the others guessed they did and it was someone they prefer not to fight.

"Master Pierce Rayer," Antonio answers with a sigh. Miyuki and the Archangel's officers froze.

"The Beast of Kaohsiung…" Mu murmurs with disbelief, "Oh great… That guy's one of Ant's best pilots and he's also known for BuCUE piloting."

"You're lucky he wasn't in a BuCUE last night," Antonio continues. "Combined with this desert, he can be a major threat."

An uncomfortable silence settled within the room, everyone stared on the map. Their prospects didn't look good.

"Still," Michael cuts in, making the most of the situation. "It'll be days before Waltfeld does on us anything again, he's going to wait for a while, then try again to get the drop one us. Plus, he has to find us first."

"Right…" Murrue muses, "Which still leaves us with the problem of supplies."

Sahib shrugs. "I wouldn't worry about that just yet, Captain. It'll be several days yet at least, before we even get a plan ready for dealing with the enemy. It's not as if we can get everything worked out overnight. We need to time to plan, prepare, and regroup."

"Agreed."

Kira stood on another hill, overlooking the site.

So here we are, he thought. Right in the middle of a resistance fighters' base, in the middle of a desert. Never thought I'd end up in a place like this. Well, it could be worse. At least Bravo's back with us.

Sai walks by, "Excellent job."

Presuming he meant the camo netting, Kira shrugs. "Yeah, sure. I guess."

Then he saw someone was coming up the slope toward him, it was Cagalli, an odd expression on her face. "Huh?"

She stops about a meter away, and looked at the ground. "I apologize for earlier, 'kay?" She says straight, "I didn't actually mean to hit you." Then, realizing how ridiculous that sounded, she revises it, "Well... I suppose I did. But it was spur of the moment, forgive me."

Kira was a little surprised, but then chuckles.

"What are you laughing at?" Cagalli demanded, irritated.

He sat on the ground, smiling a bit. "Well, now think about it."

She also sits down, finally managing to relax herself.

"You've been on my mind since," She then admits. "Worried, I guess… Asking myself, what might have happened to you…" The blond-haired girl looked up at the Strike. "But then you turn up out of nowhere, flying one of those things. And worse yet, you're now with the Earth Forces."

Kira stays silent for a long while.

"A lot of things have happened along the way," he said finally. "And I do mean a lot…"

A little later, inside one of the caves

Michael and Antonio both enter a cave that Sahib used as his private quarters. Antonio had asked for this meeting after the one with the one with Archangel's officer were present ended. He specifically asked for more privacy, so it was just him, Michael and the Desert Dawn leader. Sahib had his guards at the entrance, close enough assist in case something happened but far enough so as not to overhear anything.

"So you're the ones they call the Spartan Eternals," Sahib greets them as they sat with him beside the table. "I have to admit, this is an encounter I never expected to have."

"The feeling's mutual," Antonio replies, with a courteous nod "Mr. …Ashman, I believe?"

Sahib inclines his head. "Kisaka tells me you're here for business not originally concerning the Earth Forces ship, is this true?"

"We're here on unrelated an affair," Antonio explains, "Though we cannot clarify on what it is for the time being, unless we need to."

"Yeah," Michael speaks up. "We were surprised to find the Archangel ourselves."

"I see," The leader of the Desert Dawn narrows his eyes. "Does this business have anything to do with one of your former men working for the Tiger?"

"No," Antonio counters, "It's not. You said it yourself, he's a former subordinate. What he does these days is not any of my business. It's his life."

Sahib grunts. It made sense, his question had merely been a test. "Are those guns I see the only weapons you're carrying?"

Both men look at each other, they both reply without words.

Michael shrugs and places his SIG Sauer P226 on the table, along with several throwing knives and a switch blade. Antonio sets down a USP45CT, he replaced his standard USP9 because it started having some jamming problems. He also puts down the .44 S&W revolver, K-bar and a Japanese kunai throwing dagger.

The resistance leader had the distinct feeling that the weapons on the table weren't the only surprise the two carried. But they passed the test.

"You're fairly known for keeping your word, Legate," Sahib said at last, Antonio raises his eyebrow slightly. He just addressed him in his old Spartan rank, this man was very well informed.

"For now," He continues. "That's good enough, though I'd strongly recommend you two not make any... hasty moves."

"We don't have death wishes, Ashman." Michael replies with a smirk. "You don't have worry about that."

"You have our word," Antonio rests his elbows on the table. "Now, shall we talk?"

The Euro-Pac war hero tells him of their assignment and of their target quarry, and why the Equatorial Union and Scandinavia want him.

"So," Ashman looks ay him. "You're saying you'll require the Desert Dawn's assistance?"

Antonio nods, "Yes, your men's knowledge of Banadiya and the surrounding area would be invaluable enough."

Sahib examines him for a moment, "What would we have in exchange of our cooperation?"

Antonio shrugs, "We can train your men, maybe enough to even convince the Covenant to supply you with newer equipment… And if the opportunity arises, we could help you take out the Tiger."

The resistance leader nods, he was getting a very enticing offer, especially with mention of weapons that can truly hurt the tiger's operations, "I'll need time think about it."

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That night,

As some of the resistance fighters began to turn in, Antonio spots the young man he's seen Cagalli with since he hand seen her earlier in the day.

"You're Ahmed, am I right?" he said, sitting next to him, to the fire, "Cagalli's driver?"

The younger fighter nods. "That's me." Ahmed raised his eyebrows. "You're the guy Sahib and the others call the Spartan of Hell, right?"

"I'm the Spartan of Waves actually. You can call me Antonio." He replies, "Though I was late for the battle, I saw your driving stunts, in the ship's video footage, when you showed up at the Archangel. I suggest you be a little more careful. If Cagalli ever gets hurt, needless to say I'm going to be rather angry."

Ahmed stares at him. "What's with you?"

"I happen to be her legal guardian at the absence of her father," Antonio looks at him in the corner of his eye. "I've seen how you act around her, I know you have your feelings for her. But you shouldn't risk getting her killed just to impress her, you not the only one who cares for her y'know."

He smiles, "I was like that when I was about you age. I tried impressing my future wife, almost killing her in the process. I'm doing you a favor, kid. Quit while you're still ahead, before you really regret it."

The resistance fighter nods, "Then how can I get her attention then?"

"Since you're her driver, you're responsible for protecting her when she's with you in the artillery truck or whatever else you drive. Her life is your hands, not her bodyguard." Antonio lights a cigarette, brushing it briefly into the fire. "Try your best to keep her safe no matter how close you to danger. If you really care for her, protect her with your life."

He then looks at him with a smirk, "It'll take time, but trust me. You WILL get her attention."

Ahmed, though not quite convinced, nods. "I'll try my best. She's important to you too right?"

"She's family to me."

"I see," He young man nods and stands up, "In that case, I should be go check the truck we use. T'see if it's alright. I'll see you later then."

Antonio nods with a smirk. "That's a start, get at it."

He chuckles as he watches Ahmed eagerly run toward the camp's motor pool, he pinches the ember of his cigarette and pockets it.

Jut then, Ens. Natarle Badgiruel walks toward him and sitting opposite to where Ahmed was. "I see you had a little talk with that girl's driver."

"We reached an understanding." He sheepishly replies

"I heard," She raises an eyebrow at him, "Along with giving him lessons to be a Le Saint Claire-style lover."

Antonio bursts out laughing at the remark. "I just gave a nudge to the right direction."

They then kept quiet, both of them looking toward the fire.

After a while, Natarle breaks the silence. "So you're serious about that protecting with your life part?"

"Yeah," He sighs, "I do that to everyone I care for. That's why chose to try and protect the Archangel again last night. I didn't have to do it, y'know."

Natarle nods still looking at the fire, "I know."

She hesitates at first, but she slowly gets even closer to him. Antonio knew what she was doing, he get an arm around her waist and gently pulls her toward him. Natarle blushes as their bodies made contact. She places her hand on the hand holding her, caressing softly. As she did so, she places her head on his shoulder. He takes her cap off so as she rest more easily, placing it on side.

Natarle closes her eyes, breathing in his familiar scent. Antonio places his hand on her head, tenderly stroking her hair, before pressing his own face to it to breathe her in.

It's been quite a while since the last time they had been intimate with each. The two stare toward the fire, mesmerized. They sat nothing for a length of time, until Natarle again breaks the silence.

"Anton…" She whispers, "I have something to say…"

"What is it?" He whispers back.

"I…" Natarle stops, "I…"

No… not now… not when we're like this…

"I love you." That wasn't the message she intended to tell him, that could wait. In a more proper time, now was not it.

Antonio wasn't the least bit curious to why she hesitated, she knew her as one to be shy for things like this.

He was more focused at the one spying them in the shadows. He was sure it was him, he was aware of his feelings to Natarle, though he never had the nerve admit them to her. From what Antonio understood, she was in his eyes since their academy days.

But Antonio knew he wasn't going anything desperate, the man's got discipline and was smarter than that. Antonio even felt sorry for him.

Sort of.

But you had your chance, Antonio thought. She's mine now.

"I love you too."

Up on the starboard deck of the Archangel,

Lt Col. Michael Takahashi was doing a little exercise, practicing his sword kata. He was dressed in a traditional garb, a white gi shirt and a black hakama. He wore this out of habit and in tradition to the first martial art he learned, Kendo. He also practiced its original form, Ken-jitsu, one of many arts the ancient Japanese samurai utilized. He took off his glasses so as they won't fall off as he trained.

Every single man in his family practiced the art to a degree, learning it through the family sword style, "Takahashi Ryu Mugen", Takahashi Dragon Style, a style focused on powerful low to mid stance thrusts and fast slashes.

His father was the current master of the style, which was the reason why he was the head of the Takahashi family, one of the five noble families of Orb, who are known as the military arm of Orb. Much of the family worked in the Defense Force and any ordinance or bill that involves it must have their approval if it had any hope of being passed. On top of that, they had most shares and influence inside Morgenroete.

Michael knew he would succeed his father someday as the master, along with the responsibilities as the head of the family. He felt a little daunted about it, but he also felt proud. He came a long way from a spoiled, rich brat to become who he was now.

He stood in the middle of deck, eyes closed, and his blade in front of him.

With one deep breath, he launches himself into a flurry of slashes and thrusts, letting out a loud kiai with each one. He held his katana with both hands, their grips changed as the blade whistles through the air, tightening at beginning of a swing, loosening at a pause, his wrists also operated in a similar fashion.

His katana had a copper colored sword guard, the hilt was white and wrapped in a black cord. The hamon pattern that decorated the blade, when you looked closely resembled a long oriental dragon especially on the tip of the blade.

Each attack bore a striking resemblance to the Siginarugan's own, which wasn't too surprising to those who know its pilot.

After Michael makes the last move of the routine, he takes another deep breath as he flicks the wrist that held the sword. After an actual battle, this act would throw off any blood that remained in the sword.

He slips the sword back into its sheath blade up, as his other hand's thumb touches the sharp cutting edge as in goes in. As the sword guard meets the mouth of the scabbard, it makes an audible click. Michael then fastens the blade in place with a length of fabric that around the hilt and guard.

He then someone clapping, he turns to the direction of the door leading to the elevator and finds the ship's captain Murrue Ramius.

"That was very good," She comments as she walks toward him. "I've seen Miyuki do something like that but I never seen her do that fast."

Michael smiles, "Thanks, it's because of longer training though. I've been this doing since I was a six, Yuki started when she was fourteen. If we started the same time, she would've probably been better than me."

"So…" Michael walks towards a duffel bag place in one corner of the deck. "I guess you came here to talk of something else other than my swordsmanship."

Murrue nods, "It's about the Desert Tiger…"

"Not surprising," Michael puts on his glasses, "What'cha want to know?"

"Miyuki mentioned that he was… you know… her ex?" She felt very uncomfortable of the subject, "You knew the Tiger, was he that close to her?"

Michael pauses from taking off his gi, "He talked about her a lot, even though he was seeing this other girl. It's safe to say they're pretty close. And in turn, Miyuki talked a lot about him, even when she was married."

He knew where this conversation was going, so he decides to just cut to the chase, Michael looks up at the younger woman straight in the eye.

"But that won't cloud her loyalties, skipper." He continues, "Miyuki will still be at her best defending the AA, don't worry."

"Even go as far as killing him?" She asks him, obvious concern in her voice.

He took the time to think over his next reply, "Yes, she will."

"But I don't think it'll be likely," He continues. "After all, we're talking about the Desert Tiger here, I doubt he'll let himself into danger unless he really needs to, which is very rare."

Michael stands up placing a hand over her shoulder, "And even if she does, she's more than ready for it. In fact, she probably already accepted she may have to kill him in that first battle. She's much stronger than you think, have faith on her, she survived the war so far after all."

"I guess you're right," The Captain nods. "Sorry for bothering you with this…"

"It's no trouble," Michael replies as goes back to what he was doing

"Thank you," She watches him slips his sword and sheath into a black carrying satchel bag made for it. "By the way… I hear some of you guys name your swords. Does yours have one?"

Michael nods, "'Shin-Ryuu', Dark Dragon."

Elsewhere,

Jethro was on the little used aft deck of the Archangel. He had set a Com-Sat unit up there, he was making an unscheduled call to his closest colleagues who were in Banadiya.

"Axton, this Arkham." He calls, "There has been a slight detour to the A2's entry.

"We read you, Arkham. Where are you, now?" a voice calls.

"We're here in the desert with a local resistance group, please inform Portinari that there's been another change to the schedule."

"Copy Arkham, we'll inform her immediately, Axton out."

Jethro shuts off the Com-Sat, he couldn't afford it to online, lest he wants to be traced. He sighs, reflecting to the things he had to go through.

The Bravo team's sudden assignment to Libya was no coincidence, nor was the Archangel's meeting with members of the Junk guild in Junius Seven. Jethro had been an agent for the Covenant since the early 60's CE. He had to risk his cover so that the ship would survive the last few months, it wasn't easy.

The Covenant originally hoped to steal the Archangel in Heliopolis. Unfortunately, ZAFT decide to complicate the matter. But somehow, he was glad they didn't continue with that.

The original plan would have involved taking the ship with whatever necessary force, even if it meant killing the crew. He vehemently opposed when another attempt of this was proposed during the Bravo team's brief stay with the UN 2nd fleet. Maybe it was because he had become attached to the crew, but he found they were surprisingly tolerant to Coordinators than most, most especially the acting captain, Murrue Ramius.

That tolerance was most probably because of a certain young coordinator teen from Heliopolis. Kira Yamato, he was mostly polite, very helpful and had a childlike innocence, it was very hard not to like the lad. Aside from being a coordinator, he seems to be just an average kid, if only it weren't for his amazing performance on the Strike.

Jethro had been around coordinators in mobilesuit combat, even the best of didn't fight as well as he did on his first few sorties. But Kira did just that, and until the reached Earth, the Strike has never suffered significant damage throughout.

This was enough for Jethro to request a background check on Kira, what was found out was surprising. It turns out that Caridad and Haruna Yamato weren't his actual parents, and the identity of his biological parents weren't on file. And judging on how much trouble the analysts went to get that information, Jethro felt Kira was unaware that he wasn't born a Yamato. He had asked for the analysts to keep checking, and to update him when they found anything else.

Jethro stood up, packing up the Com-Sat.

It had been six years since he had resigned from the Atlantic Federation CIA, he spent his last year there an analyst after the top brass deemed him too old for field duty.

He never forgave them for that. Not that Jethro minds paper work, but he resented being desk-bound and being labeled, 'too old'. In fact, he betted that the newer recruits couldn't keep up with him.

Jethro started off in the AF Marine Corps, he was a foot soldier but he could operate a chopper and several aircraft, he also had a grasp of several languages. He got his first chance of espionage with Naval Intelligence, during the first Huffman war. He's been in the intelligence business ever since.

After he had been bounced off the CIA, he moves to the Equatorial Union and quickly found work in the military. And when the UN moved in, they offered him a spot in the UNAAF. Still, he hardly had much chance to be in the field. He met the same frustrations he experienced in the CIA, all because of his age. That was until the Eurasian-Pacific war broke out.

And when that came, all of a sudden, the intelligence groups didn't have enough agents on the field. Especially ones they can send into Eurasia. Jethro happily offered his services and quickly distinguishes himself, when it came to field Intel gathering, he was unmatched in efficiency, no even got close to his accomplishments.

After the war, Antonio had asked him to join up with his new team with the promise that'll let him go in the field, and here he was.

The oldest member of the Bravo team stands up with the case containing the Com-Sat in his hand. He stretches his legs and swings free arm a bit.

He takes a deep breath and heads back inside.

Meanwhile,

Cagalli was restlessly walking through the base's open areas. She wasn't sure exactly where she was going, but it seemed the only thing to do at the time.

Judging from occasional glimpses she'd gotten of Miyuki walking around the base and Daniel playing fetch with Rhiannon, she wasn't the only one with energy to burn this evening. She and Miyuki both pretended not to see each other when crossed each other's path.

Cagalli was nearing the Archangel's hatch when she heard voices from around the rock ahead.

"Just a minute, Flay!" One voice said. "What's up with you lately, anyway?"

The other voice was definitely irritated, "Just back off, Sai. Leave me alone, will you? I've got nothing to say to you right now."

"We need to talk," the first voice persisted. "You've been acting strange ever since-"

"Just shut up!"

At that moment, Flay Allster came around the corner, and came to an abrupt halt at the sight of Cagalli.

The two stared at each for a couple of seconds, and then Flay snorted and moves past.

Sai Argyle didn't even acknowledge her presence; he simply brushes past, intent on getting some answers from who was his fiancé. "Come on, Flay!"

To Flay's relief, Kira exits the Archangel's hatch.

"Kira!" she calls, running to him. "I'm glad you're here!"

Kira, confused to why she seems to be hiding behind him, he glances around. "What's wrong, Flay?"

He got his answer when Sai came into view. Cagalli chose that moment to duck behind a rock.

"There you are," the man with the orange glasses said. "Excuse me, Kira; I need to talk to Flay. It's not your business."

"Yes, it is!" Flay retorted before Kira could reply. "This has everything to do with him!" Her lips curled as she looked Sai. "Haven't you realized yet that Kira and I are together now?"

Sai's eyes widened in shock. "What?"

Miyuki, standing on the hill above, sighs shaking her head. I knew this was going to happen… Watch yourself, Kira; a guy who's just been dumped sometimes isn't in his right mind...

Kira clearly felt uncomfortable, caught in the middle this way. But he had no intention of backing down either, should it come to that. Flay's made her choice, Sai, he thought coldly. Get over it.

It didn't occur to him that he might not be acting rational, either.

Finally, Sai found his voice again. "Well, Flay?" he said harshly, ignoring Kira completely. "Explain this to me, please. You... you..."

"I don't see why I should explain myself to you," she said coldly. "It's over between us, all right? I've got nothing more to say to you about it." She looked at Kira. "Come on, Kira. Let's go."

Still uncomfortable, Kira was only too willing to comply.

"Just forget it, Sai," he advised. "There's... no need to talk about it." He turned away, leading Flay back up the steps to the Archangel's interior.

Sai stares at him incredulously. "No need to...? Come back here, Kira!"

"I'm still tired from the last battle," the Coordinator said without turning. "Just please... leave it be."

Cagalli could see that the older teen was about to attack Kira, and she started to move; though to do what, she wasn't sure. However, a hand closed on her wrist, and Miyuki murmurs, "Don't bother. It'll just get worse if we get involved."

"If you're sure..." she said dubiously.

"I'm sure, besides, Kira can handle himself." Miyuki assures, "Just watch."

"Kira!" Sai shouts.

And the next thing he knew, he'd been spun around, his right arm was pinned behind his back, and he sent three meters away from Kira. He landed in the sand, the wind thoroughly knocked out of him.

"If I took this seriously," Kira told him, tone a mix of disgust and anger, "you'd be a lot worse off. You wouldn't stand a chance against someone like me."

Staring at the pilot in shock, Sai manages a wheeze, "Kira...?"

"It's over, Sai," Kira said, turning away. "And you should know, Flay is the only Natural on this ship that's even tried to understand what I'm going through out there; what goes through my mind in a battle." Fists clenched, he shot an angry glance over his shoulder. "I'm more than just a machine or something, more than just a part of the Strike! You haven't even tried to understand me; it never even occurred to you, did it?" He turned away again. "You don't understand me, Sai. But Flay does... and you don't understand her, either. So do us both a favor, and let it go."

He resumed his walk into the Archangel, followed closely by a startled but pleased Flay. Neither of them paid any more attention to Sai who sat in the sand.

"Ouch…"

Miyuki comments, "That went well."

Cagalli stares at her. "You call that going well?"

She frowns. "Ever heard of sarcasm? Well…At least Kira stood up for himself. But something tells me I'll have to talk with Sai…"

She was interrupted by a sudden alarm, just as a radio she carried in her pocket beeped.

"What the hell's going on?" she mutters, putting the headset to her ear. "This is Kajiura. What's- Huh? …Roger that. I'll be back aboard momentarily. Kajiura out."

"What's going on?" Cagalli demanded as Miyuki put the com device back in her pocket.

"Tassil's under attack," she said calmly. "Seems like Andy Waltfeld decided to make an example of you, but I don't think he actually knows you've joined forces with us. I have to get to my suit."

The former commander of the Swords dashes into the Archangel, brushing past Kira and Flay. Cagalli turns to run for her own weapons.

Controlled chaos filled the resistance fighters' base, as everyone prepared for a fast rush to Tassil. Their home was under attack, and they had every intention of giving Andy Waltfeld and his ZAFT forces something else to worry about.

Kira and Flay, hearing the alarm that had echoed throughout the base, had stepped back outside, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. They could hear voices shouting to each other, one man sounded particularly frustrated, apparently unable to get a radio signal through to Tassil.

We've got to do something, Kira thought. They're under attack; we can't just sit here and do nothing.

He pulls away from Flay's grip, and races to the Archangel as fast as he could. The others, he knew, would already be getting ready for whatever the next battle would bring, and he didn't want to keep them waiting.

"Kira!" Flay calls, surprised by his abrupt departure, and ran to follow him, completely ignoring Sai. He finally gotten back to his feet, but he chooses not to follow.

"I'm pathetic," he whispers. "If I could fly the Strike, none of this would have happened..."

As the Desert Dawn's jeeps and other vehicles were moving out,

Cagalli came rushing out of one of the caves, a rocket launcher over her shoulder. She glances around for transportation of her own.

A jeep screeches to a halt right in front of her. "Need a lift, Cagalli?" Ahmed asks with a smile.

"Thanks, Ahmed." She jumps in, followed closely by her bodyguard, and they were off.

Daniel, Luke and Frank took one jeep and loaded their gear. Their mobilesuits were currently in maintenance, it'll take too much time to put them back online. Frank tosses in three Equatorial AM-20G 40mm. shoulder-carried anti-mobilesuit weapons and several warheads, designed and manufactured by SK Kinetics and Steyr Mannlicher.

Daniel brought aboard his M800A4 Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle, descendent of the M82 Barrett "Light Fifty". It currently manufactured by the Barrett firearms company, originally based in the former United States. After the Reconstruction war, Barrett was losing out to Colt, and Smith and Wesson for arms sales and military contracts within the Atlantic Federation. The company was forced to move to the Equatorial Union. The company was now enjoying a solid contract for the EU along with Steyr Mannlicher, which also moved out of its original country after the Restoration war and SK Kinetics which was based in Singapore.

Rhiannon jumps in to the jeep at the last minute.

Watching the various vehicles depart,

Murrue shook her head. "They certainly are in a hurry."

"Can't blame them," Mu said, scratching his head. "It's their home that's under attack." He glanced at her sidelong. "What do you think? Should we send someone with them?"

She thought about that. "We can't rule out the possibility that this is a diversionary attack," she said slowly. "Their real objective may be the Archangel. But we also can't afford to take the chance. You'd better go with them, Commander."

"Me?" He frowns, "Why me?"

"The Skygraspers are the quickest way to get there, right?" Murrue replies, "I have the feeling the Colonel's going as well."

Mu nods. Whatever they're doing here in Africa, at least they're a helping them out.

"Okay, I'll head there right away."

As he took off running, she shouts after him. "I'll also send the doctor and some supplies!" she calls. "They'll probably need it!"

The pilot waves a hand in her direction, and was gone.

Inside the Archangel's hangar

Michael was already in the Siginarugan and checking over his systems.

Miyuki enters the hangar with Amon, still putting on her ZAFT-style red flight suit. "Chief! Is Phantom ready?"

"Ready as he'll ever be!" The head-mechanic calls, he then grins, "Hope you'll like what we did to it."

She frowns not quite sure what she meant, but doesn't bother to ask.

As she heads to the Phantom, she spots Jethro to her surprise in one of the Skygraspers. Jethro was the only one in the team who had no mobilesuit of his own.

"You're heading out too, Top?" She asks walking toward him.

Jethro only smiles, "I can't stay behind all the time. Besides, with Regina and Wynn in Scandinavia, I'll have to be flying support anyway."

She nods and goes on her way.

"Okay," Antonio began, "Here's what we're going to do. Mike, Miyuki, you two will take point, use MC and get a visual on our hostiles. I'll back you up if you need me. Mills, Rochefort, you guys hang back just in case it is a diversion."

"Yes sir."

Miyuki lowers her visor and keys her radio. "Bridge, this is Kajiura, Phantom is launching for Tassil."

"Understood, Miyuki-sama," Mir replies, "Opening hatch, the Strike is standing by, if you need some back up."

"Copy," She replies. But I think Waltfeld will be long gone by the time we get there.

She knew Tassil's population wasn't Andy's target. She knew him personally, he would have given them a warning and time to evac, then blown the arms caches and burned the place down.

But after that, he'll be gone. No reason for him to stay any longer than that.

Miyuki goes to her usual preflight routine, she checks off her systems one by one. That's when she notices one detail, there was a Striker pack hardpoint layout for the Phantom in her systems.

She quickly pushes her radio, "Murdoch, you didn't…"

"We did Kajiura," the old mechanic laughs. "The Phantom's not only air-worthy now, it's got Striker hardpoints."

The pilot grins, more than happy by the modification, "In that case, get me the vulcan and gunlauncher attachments from the Launcher Strike and the Buster weapons, not that I really need them, I just want to see if it can handle flight with that gear on."

"You got it."

The Siginarugan, Phantom and Mu's Skygrasper fly over the Desert Dawn vehicles as they sped across the desert to Tassil.

"How's it look, Mike?" Mu calls. "See anything yet?"

Michael looked over the burning town. "It doesn't look good," he reports. "I don't see any sign of BuCUEs or Agiles, but the town's burnt to a cinder."

"That's what I thought." Mu comments grimly.

He must have figured we got advance warning, Miyuki thought. That's reason enough to burn Tassil to the ground.

She then wonders how Col. Kisaka must be feeling, this was his hometown, after all.

He's too professional for vengeance seeking, but if other resistance fighters go looking for trouble, he'll follow them.

"Any sign of survivors?" Mu asks, breaking into her thoughts.

"Give me a sec," Michael searches the ground. "Yeah, there's a large group of them on the side of the town. Doesn't look like to many of them are injured. Figures… This is definitely Waltfeld's handiwork."

Miyuki nods, "Sure is…"

But Mu was just confused. "I don't get it…"

"Andrew Waltfeld isn't the type to kill civilians." Michael explains. "He'll go for the military targets -the arms dumps- and maybe burned a place down, but that's to deprive the Desert Dawn of their infrastructure, but he doesn't kill non-combatants if he can avoid it."

"I do hope you're not condoning this," Mu said, eyes narrow. "Because it's kinda like you are."

"Well, these were my tactics back during Euro-Pac." Michael admits, "But all I'm just saying is, that Waltfeld made sure to do it without unnecessary casualties. My personal feelings about the tactics are beside the point."

"He's got a point, Mu," Antonio says as the Chimera catches up to them.

"Yeah, true," the Hawk of Endymion admits. "Now, what do you think? Should we land here?"

"Probably a good idea," Antonio cuts in the conversation. "We can only see so much from up here. And besides, we may need to keep the resistance fighters from going too crazy. Their courage is good, it's their weaponry. They got nothing that'll do much against BuCUEs."

"Yeah."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tassil

The mobilesuits and the Skygrasper set down together just outside what had been a thriving town.

Mu waves a hand in front of his face in disgust. "One thing I hadn't counted on was the smell, forgot how much burning buildings stink."

"Suck it up, Mu." Antonio grins, seemingly unaffected by the smell. He was used to it. "This isn't too bad."

He scowls at him, "Easy for you to say…"

"It's just the buildings burning," Franks says as he, Luke and Daniel join them. "Not too mention some are old explosives. Good thing they're largely secondary types, if the cache near the town actually blew up, we'd have another Port Chicago our hands."

"Be glad there weren't any deaths." Mike adds "By morning, the buzzards'll be out, and that won't be pretty. And the stench will really pick up by then."

"I'll take your word for it." Mu shook his head.

"There might have been no loss of life," Miyuki speaks up, "But I don't think that's going to calm down the guerillas much, if you know what I mean."

Michael nods. "Yeah, I know."

"Hey, Ant." Mu calls, "Don't you think we ought to report the situation to the Archangel?"

He nods quietly, as he observes the men of the Desert Dawn.

"You want to do it, or shall I?" Mu then asks.

He cocks his head, looking at him funnily. "What, you don't want to talk with the skipper? You are the ranking officer of the Archangel on the scene, right? That means you get to deal with this."

"I'm honored," the ace replies dryly. He keys the radio, "Archangel, this is La Flaga, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, Commander," Mir replies, "I'll patch you through to the Captain."

"I'm here, Commander," Murrue said a moment later. "What's the situation over there?"

"The ammo dumps are write-offs," Mu replies. "And so is most of the town, Waltfeld was pretty thorough."

She nods grimly. "That's about I expected. The man didn't earn the nickname 'Desert Tiger' for nothing. What about casualties?"

"As far as I can tell..." He looked back at the refugees; Sahib now appeared to be getting a grip on the situation himself, while nearby, Cagalli was looking quietly furious. "As far as I can tell, everyone's fine …physically anyway."

Murrue blinks. "How is that possible?"

"From what I gather from Kajiura and Mike," Mu answers, "Waltfeld may have given them advance warning. But, I don't think that's going to calm these people much, and to be honest, I don't blame them. They may have survived, but their homes have burnt to a crisp." He sniffs the air in disgust. "Not to mention that it smells like someone decided to burn a load of crap in a barrel."

"I see. Well, keep us informed, and let me know if anything else happens."

"Understood, La Flaga out."

"Something's up,"

Luke said when Mu got off the radio. "Sahib's arguing with some of his boys, looks like the fireworks are 'bout start."

Everyone's eyes narrow.

"We'd better go," Michael waves his hand to the direction. "We can't have these people do something stupid on us now."

They all walked over to the argument, and got there just in time to hear a guerrilla with a bandana covering the lower half of his face snarl something at Sahib. "You can't expect us to just give up and resign ourselves to being the Tiger's lap dogs!"

With that one statement, they all understood what that man and several others intended to do.

"You can't be serious," Michael cuts in quietly. "Going after BuCUEs with your equipment is suicide."

Sahib looks at him and nods, grateful for the backup, but Cagalli rounds on him.

"Don't you think it's worth it if spending our lives gets us closer to freedom?" she demands. "How can you question our courage, after everything-"

"He wasn't questioning your courage," Miyuki interrupts replied, "Only your capabilities. Your weapons do not stand a chance against BuCUEs. I should know, I seen the test simulations for them back in the Plants."

The bandana-wearing man snorts. "We'll see about that, Coordinator."

He used the word like an insult, something which even Cagalli did not approve of, but she never had the chance to say so. They she had problems with her lately, that didn't meant she didn't respect her anymore. That remark also earned him Antonio's angry glare, it usually took a lot of effort to make Antonio angry, and when that happened, that usually meant someone was going to either the hospital, or the morgue.

"You're lucky it'll take more than that to piss me off, pal," She replies calmly, and then shrugs. "Well, if you're that determined to go get yourselves killed, be my guest. Good Luck."

Sahib, watches the woman stalk away, realizing then that involving her might have been a mistake. Sahib himself didn't have any problems with her... but he could tell that wasn't the case with some of his people.

He watches the angry resistance fighter and his companions get in their artillery trucks and drive off, he had to make a decision.

No choice, he thought. Can't let them go off and get themselves killed all alone.

He gestures to his own driver, and climbs in.

Cagalli, who had followed after Miyuki a few paces, stops, "What are you going to do?"

She didn't look at her.

"My job," she said simply. "Whether I follow them or not depends on Captain Ramius' decision. If she thinks the Archangel is in too much at risk, I'll probably be heading straight back. If not... I guess it's my decision."

"And if she does?"

Miyuki glances over her shoulder, smiling a bit "Then, I'll follow them. You don't abandon allies, for any reason, no matter how much of an ass they are."

"I just need time to cool off," She begins walking again. "If you want to catch up with them, you'd better hurry. I'll see you later."

Cagalli nods, and goes.

The ensign was there when Miyuki rejoined the group

Natarle arrived a few minutes earlier in a jeep, and was now shaking her head in bemusement. "I can't believe they're actually doing it. Don't they know what they're up against out there?"

"Oh," Mike replies bluntly. "They know."

The thing is, right now," Amon continues, "They just don't care."

"To be fair, they have reason to be angry. But…" Michael looks back at the burning buildings. "They should've expected something like to happen. War's hell for everyone, they should be thankful Waltfeld wasn't in a foul mood."

"But they'll be slaughtered!" she protests.

"You're right about that," Mu agrees with a slight smile. "So, what'll we do about it?"

"Don't ask me," Natarle replies, uncharacteristically uncertain. "I haven't a clue."

"Mu, report this to the Captain," Antonio began, "Frank, Luke, Daniel, follow them, gives us a ringer if they do something stupid. Mike, you and Mu secure the area, somebody's got give these people security. And Yuki, we'll head back to the Archangel and rearm, have yourself and get Kira ready for combat."

Everyone nods.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Archangel's Bridge

"...so they just packed up and went after the BuCUEs," Mu reports to the ship's captain.

Murrue slowly shakes her head. "Couldn't you have tried to stop them, Commander?"

He snorts. "Sorry, Ma'am, but I ain't suicidal. They were so worked up that if I tried, they'd shoot me. Kajiura already did that and they weren't fazed at all. Heck, they went as far as bad mouthing her. And besides, if they didn't listen to their leader, they're definitely gonna listen to me." The Hawk shrugs. "In any case, we have more pressing problems to deal with here. There's the matter of food, and especially water. We're lucky that there aren't many injured, but still..."

She nods. "Understood. I'll send some more supplies ASAP. In the meantime... we can't just let them get themselves killed out there. I'll send Ens. Yamato and Lt. Kajiura to check up on them."

"Understood, La Flaga out."

As his image disappears from the screen, she looks down to CIC. "Crewman Haw, order the Strike to launch immediately. And ask Col. Le Saint Claire what his intentions are."

"Yes, Ma'am," Mir replies. "Kira, prepare the Strike for immediate launch. Miyuki-sama, prepare Phantom for immediate launch."

"Roger that."

"I copy."

She switches the Bridge link to the Chimera. "Colonel, the Captain wants to know what you intend to do."

"I'll be headin' out," He replies. "I'll hang back, maybe we'll get the drop on the Tiger this time. I'm leaving Mills and Rochefort here, no point leaving the AA defenseless."

"Got it." Mir pauses, "Do you know what you'll be up against out there?"

"According to the townspeople, six BuCUEs, one more than last time," He shrugs. "But that's hardly going to match the fire power we have. I don't think they'll be much trouble for Kira and Miyuki either, since they both have aile packs and the BuCUEs don't have the element of surprise or air support with them, unless BuCUEs can fly … or my ex-Pilus Prior's in one of the BuCUEs."

"Do you think that's likely?"

"Not sure… but knowing him, he might just decide to fight the Strike himself. He enjoys picking fights with aces." Antonio closes his cockpit. "Excuse us, but time's a wastin'. We need to move out."

"Roger that, good luck out there, guys."

"Thanks."

"Here we go again,"

Miyuki remarks, "Ready, Kira?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Kira looks up at his teacher's image. "I just hope we don't have a repeat of that last battle."

"We won't," She said confidently. "We know what we're dealing with this time, and how to deal with it. And besides, we got the big guns with us this time."

"Hey, LT," Murdoch broke in. "You need anything?"

Miyuki shook his head, "Negative, Chief. Pull out the Launcher Strike shoulder weapons, the Buster guns will do fine. Anything else'll just slow me down."

"Okay. Good luck out there."

"Thanks Chief." Miyuki switches frequencies, and tightened her grip on the controls. "This is Lt. Kajiura, Phantom heading out."

Kira watches the black and white brother of the Strike shoot out of the catapult, he follows.

"Kira Yamato here, Strike, heading out!"

Antonio takes Miyuki's spot, his Chimera was armed with the Centurion Striker.

"Le Saint Claire in Chimera, moving out!"

Now the three machines head out for another meeting with the Desert Tiger, Andrew Waltfeld.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the long drive back to Banadiya,

Andrew Waltfeld reclines his seat to relax, with the business of the day done and over with.

But he knew the resistance fighters will get back to fighting strength after a while.

The Desert Dawn is a nuisance, Waltfeld thought, even a threat, however so small.

But they were also undisciplined, and if he'd read them right, that meant they would be having a little action before long.

At least it'll make DaCosta happy…

As if on cue, his protégé sighed.

"Can't we go any faster than this?" he complains, over the noise of the BuCUEs plodding after them.

"Eager to return to base, eh?" Waltfeld said with a knowing smile. "Heat bothering you again? You should be used to it by now."

"It's not that," DaCosta said, mildly irritated. "It's just that- if we keep moving at this speed, those resistance fighters will catch up to us."

The Tiger shrugs and leans back again. "If so, then we're meant to meet, its fate. Besides," he pointed out, "Their artillery trucks are no match for our BuCUEs."

"Which is something they should know," his aide replies. "If the legged ship had joined forces with the resistance fighters, then they'll know about that, which means they may be planning a trap."

Waltfeld shook his head. "Somehow, I don't think so. They won't easily trust people from the Earth Forces, remember, they see them no different to us. And even if they do, I suspect they'll be thinking more with their emotions than their brains right now. No, I don't think they'll try anything more subtle than a frontal assault, and a frontal assault is something we can deal with easily enough."

He smiled slightly. "Besides, when people are in a difficult situation, you often hear them say, 'Better to perish', but do you think they honestly mean it? I don't."

"If you say so," DaCosta said dubiously. "Then I guess-"

In one of the BuCUEs, a pilot looks up as his display beeps at him. "Commander?" he calls. "I have vehicles on radar; six, no, nine vehicles. They're artillery trucks and a jeep, probably belonging to the resistance fighters."

Waltfeld's eyebrows went up. "Maybe those people would rather perish, after all."

Here we go,

Cagalli thought, as the trucks move through sand, straight toward Waltfeld's forces. Time for a little payback.

Ahead of her vehicle, another moves slightly ahead of the pack.

"Go for the jeep!" one guerilla said, raising a rocket launcher to his shoulder. "This time, we're hunting the Tiger!"

He fires, but one of the BuCUEs jumps into the path of the rocket. It explodes harmlessly against the machine's armor.

"You'll have to do better than that," he grins to himself. "Seriously, taking artillery trucks up against mobile suits? You're out of your minds."

But the trucks did have one advantage, they were just about impossible to hit with the armament his BuCUE had. However, they were so fragile that all he really had to do was run them over or step on them. Before he could smash one, Cagalli's vehicle as it makes a sharp curve toward him, Ahmed uses all of his concentration on his driving bearing mind his passenger.

Meanwhile Cagalli and Kisaka fire their rockets, hers hit the tough leg armor, while Kisaka's slams right into an ankle joint, causing the big machine to slew over and hit the sand.

"Yeah!" Cagalli celebrates as she reloads for another. They just proved that their weapons did have an effect on them.

Kirkwood's buddies weren't amused to note this. They decided to show their displeasure, one of them did so by wrenching his machine around on its treads and charging right at a cluster of the resistance fights' vehicles.

"Get out of the way!" Sahib shouts, trying in vain to be heard over the distance and noise. "Those things will go right through-!"

His warning came too late. Before the guerillas could even hope to move out of the BuCUE's path, the huge machine had run right through three trucks as if they weren't even there.

"Take that!" the pilot shouted, pleased at his act of retribution.

"Bastards!" Cagalli hissed. She fired off another rocket, but her shot was hasty. The warhead hits the sand and explodes too close to the truck, and fragments from the explosive ripped into the rear tires, shredding them.

Their targeted saw their predicament, and the pilot smiled. "You're not getting away, Naturals," he said to himself. "Try this!" The BuCUE's paw came up for a killing swipe...

Ahmed grits his teeth to try and force a turn, "No use! Cagalli, Kisaka get off!"

"Jump!" Kisaka pulls Cagalli with him. Ahmed stays behind the wheel so that they get off safely.

To Kirkwood's surprise, he misses as Ahmed somehow got the truck to turn in time and buying himself the opportunity to jump off

"Cagalli," he yells as he shoots his assault rifle to keep the BuCUE's attention on him. "Run!"

"Ahmed!" Cagalli yells as she sees Ahmed run, firing his rifle the same time as the BuCUE chases his.

I guess this is it, Ahmed thought. Sorry Cagalli…

At the same time

"No good,"Daniel mutters as he watches the mobile suit preparing to strike the young fighter. He places his M800 Barrett's bipod on top of the jeep's hood. "I'm taking a shot!"

"Go for it, mate!" Frank encourages, "And make it count!"

"Here we go!" Luke yells as he drives straight at the BuCUE.

Daniel aims through the scope, laying the aiming post of his scope on the BuCUE's head.

The sniper's mind quickly raced through his marksmanship principles, skipping some due to the urgency of the shot.

Good firm grip, watch the post, squeeze the trigger, wait for the recoil.

Recoil sent a jolt down his shoulder. He blinked as the .50 caliber BMG 660 grain armor piercing round flies toward its target, it hits the suit's mono-eye, effectively blinding the BuCUE.

Of course, that still wouldn't have stopped the BuCUE from making a blind swipe at them, but Sahib Ashman fires two RPGs at once, yelling out a battle cry. This distracted the quadruped unit enough from its intended prey. At the same time, Daniel, Frank and Luke pick up the three resistance fighters.

Sahib continued to be a great distraction, until another BuCUE came up behind him.

Luke drives the jeep toward them, passing Ashman by a hair. When they were in front of the BuCUE, Daniel fires another round at one of the joints. This causes the unit flip violently, sailing over their jeep by a few inches, the occupants quickly duck, Frank holds on to his hat and Rhiannon howls. The BuCUE rolls violently when it lands on the sand, parts flew off it.

By now they had caught attention of the other BuCUEs, one tries to chase them.

Big mistake.

"Take the wheel," Luke orders Ahmed as he moves to the back.

He, Frank and Kisaka all don the AM-20G 80mm. anti-mobilesuit weapon systems. They briefly aim, then fire. The payloads leave the tubes, after several meters, each warhead splits into three smaller darts. They fishtail all over the place but they all hit the intended targets. Despite being smaller than the rockets the Desert Dawn uses, they made a clearly larger boom, enough to punch a large hole into the face of the BuCUE along with shattering both the front legs.

At the same time, a green beam caught another BuCUE in the back, blowing off its missile launcher. The shot from nowhere was quickly followed by another, from a different angle completely taking off the head.

Rhiannon barks as the Strike and Phantom flew overhead parallel to each other.

Back up had arrived.

"It's really the Strike?" Cagalli said in surprise, watching with relief as the mobile suit flew above.

"It's about time," Luke mutters, but also relieved. "What took them so long?"

"Who cares," Franks replies. "As long as they're the ones being shot at, I'm fine with them."

DaCosta stares in disbelief as both Strike and Phantom appear on the battlefield,

"The Earth Forces machines... came to rescue them? But why?"

Waltfeld nods to himself, "I guess the legged ship is serious about this alliance of theirs."

"Six BuCUEs against two G-weapons, with two of our machines unfit for action already. This could be a problem." He turns to his protégé, "Are our mercs within range to assist?"

DaCosta checks the small radar map on the dashboard. "Looks that way, Commander. So are Commander Knowles and the Henry Carter."

"Good, signal them. Only beam weapons will do much to Phase-shift. One machine we can take the time to wear down, but not two."

"Nice headshot Kira,"

Miyuki comments as she peppers the ground below with the 350mm. shotgun.

"Thanks," he replies. "Good thing you told me to adjust the targeting for the heat convection. C'mon, let's push them back!"

Kira and Miyuki continue to engage the three BuCUEs. Unlike last time, they both have Aile packs, which gave them atmospheric flight capabilities, a huge advantage against earth-bound BuCUEs. They could jump, but not too high, and didn't stay up too long.

Kira jumped backwards a pace, using his verniers for a little extra push, and punches one BuCUE, knocking it far back. He then goes after another, firing his beam rifle at it.

While Miyuki focuses her attention on one that had a missile launcher. She stows away the Buster weapons and switches to a beamsaber and her katanas, Chaya and Beday. She then charges in, as the BuCUE fires its missiles. She fires her shoulder mounted vulcan and CIWs, intercepting the missile. She then dashes forward and cuts the BuCUE's launcher with the saber. She then thrusts Chaya on its body just behind the head, completely disabling the unit, without killing the pilot.

Meanwhile, Kirkwood's BuCUE finally manages to get itself moving again.

"Finally," Kirkwood said to himself. "Now let's show the Strike a thing or two." He got ready to move... but was shortly interrupted by his commander.

"Kirkwood!" Waltfeld calls. "Get down here, I want to take a crack at that guy myself."

"Yes sir!" Kirkwood replies instantly. He wasn't happy to turn his machine over to someone else, however watching the Desert Tiger work should be interesting.

After taking out a missile swarm with his CIWS,

Kira maneuvers the Strike around the machine that fired it.

Now I've got you. Strike's foot catches the BuCUE in the leg and knocking it off-balance, and the rifle came up. Kira waits for the targeting circles to come together, tightened his finger on the trigger.

A missile barrage caught him in the back, throwing off his aim, "What the–?"

"Okay, hotshot," Waltfeld whispers as he barrels down at the Strike. "Let's see how well you do against me."

He smiles. "It won't be as easy as you think."

Miyuki saw that Kira was about to get ganged up on and was going to assist.

But her scanners catch her eye, three heat sources were incoming. The computer recognizes two of them as a BuCUE Jackal and the Hyperion, the third didn't fit anything one catalogue, but it resembled that of a BuCUE.

"Ton-ton," She punches a button. "I got three new hostiles incoming on my scanners. Two of them are your old buddies from Euro-Pac. The third one's yet another new model. C'mon and back us up."

"Roger," Antonio responds, he was outside of range just incase Waltfeld had something up his sleeve. With Rayer and Schellezar heading to the combat zone, it was time for the Spartan of Waves to show himself to the Tiger. He switches the leg mode into hoverdyne form and moves through the sand with slightly more speed that a BuCUE.

Master and Vincent were both making a steady headway when Knowles' LaGOWE suddenly runs beside them.

"Well, well, well," Rayer comments, looking at the new mobilesuit with interest "What's a new quadruped model doing all the way out here?"

"None of your business merc," Cynthia bluntly replies.

The Beast of Kaohsiung raises his eyebrow. "Oh, is that you Knowles? You're here for Legna, right?"

"If you need to know," she replies, "Yes, direct orders from the top of high command in fact."

"Ooohhh…" Vincent comments, "Legna must've done something real bad."

"The thing is," Master grins. "I think they sent the wrong person for the job."

Knowles' eye narrow, "You're lucky we're in the same side, If we weren't, I would have killed you."

Despite her icy voice, Rayer wasn't impressed.

"Talk's cheap," He sheepishly replies. "Show me what you can do with the enemy."

With that, Rayer rushes forward, Schellezar not far behind.

"Don't break that new model now," Vincent comments with a chuckle.

Knowles' eyes narrow as she watches them speed off, "Ass…"

"New enemy entering firing range,"

Miyuki calls. "C'mon Ton-ton, where are you?"

"I'm on route to intercept," He answers. "Be ready for anything though, Waltfeld's always full of surprises."

"As if I don't know that," Miyuki then punches a key on her radio, setting it to the ZAFT frequency she expected Waltfeld be using. "Is that you fighting the Strike, Andy, or are you watching from the distance somewhere?"

"Now, what gave you that idea, Legna?" Waltfeld asks pleasantly. "You had to have known I'd be fighting, and you know why, too."

"Hmm..." Miyuki frowns, seemingly lost in thought. "You're getting back me for that time I put turpentine in your coffee?"

Her old teammate barks a laugh. "You haven't lost your sense of humor, I see. You know better than that." He pauses. "I want the Strike and that ship."

"That comes as a shock," Miyuki snorts. "Well, sorry Andy. I'm not about to let you have 'em that easily. C'mon Desert Tiger, give me your worst, not just your furballs."

Waltfeld shook his head. "You know, Corsair, it never ceases to amaze me how you can talk so much in the middle of a battle. What is this, psychological warfare?"

"Ever hear of delaying tactics?" Miyuki shoots back.

"Oh?" the ZAFT commander snorts, "For what?"

"You'll find out," Without warning, she targets and fires the gunlauncher and rifle.

Though Waltfeld's reflexes were good enough for him to jump clear, the speed and accuracy of the shot still surprises Andy. Damn... she's sharper than she used to be.

"Good shot," Kira comments as he got to her side. "It came close."

Miyuki snorts. "Close is never enough for me, especially when it comes to fighting the Tiger."

She links the two guns together to form the hyper impulse sniper rifle. "C'mon Kira, don't give them a chance to recover."

"Okay."

Waltfeld and the other BuCUEs now began to circle the two mobilesuits.

"I should've expected a cheap shot like that from you, Corsair," The Tiger murmurs. "I guess you've decided to leave your honor as well when you left the PLANTs."

Miyuki winces at the remark, as well was the tone that delivered it. It was very faint, but sensed a tone of anger in Andy's voice, a tone he used when he was hurt inside.

After a second of apprehension, she shakes head.

Snap out of it, She tells herself, He's good with psychological warfare too remember?

"You were the one who torched that town back there."

"An unpleasant necessity that had to be done," Waltfeld counters. "Anyway, we may have known each other, but don't expect me to go easy on you."

"I never expected that, especially from you, Andrew."

She switches frequencies to link with Kira, "Watch out Kira! That one with the missiles to the right is the Tiger!"

"Right!"

"It's been a while, Al."

Antonio murmurs as he engages with the Hyperion.

"It has, hasn't it?" Vincent replies, "I was hoping to able to get at Legna today, but you're always the better score."

"I'm touched," He replies dryly, watching the Eurasian machine's movements carefully, "That's the Eurasian unit you took in Odessa, right?"

"With all the best bells and whistles in the Eurasian military," Vincent had a slight smile, "Shall we see whose skill has gotten better the last time we fought?"

"Sure, just give me a minute." Antonio pulls out the Mandarangan, deactivating his Phase-shift armor.

"Sir," Verdani speaks up, "Are you sure that is a wise move? Though you two are now equal, he still has the lightwave shield."

"He won't use it. If he can help it, he likes to fight with his own skill. No, turning down phase-shift is just evening the field."
"I see. You two… are rather unusual"

Antonio smirks at the remark, "Welcome to the world of an adrenaline junkie. Namely me."

Vincent pulls out the Durandal, "Have at you!"

His Hyperion leapt forward for a thrust.

But Antonio saw it coming. He sidesteps, and slashes down the Mandarangan in one sleek motion. The blades make contact, sliding against each other, causing a brilliant spark. Another comes when the part.

"According to my estimates," Verdani spoke again, "We may go on all day."

Antonio chuckles, "That's fine with me."

Miyuki and Kira had only just gotten used to fighting BuCUEs.

And now, they had to deal with the Desert Tiger himself.

"Hey Boss," a JC/A1 M2 BuCUE Jackal and the LaGOWE run beside Waltfeld. "You called?"

Correction, they had to deal with the Desert Tiger, Knowles and the Beast of Kaohsiung.

"Knowles, Keep Legna busy," Waltfeld calls. "We'll take care of the Strike."

"With pleasure," the woman replies with an eerie chuckle.

Waltfeld shook his head, "She always gave me the creeps…"

The three BuCUEs and the BuCUE Jackal assume a formation,

With two pelting him with missiles and hi-velocity rounds, while the other two kept jumping into him, using full-contact maneuvers to keep him off-balance and give the others openings for attack. Kira cries out as the quadruped units hit him again, giving Waltfeld and Rayer a chance to pump him with their ordnance.

This isn't good, Kira thought. I gotta to find some way to counter this; if I don't, I'm dead.

Unfortunately, he couldn't ask Miyuki for suggestions as she was busy dealing with someone who's got it out for her.

Knowles fires her railgun at the Phantom whilst charging in at her. Miyuki fires back with the rifle and gunlauncher.

The LaGOWE dodges it with ease, "C'mon, Legna, don't tell me that's the best you can do."

She then charges in another time and activates her canon, all her shots hit their mark. "Or maybe did your skill waned… just like your loyalty to the PLANTs."

Miyuki frowns, "You're the one to talk."

"I've heard what you've been doing, Cynthia. Who are you to question my loyalty?" She links the two weapons together into the sniper rifle and fires.

"Well, this isn't about me now is it?"

Miyuki brushes this off easily, "Nice try, Knowles, nice try."

Waltfeld grins to himself. "You're not gonna get so lucky this time, hotshot. Even if you only use kinetic attacks, the Phase-shift still uses power to guard against each hit. And after seventy-six good hits, the PSA is going down... along with power to the beam rifle." He had taken his time to study the captured G-weapon data, after the last battle. Rayer was also aware of this weakness and also uses his CIWS units to wear down the Strike.

Kira hit his verniers, stopping his fall before he could hit the sand, he manages to move one side before a missile hits the Strike in the face.

"So, you weird and wonderful pilot," Waltfeld calls, firing another salvo of warheads, "How are you gonna get out of this one?"

Just a little more… Master thought as he watches the Strike. The pressure should be building in the kid's head, something interesting should happen right about...

Behind Kira's eyes, an amethyst seed shatters.

Strike very unexpectedly stops all forward movement, going into full reverse, bringing it's Igelstellungs into perfect alignment with the oncoming swarm.

Rayer smiles thinly, What I tell ya?

Waltfeld curses as the missiles blew up uselessly. "He's good. All right, break and attack! If he doesn't get the chance to concentrate on any one of us..."

But Kira had other ideas, he decides to take a bit out of Rayer's playbook. Eyes clear and calm, he drops the Strike to mere meters above the sand, using the backwash from his thrusters to create a shroud of sand, which completely covers the Strike from view for a seconds. Waltfeld jumps out of the way, by the time his pilots knew what was going on, it was too late.

Unlike what Kira expected, the beam shot cuts under the storm, hitting the belly of a BuCUE. It blew the machine in half.

Waltfeld curses again, "Now you've gone too far, hotshot!"

Together, he and his last regular subordinate charge the Strike, firing missiles and preparing for ramming attacks.

Seeing this, Kira throws away his shield and pulls out his beam saber, and slices into Waltfeld's BuCUE, cutting the foreleg, a wing, and half his missile pod with one smooth motion. With amazing timing, he lets go of his beamrifle and catches the BuCUE's leg. He launches it toward the encounter between the Phantom and the LaGOWE.

The BuCUE flies directly between Knowles and Kajiura just as the LaGOWE was making another attack, because of that, instead of the head-mounted saber cutting into Phantom's armor, it cut off a good chunk of the BuCUE.

A little surprised by the flying quadruped, Miyuki quickly recovers and reels back with his thrusters. She wastes no time forming and firing the hyper impulse sniper rifle. The beam catches the four-legged machine on the back, detonating the missilepods and blowing the whole thing up.

While Knowles was caught off guard by the explosion, Miyuki pulls out Chaya, and charges along with cutting right through the left legs of the LaGOWE's feet, forcing to only its treads for movement.

Knowles grits her teeth, knowing too well she was beaten.

"Another time, traitor! Commander Waltfeld, we better get out of here ASAP!"

"Agreed," the Tiger replies, "All units, return to base immediately."

"That was fun," Andrew Waltfeld murmurs to himself, "Been awhile since I faced such a... challenging opponent."

He then smiles. "We'll meet again, Strike pilot. Count on it."

But if he could, he wanted to meet the pilot face-to-face before their next confrontation on the battlefield. It would be... interesting.

Unfortunately,

Some of the tiger's men had hearing problems, namely Pierce and Vincent. The Chimera and Hyperion were still locking weapons, dancing through the sand as they overboost, fighting purely with their skill.

"I see that you're more skilled with the Karasu's length now," Antonio comments, deflecting the nodachi with his guan-dao.

"Your technique with the guan-dao has also improved," Vincent replies. "Knowing you, you must have that weapon set to the scale weight of the Green Dragon Crescent."

"I have," Antonio replies.

The Green Dragon Crescent Blade was a legendary weapon wielded by the Shu-Han general Guan Yu in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It is also sometimes referred to the Frost Blade, from the idea that during a battle in the snow, the blade continuously had blood on it, the blood froze and made a layer of frost on the blade. Records say that it was estimated to be at 82 catties or 18.04 kilograms, the Mandarangan was about 28 tons, that's four times the weight of a ginn's heavy sword, a ginn cannot carry it without modifications.

"It's training for me," he continues, "So that my mind can get used to the speed I can use it."

Antonio lets the Chimera's hand slip to the end of the Mandarangan, he then swing the weapon on its full length. Vincent boosts back, as the blade swung, he repositions himself for a thrust. When he launches at Antonio, the Chimera makes a spin move, avoiding the thrust by a hair. The two swung around at the same time, making their weapons meet each other again with a resounding impact

Meanwhile, Rayer was being very adventurous and decides to go up against both the Strike and Phantom.

"Now that the boss is gone…"

Pierce grins, he activates his AI-SEED, his right eye's pupil and iris turn into a slit and the rest of it turns blood red. "I can really play."

He fires his railgun at the Strike's beamsaber, hitting just right to jarred loose of the hand. Kira, still SEED mode, snatches the beamrifle from and fires back. Rayer simply counters by lowering his machine, he then runs off, the Strike follows it parallel.

"Stop this already!" Kira fires a shot to make Master dodged it, while he was in midair, Kira lunges at him with his saber.

To his surprise the side beam sabers of the Jackal blocks his own saber. "Sorry kid, but I'm not that easy."

Kira's eyes widen as the Jackal activates all its beamsabers, then making a 360 degree spin that catches the right of the Strike, obliterating the right arm and the wings of the aile pack on that side. He then goes behind the Strike and detracts the Armor Jaeger blade and stabs it on the back of the Strike, destroying its Aile pack.

"Kira!" Miyuki fires the hyper impulse sniper rifle. The BuCUE Jackal jumps out of the way and fires the railgun, hitting the Phantom's cockpit area. The round doesn't penetrate thanks to Phase-shift but Miyuki grits her teeth at the impact.

In response, she fires the rocket anchor catching the railgun with the intention of ripping it out too. Unfortunate, when she gives it the pull, the gun stays in place and all she did was tug Rayer a few feet.

Master grins as Phantom was about to pull again, "If you want it that bad…"

He disconnects the railgun from his unit just as meet makes another forceful pull. The weapon flies toward her, with barely enough time to think, she shoots at the gun, blowing it up.

Rayer smiles widely, "Gotcha."

He makes his BuCUE Jackal with a burst of speed and jumps, he dives through the flames of the explosion and lands on the Phantom, knocking the buster weapon off its hand.

"Ahh!" Miyuki screams at the impact as she lands on her back, she tries to pull out a saber but Rayer wasn't going to have any of that and cuts both her arms.

The eyes of the Phantom and the monoeye of the Jackal were mere feet from each other. In her cockpit, Miyuki was breathing fast, thinking this was the end.

"So… this is ZAFT's bane and Death's favorite daughter…" Rayer says to both Kira's and Miyuki's radios. "That was quite a display, though I can tell you two still need a little more getting used to gravity. But not too bad."

Rayer jumps off the Phantom and begins walking off, "I'll be looking forward for the next time, make sure you two improve even more, most especially you, Miyuki-sama."

Miyuki's eyes widen, "How did you…?"

"Andy told me about it, apparently he trusts me enough to know that info. The only other people in the outfit who know are Vincent, DaCosta and Ms. Aisha. And don't worry, this is a secure line. Tell Kira that I have my eye on him and his machine."

Miyuki frowns, "And how do you know Kira?"

"I can read lips from the distance. I haven't told Waltfeld yet though… Well, I'll be seeing ya."

"Wait!" Miyuki calls, "Pierce, how's… how's Andy and Aisha?"

"… They're fine. A little anxious over you though, but don't get me wrong, they're still more than willing to take you down."

She smiles sadly, "I see… thank you."

With that, Rayer finally broke off, leaving the Strike and Phantom badly damaged. Vincent too breaks off after getting a call from Pierce. The Chimera stood by, letting them go.

"Aren't you going to go after them?" Kira asks

Antonio shook his head. "No, let them go. This battle is over." He shrugged. "I may be able to fight either Vince or Pierce, but both of them at the same time, that's too much for even me."

He glances at the Strike, the Phantom, then at the resistance fighters who watched the battle. "Besides, right now, we need to count our losses."

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Antonio, Kira and Miyuki exited their respective mobilesuits and join the assembled Desert Dawn members.

As Kira got off his, he took his time about it, considering the events that had just occurred, and became increasingly disgusted as he did so.

They were nearly wiped out today, he thought, and for what? If we hadn't turned up, they would be dead. What's the use in fighting if you just throw away your lives like that?

He actually had no idea if Miyuki or the Colonel would agree with him or not, but after seeing Cagalli run up toward them and how the two were talking with her easily. That indicated to him that perhaps the cousins' views maybe different than he thought.

But that didn't stop Kira from speaking his mind.

"Are you looking to get yourselves killed?" Kira asks sharply. "Here, of all places?"

Cagalli glares at him.

"You must have a death wish or something," he goes on. "Are you actually trying to throw away your lives for no reason?"

"That's it!" she snarls, running up to him. "You have no idea what you're talking about! We all fought desperately; we're still fighting desperately, all so that we can protect-!"

Kira slaps her.

Daniel, Luke, Frank, Sahib and Kisaka looked slightly stunned, Ahmed gives an outraged glare at the pilot, while Miyuki and Antonio simply observed.

He has a point, Cagalli, Antonio thought. You may have survived... but it wasn't smart to do this in the first place.

Sorry Cagalli, Miyuki murmurs mentally, but he's right.

"Just what can you hope to protect when you've got nothing but feelings for weapons?" Kira demanded harshly. "Well?"

No one answered.

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A/N: Hey all, sorry this took long, I was busy at work. I've been also doing a little reworking with some the previous chapters, editing them into the new format, and fixing spelling and grammar errors.

In the next chapter, we'll be taking a break from Africa and the Seed canon. Visch and the other Swords up in the Plants are about to make their first action against ZAFT, along with this is the story that was supposed to for Fog of war (I couldn't really get it to work as a stand alone story), this'll involve most of everyone I haven't been using much in the recent chapters, the Wing pilots, the Shroud, D.N. the Black Astray pilot, and my Junk Guilders, Jamie and Adam. Plus I'll be introducing some more OCs, not to mention another GAT-X Zero model.

The next update shouldn't take too long, thanks and Please R&R!