Operation Winged Seed

by Aldaeus

AC 195 Operation Meteor has begun, Dr. J decides Heero could use a little help with the mission so he "borrows" a certain ship, and five pilots...

21. Chapter 21

Here's the disclaimer: I do not own any part of Gundam wing, Seed, or any part of the Mobile Suit Gundam Franchise.

Hay guys sorry I'm late like hell well I have good reason and here's the explanation and what is going down – I've started my new term and my class load is heavy so I'm sorry to say this but the posting schedule is being thrown out the window, I'm now going to go with a will post when chapter is done so I can keep up with my course load…

To give you an idea of how much is left there will be 25 chapters and an epilogue for a total of twenty six chapters – yes there will be a sequel to this fic it is already planned out in it's entirety

All of the chapters after this one will contain combat and will take time to write (This one alone contained two battles.)

"Hay Ald you finish writing yet?" Wufei asked as he walked over

Ya just got done why?

"We have a revision to our contract we want more physical combat less of this cutting off arms and shooting off heads garbage…" Wufei said as the other pilots walked over.

Alright I'll see what I can do but don't come crying to me if your machine get's mangled by one of the Gundam's ZAFT or the Alliance bring in…

"Only weaklings get taken out." Wufei said as he turned and walked towards the couch

xxxxxx

Ch 21

The senior officers onboard the Archangel waited as the pilots left the room as the door closed Sally stood "So what did you want to talk about Lieutenant Noin?"

"Captain Ramius, I've been wondering ever since we launched what your feelings towards fighting against your former side." Zechs asked

Mu blinked "What's that supposed to…" he stopped as Murrue held up a hand

Murrue sighed "It will be difficult, but we have no reason to fire upon them unless they fire upon us… we are trying to prevent the supply lines from being cut and to stop ZAFT from becoming exactly like the Earth Alliance."

"That's not what we mean, you have to have friends still in the Atlantic Federation perhaps even family members, if they fire at you can you shoot back? Or rather will you?" Zechs asked as he looked from Murrue to Natarle then at Mu.

Murrue sighed "I have very few friends in the federation none close enough, the only reason for my enlistment in the first place…" Murrue pulled out a coffin shaped locket "Passed away right before my commission on the Archangel."

Mu blinked "So he was a mobile armor pilot… As for me all my comrades and friends in the service died at the Endymion crater I'm the last of my unit, I was an only child and both parents are dead, I have no ties with the federation further than this ship."

Noin looked at Natarle "Natarle… you come from a military family surely…"

Natarle shook her head "The only ones in the federation anymore are sitting behind desks in Washington. The rest have already died or have…"

Noin nodded "I apologize we should be focusing on the battle not on…"

"Not at all Lieutenant, your concerns are valid if we were to choke in a situation it could result in a catastrophe." Murrue said as she got up "Besides the ones that we do have left are living in the federation, if we let ZAFT through to capture or destroy the mass driver then thousands will starve."

Xxx

Heero sat at a computer observing the layout of the base "If we deploy around the mass driver we shouldn't have any problems defending it."

Athrun nodded "The only thing we have to hope is that the Atlantic Federation won't shoot us in the back while we defend it…"

"A great tactician once said 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.' They won't shoot at us so long as we're shooting at ZAFT." Wufei from his bunk reading a book.

Nicol nodded "True but having a ship that went missing a year ago show up out of the blue from the sea they could mistake us as being captured and still shoot."

Trowa got up "I'm going to go get some lunch anyone else?"

"Sounds good, no sense fighting on an empty stomach right…" Quatre said as he got up "Hay Nicol come with us."

Nicol got up "let's go guys…"

Xxx

A few hours later the pilots were changing "So Nicol… any reason why you sat there with your spoon in front of your mouth for half a minute looking at Catherine?" Trowa asked making Nicol turn a shade of red

Dearka fell over laughing "Oh man I thought I was the only one who noticed. So Nicol what…"

Nicol threw a helmet at Dearka "Can it Dearka… So what if she looks good in a uniform?"

Kira shut his locker "Ya but the rest of us didn't have our mouths ajar for half a minute."

Yzak and the others were laughing pretty hard at this point when Nicol spun and glared "So what, I like Catherine deal with it!"

Everyone in the room froze and blinked as Trowa turned and looked at Nicol "Nicol…"

Nicol covered his mouth and blinked "Trowa don't kill me please!"

Trowa walked over and clapped a hand onto Nicol's shoulder "So long as Catherine doesn't tell me you made her cry I wont have to use you as a punching bag… we already have enough of those with Duo…"

Everyone started laughing again as Duo groaned "I can't help it if I can't take a punch…" "Alright guys… knock it off we have a battle to think about." Mu said as he closed his locker "Now move it Zechs was already changed and headed towards the hangar half way through your conversation…"

Xxx

The pilots launched and broke off away from the coast "Alright teams are as follows, La Flaga team, Kira, Quatre, Nicol, Dearka. Noin Team, Yzak, Duo, Shiho, Hilde. Marquise team, Athrun, Wufei, Heero, Trowa all commanders will take you to the designated defense points." Natarle said as the units formed up with their commanders "The Archangel shall form the center of the defensive line."

"Rodger that, La Flaga heading to northern part of the base." Mu flew off north with his team.

"Understood, Noin heading to southern portion to take up defensive positions." Noin's team followed her to the south "I hope that we aren't this bases only defense otherwise we might have bit off more than we could chew…"

"Marquise taking up aerial defense against orbital drop." Zechs and his unit flew above the Archangel.

Xxx

Rau smirked as he walked onto the bridge of the Vesalius "Fredrick, how long until we commence?"

"As soon as the Chairman is finished with his speech." Fredrick Ades the captain of the Vesalius said as Rau stopped at the map table.

"Good, as soon as the drop is underway we'll commence the repositioning for the second drop over Alaska." Rau said with a smirk

"Alaska sir?" Fredrick asked a little shocked.

"Operation Spit Break has two targets, the last mass driver of the Federation and the main headquarters of their military and their last stronghold in the north American continent Josh A that drop begins two days after Panama so their fleets are drawn away." Rau said as Hartman entered

"The Regenerate has been loaded, it's one nasty machine… and fit's my style perfectly." Hartman said with a smirk

"Good, the chairman took my recommendation; you'll do well with that machine it was based off of the Aegis." Rau said as he looked to the other commander on the bridge.

"The Testament will be joining the Panama invasion, enjoy the freezing north Rau." Leons Graves said as he pushed off and headed towards the door.

Rau smirked "I will Leons…"

Hartman watched him leave before he turned back to Rau "You still don't like him do you commander?"

"It's very hard to learn to like a one eyed snake." Rau said as he turned back to the map table

"One eyed snake? But Leons isn't missing an eye." Hartman thought

Xxx

Leons climbed into the Testament "I could see it Rau, you were hiding it but you can only fool one of my eyes." The cockpit went black as the hatch closed and Leons opened his right eye as it emitted a greenish glow "This snake will bring a fitting end to the Federation."

The Testament was lowered into a drop pod and he smirked as the hatch closed he opened a line with his forces "Today marks the death blow to the federation and the completion of Operation Uroboros, give no mercy if they show any sign of weakness take it, if they retreat shoot them we're here to finish them, FOR ZAFT!"

The troops all cheered "FOR ZAFT!" the drop pods were away.

Xxx

"Commander, reading one battleship closing on the base from the northwest!" the radar operator at the panama base said.

"What! Identify it's class immediately." The commander yelled "All forces scramble for possible hostile ship."

"Impossible…" the radar operator said as he typed like mad.

"What!" The commander jumped over a bank of computers and looked at the screen.

"Reading one Archangel Class assault carrier, its transmitting friendly signal shall I attempt to contact them?" The operator asked

The commander blinked "But the Archangel disappeared over a year ago." He thought for a moment "Try to make contact if they don't respond within three minutes we open fire."

Xxx

Miriallia blinked "Captain, Panama is trying to contact us asking our intentions!"

Murrue looked up at her and stared for a second. Then she looked back at the coast "Make contact broadcast it open on all channels so the pilots hear it as well. Tell them we are the ESUN Preventers carrier Archangel."

Miriallia nodded "Attention Panama, this is the ESUN Preventers carrier Archangel."

Xxx

"It's the Archangel but they said something about Prevent before it… Commander?" The comm. officer looked up at him

"Make video contact with the ship and ask to speak with the captain." The commander said as he straightened up. "if it is then the captain should be Murrue Ramius at least that's what the report last said from Admiral Halliburton"

Xxx

Miriallia blinked "Captain they wish to talk with you visually."

Murrue nodded "Patch them through."

Miriallia nodded and the line was open Murrue stood "I am Captain Murrue Ramius of the ESUN Preventers ship Archangel, we're currently heading towards your base because of information we've found on a attack ZAFT has been planning known as Operation Spit Break, the intelligence we have says they are targeting the Mass Driver."

Xxx

The commander blinked "It is her… I wouldn't believe it If I hadn't seen it." "Captain Ramius, we don't know of the force your with the Archangel we know is of the Atlantic Federation Eighth lunar fleet."

Xxx

"There's a long story behind that, and some would call us crazy if we didn't have the evidence to back it up." Murrue said as she looked at the commander.

Xxx

"Granted, send your forces in you were once a federation warship and Admiral Halberton's last report praised your ship for it's performance we are getting readings of incoming ZAFT forces." The commander said "Your help is welcome, expect the bases forces to back yours but with just the strike we don't know how helpful that will be…"

Xxx

Murrue blinked "Oh you're in for one hell of a surprise…" she smiled "We'll patch our forces through to the bases command center, as a result of our disappearance we gained some forces…"

Xxx

The commander gaped as twelve machines showed up on radar as the codes were fed into the machine "The Duel, Blitz, Buster, Strike and eight unknown models just what exactly have they been through?" he blinked as a line opened with the command center.

"This is Colonel Zechs Marquise commander of the first unit we have visual on incoming mobile suit's" Zechs said as the pods started to open and suits started their decent.

"Understood, level one combat alert all personnel battle stations get the daggers out there to back them up!" The commander roared and the command center burst into activity.

Xxx

Noin smiled as she watched the base scrambling to their defenses "Good thing we alerted them, or they would have been caught with their pants down and from the reports this base was like Lake Victoria a training base…"

"Lieutenant Noin we have contact from the sea, damn those suits are strange looking…" Duo said as he activated the beam scythe

"They're not strange, they're the amphibious models ZAFT developed, known as GOOhN, and ZnO, armed with torpedoes or in this case probably missiles." Yzak said as he took aim with his beam rifle "Just stay out of the ZnO's range it's primarily a close quarter's suit and fights along the lines of Wufei's machine."

Hilde nodded "Alright on your signal Lieutenant."

Xxx

Mu watched a DINN flying towards his position "We've made contact, let them shoot first if they see the bases defenses are raised we can hope they have some sense and wont run…"

"Too later commander, incoming!" Dearka yelled as the DINN opened fire on the Buster "I'm not going to let you." He aimed the anti armor shotgun at the DINN and fired the shot obliterating the lower half of the unit sending it down in flames.

Kira watched as the targets ticked off on the computer and he fired "This is going to be a long day I think…" he groaned.

Nicol fired the rocket anchor through a flyer a GINN was standing on "Well, we can hope they'll… Damn it!" he yelled as the GINN jumped off and let the Blitz get pulled away by the flyer

Quatre fired on the GINN the beams tearing through the torso like a hot knife through butter "They may be weak but there's a lot of them, so we'd better not under estimate them…" he caught up with Nicol and fired on the flyer releasing the anchor.

Xxx

Leons smirked as his pod opened "Alright you two keep up we're going after the so called Lightning Count." The Testament's phase shift armor activated as it changed into a blood red color with white lines running down the front of the legs and across the shoulders "Time to see what kind of damage this thing can do." He flexed the large melee system attached to the right arm of the Testament.

"Commander we've spotted a force of four machines shooting down our GINN's as they descend, amongst them is the machine that fought Commander Le Cruset." Rudolf Wittgenstein said "The other machines include the Justice and two unknowns."

Leons smirked "Alright you two take the other three I'll take Zechs. If they prove more of a hassle call in pods three through eight."

Rudolf blinked "That many sir? That's over twenty four suits including the prototype model Dreadnaughts that developed the Dragoon system."

"Don't underestimate them, the Justice alone could handle ten of them with no problems, that suit Zechs is piloting is a handful in and of itself don't underestimate the other two just because they look to be under armed." Leons said as he hit his thrusters and rocketed towards the four machines.

Rudolf nodded "Yes sir, Alec let's go we can't disappoint our new commander."

"Rodger that, just don't screw up like you always do Rudolf." Alec Ladd said as he activated his CGUE custom two snakelike beam cannons raised over the shoulders "Time for my Kerberos to show what it can do."

Xxx

Wufei looked as his sensors lit up "About time… Zechs the party's starting."

Zechs glared "You have authorization to use full force, don't hold back they're charging with intent to kill everyone on the base." He said as he intercepted the orders in the Epyon "And apparently I have a challenger…"

Heero "If he's as pathetic as Le Cruset was then they have no hope."

Athrun's eyes widened as he saw the machine approaching "That mark, It's Leons Graves, Zechs be careful if he's their commander then we cant let them take base they'll slaughter everyone!"

Trowa looked at the machine "What's the story with this guy?"

"He's a natural, but his son was a Coordinator and killed by Blue Cosmos as such he became part of the radical faction, he's ruthless underhanded and will do anything to win he sees war as a business." Athrun said "The other commanders called him the viper because of his underhanded tactics." He aimed at the golden CGUE.

"Thanks for the heads up Athrun…" Zechs said as he looked at the machine as it kicked its thrusters into afterburner and charged him

"Zechs Marquise, I challenge you!" Leons roared as he raised the right arm and swung at the Epyon.

Zechs Drew the beam saber and brought it up from beneath to try to cut the arm off. "This will be your final battle Viper."

Leons laughed as he flew past the Epyon and spun "So you've heard of me, I'll attribute that to the pilot of the Justice Athrun Zala." He fired his beam rifle and hit the flight pack of the justice in the back damaging the thrusters.

"Damn it! Losing altitude, thruster output down to sixty percent." Athrun said as he tried to keep the suit flying.

Zechs glared at the Testament "Cowards strike from behind an opponent, unfortunately for you I left my code of chivalry back in the A.C." he wrapped the Whip around the leg of the Testament and pulled hard spinning the suit before closing "Now WUFEI!"

Wufei smirked as the Altron's arms launched after the spinning suit only to watch a White and blue CGUE fly in the way "What the!"

"Now now we can't be interrupting our commanders Duel…" Alec said as the Kerberos opened fire on the Altron

Heero glared as more suits started closing "Zechs does that order still stand?"

Zechs clashed with Leons "Yes, deal with them!" he roared as he rammed the shoulder of the Epyon into the Testament

"What can…" Leons Started but stopped when he watched the Wing Zero and Heavyarms take aim at the approaching suits.

"Leons time for you to understand our orders, those who have laid eyes on a Gundam shall not live to tell about it!" Trowa said with a cold monotone as the Heavyarms shoulders and chest opened revealing its entire arsenal.

Heero smirked "Zero's telling me that this is going to be a bloody day for ZAFT." He aimed at the nearest group of suits.

Leons watched as the Heavyarms opened up and obliterated fifteen suits in a hail of bullets and missiles.

Rudolf watched in horror as the Zero's rifle split and two beams equal to that of a battleships vaporized the suits that remained "Leons was right but we might have bit off more than we could chew with these guys…"

Alec glared "Damn you to hell you dirty naturals!" he opened fire on the Altron again and watched as it rolled out of the way.

"Says the pilots who fight with underhanded tactics, you're facing veteran pilots of Operation Meteor you're jokes to us!" Wufei yelled as he drew the twin headed beam trident and roared into close combat slicing one of the heads off of the beam arms on the back of the Kerberos

"SHIT RUDOLF, A LITTLE HELP!" Alec yelled as he dodged the attacks one after another as Wufei advanced on him.

"Got my hands full!" Rudolf yelled back as the Wing Zero closed on him and drew its beam saber.

Heero rolled over the golden CGUE before driving the shield into its back and activating the pile driver spike on the bottom of the shield breaking the thrusters on the golden CGUE "Enjoy the flight to the ground." He kicked the suit and launched off of it.

Leons grit his teeth "This isn't finished… NOT BY A LONG SHOT!" the claw of the Testament spread and gouged into the armor of the Epyon's torso "Now you're mine!"

Zechs eyes widened as the suit's alarms blared and his thrusters went offline "This thing's main weapon is…" The search eye confirmed it a second later "It's fitting for a viper to poison its opponent too bad it picked the wrong suit to do it to…" Zechs smirked as the ZERO system back hacked the virus.

Xxx

Duo glared as he cut the arms off of another GOOhN "Just how many of these things arms do I have to cut off before they give up?"

"Does it matter just keep cutting their limbs… huh?" Duo looked skyward as a series of explosions eliminated the sky followed by two large beams.

Noin blinked as she saw the Justice descending "We have to mop it up here Zechs's team is getting hit hard."

"Yzak!" Athrun's voice broke in over the chatter.

"Athrun what is it? Why are you flying down to us?" Yzak asked

"Thrusters damaged, it's Leons Graves he's fighting Zechs!" Athrun yelled.

Shiho fired and started to kill opponents "We can't let them through no matter what, if they're under his orders."

Athrun roared in and opened fire "If they take the base no one will live!"

A ZnO took a swipe at the Deathscythe's torso "Damn these things! It's time for me to show you why I'm known as the God of Death!" Duo yelled as he drove the beam scythe through the middle of the machine cutting it in half length wise causing the machine to erupt in a huge explosion as the machine went up.

Hilde blinked before leveling the Taurus's beam cannon at a GOOhN "Why do we always get stuck fighting the psychopath's!" She fired and the beam cannon cut through the suit and the one right behind it sending both flying off the rocky coast into the ocean before blowing up.

Noin sighed "Yzak go reinforce Zechs, Athrun will back us up."

"What, you can't be serious the Duel sucks in air combat!" Yzak yelled as he fired the Shiva rail gun into a ZnO at near point blank range sending the slug tearing through the suit before cutting it in half with a beam saber and moving to the next.

A voice crackled over the channel "All of you can go aid your other unit we'll hold the line here, this is Lieutenant Rena Imelia of the Panama Base, Dagger squadron fan out and start pushing these machines back into the ocean!"

Hilde turned to see a series of machines running towards their position a green orange and tan machine in the lead that looked like the Buster followed by a series of machines that looked like the Strike.

Athrun blinked "Thanks but I'm grounded so I'll support you, Ensign Athrun Zala ESUN forces." The Justice activated it's twin headed beam saber and charged the enemy machines"

Rena blinked "Wait Zala isn't…"

"Long story but that's not what matters now!" Athrun yelled as he rolled around a ZnO and ran the GOOhN through behind it before bringing the blade up through the ZnO

Rena looked at the Deep arms "YOU! What are…"

"I'm not about to fire a gun at my fiancée." Shiho said as she fired through a Ginn that had landed nearby

Yzak smirked "So those are the mass production models of our machines… not bad… huh where's Duo?"

Noin looked around and then looked to her radar "He's already half way to Zechs let's move Athrun hold the line until we get back."

"Rodger that!" Athrun yelled as he rammed a ZnO

Xxx

Kira blinked as a series of explosions ripped through the sky above their position "Trowa and Heero have opened up what's going on?"

"Doesn't matter keep your head in the game Kira!" Dearka yelled as he fired again "What the hell!" Dearka blinked as a golden CGUE plunged down through the cloud layer before righting itself not slowing.

Rudolf glared "The Freedom, time to have a little payback for what your friend did to my CGUE!" he activated the thrusters but got no response from the backpack "looks like I'm going to have to ram you then!" He pushed the remaining thrusters on the skirt armor and legs to their max and charged.

Nicol rolled and fired the lancer darts through a DINN as the golden CGUE flew past "Kira watch it that CGUE is headed for you!"

Kira looked just in time to get hit by the CGUE "Damn what's this guy's problem!" Kira yelled as he righted himself.

"Pilot of the Freedom, your friend did a number to my machine I'm going to have to take it out on you for it, I'm Rudolf Wittgenstein now face the wrath of my golden CGUE!" he drew the heavy sword and leveled it at the Freedom. "Time to… What the!"

Nicol smirked as he pulled the CGUE off its feet with the rocket anchor secured around it's leg "I'm not letting you hurt my friends, challenge one of us you challenge all of the ESUN Preventers." He activated the beam saber of the Trikeros shield system and charged.

Rudolf glared as he pushed himself up "Nicol Amalfi, pilot of the Blitz you should have just stayed at your piano and played instead of coming to the battlefield!" he activated the thrusters on the legs and rocketed away pulling the Blitz off balance sending it into the ground.

Quatre attached the shotel's to the shield of the Sandrock and charged the CGUE "Why doesn't anyone get it war has no meaning!" he caught the CGUE and the pincer like shield closed slicing the arm off as if it was nothing.

"Shit just how many of these machines do they have!" he rolled away in the process getting the rocket anchor off of him "Well then… I'll have to…."

"No you don't, Take this!" Kira yelled as the Freedom's twin rail guns opened up and blasted the CGUE in the back sending it flying away towards the coast.

Xxx

"Aim Helldarts at those incoming GINN's activate CIWS." Natarle yelled as the Archangel fired "Captain we need backup we can't hold off this many suits with just the Archangel at this rate…"

The ship shook as a missile impacted the Mass Driver behind it "I know Natarle, we can only hold them off until we have some reinforcements but we have to try to prevent as much damage as possible. Ensign Haw what is the status of each of the units?"

"Noin's unit is headed away from the coast towards Zechs's unit, Athrun reported in his thrusters were damaged and he's grounded fighting alongside the bases forces, Heero reported that they're fighting the enemy commanders unit and Zechs has taken some damage. Commander La Flaga reports a gold CGUE attacking them but is being pushed back the forces there seem to be falling back should I recall his unit to help defend the mass driver?" Miriallia asked.

"Yes, have Commander La Flaga fall back and defend, inform the bases commander so he can send troops to relieve them." Murrue said as the ship shook again from an impact.

Sally sighed "I hope we can make it out of this one…"

Newman looked at her "You have to learn what we have taken to heart on this ship, if we want to survive we have to fight."

Sally nodded "Let's just hope that each of our unit comes back unharmed…"

Xxx

Zechs brought the beam saber down only to have the Testament dodge it "Good reaction time, he reminds me a lot of Treize…"

Leons glared as he rolled over the Epyon "I have to finish this Alec won't hold out much longer against that suit."

"Commander they're pushing us back we have already lost a third of our ground forces! The Federation has new ground modles!" a voice yelled over the comm. as a picture appeared on his screen showing a suit that looked a lot like the Strike.

"Damn it, this battle is costing too much; we won't have any profit at this rate!" Leons thought as he dodged the attacks from the Epyon "Charlie team head for the mass driver, don't stop until you've unloaded all your missiles, we don't have to capture it so long as it's destroyed!"

"Understood sir we're heading in from the northwest, we'll be on target in five minutes." The pilot responded as he piloted his GINN's flyer carrying the six heavy missiles towards the coast shortly followed by another eight units exactly the same as his.

Heero flew down and rammed Alec's unit "Give up your machine's are outclassed."

Alec flew back away from the coast "Maybe my machine is outclassed by yours… but Leons has your commander where he wants him."

Heero looked as the Testament swung again and the strike struck the head of the Epyon carving a deep gash across the head then raking down across the upper torso leaving three deep lines across the armor exposing the inner frame "Wufei, Trowa we have to back up Zechs."

"Already on it Heero!" Duo yelled as the Deathscythe broke through the clouds and came up behind the Testament "See you in hell Leons Graves!" Duo raised the twin headed beam scythe and brought it down.

Leon's smirked as he rolled out of the way and flew back to Alec allowing Duo to nearly do the job for him by bringing the scythe across the Epyon's torso carving it's left arm off in one slice. "See you again Lightning count, I'll look forward to our next meeting!" Leons said as he rolled again.

"LEONS!" Shiho yelled as she fired from below the beams shearing the Testament's legs off

"Damn it!" He rolled and aimed the beam rifle at the CGUE only to watch another three machines soar up behind it and open fire

Zechs glared as sparks jumped across his instruments "This isn't over, not until…" The remaining eye of the Epyon flashed and he sent all available power to the beam saber increasing the size of it hooked directly into the reactor of the suit the beam grew until it was a long sword and he charged.

Noin watched as Zechs attacked and brought the sword down and carved the large claw like arm off of the suit and it retaliated by firing point blank into the head. "ZECHS!" she screamed as the Epyon fell and the Testament limped away with the help of the CGUE

Heero transformed the Zero and put it into a nose dive to catch up with the Epyon "Damn it, Zechs what the hell were you thinking?"

Xxx

Kira watched the heavily damaged CGUE limp away towards the ZAFT carriers "Commander we have an incoming message from the Archangel."

"I know… Let's fall back the reinforcement troops are on their way…" Mu said as he turned the Strike and took off for the Archangel

"Rodger that, falling back for defense." Dearka said as he flew alongside the strike soon the others picked up and followed.

Xxx

"We're the only hope for this part of the operation, FOR ZAFT!" the pilot roared as he kicked the flyer past the redline lying down on it to reduce drag "They were the bastards that caused it to come to this they were the ones that launched that missile."

The eight machines streaked inland skimming the treetops "When we get within range lock onto the mass driver and fire all we need is one to hit."

"Rodger" the other pilots responded as they armed the missiles and closed on the base.

Xxx

Sai's eyes widened as he looked at the screen "Commander eight incoming GINN's at high speed sensors say they're armed with Pardus heavy missiles! Range five thousand meters and closing!"

"How'd they get so close, aim Gottfried's and Valliant's take those suits down!" Natarle yelled as they locked onto the suits "FIRE!"

Xxx

The GINN's pilots watched as the Archangel fired and couldn't hit them "They can't lock onto us one thousand till firing lock, lock on my mark three… two… one… Mark."

"Rodger that firing solution confirmed, orders sir?" another pilot asked their team lead.

"Fire!" Seven of the suits fired their missiles as they streaked ahead of the GINN's

The team leader glared as the ship's CIWS made quick work of the missiles then looked at his own the racks had malfunctioned and wouldn't unlock "Well this is it." He pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it "Tell Commander Graves to put the medal on my grave." He pushed the suit to it's max as the alarms started blaring in his suit as it was overheating and on the point of shutting down he set the timer to target to match the self destruct he looked at a picture on his consol "Goodbye Talia, this is for our son"

"Commander Gladys!" the pilots roared as they pulled up and the suit streaked past the Archangel getting hammered by shells from the CIWS as he went.

"FOR ZAFT!" he rammed into the mid section of the mass driver's main supports as the suit self destructed and all of the missiles went off at the same time in a hellish explosion ripping the mass driver apart.

Xxx

The gundam pilots stopped as they were descending in time to watch the GINN ramming into the mass driver destroying it not being able to do anything to stop it "No…" Duo said as he descended with the Epyon between his suit and the Wing Zero

Trowa watched as the other seven flew away at high speed towards the coast he glared "DAMN IT!" he slammed his fist into the consol.

"It's new Edwards all over again…" Yzak muttered as he flew down towards the Archangel he opened a line with the ship "Have medical ready Zechs is injured, Howard and Murdoch are going to have a field day with the repair work."

Xxx

Hours later the base was bustling with activity putting out the fires that started from the mass drivers collapse "I still don't believe it even though I'm looking at it…" the base commander said as he looked up at the Archangel

"Well even though the mass driver fell their forces fought the hardest to try to prevent it, if they weren't here we could have expected heavier casualties…" Rena said as she walked over in her black and pink pilot's suit.

The commander looked at her "Whatever you say Rena but the matter still stands… why are they here in the first place, I mean the Archangel disappeared over a year ago everyone thought it went down from the Le Cruset team's assault and they show up fighting alongside the ship, it makes no sense."

"I agree it doesn't make sense but the only way to find out is ask…" Rena said as she made her way to where the group of officers from the ship were talking.

"Have Nicol and Duo returned yet I want a good look at that arm." Zechs said as Rena approached "Who are you?" he looked at her.

"Lieutenant Rena Imelia, mobile forces commander of this base and flight instructor." She said as she looked Zechs over "You look as if you've been through hell where were you fighting?"

"My unit was the one slowing down the orbital forces, Colonel Zechs Marquise ESUN preventers task force." He held out his hand to Rena.

Noin blinked "So you're the one that relieved my unit, pleasure to meet you Lieutenant. I'm Lieutenant Noin."

Rena nodded "I'd like to find out what exactly you're doing here if you don't mind… reports said that the Archangel went down over a year ago off the coast of the Orb Union and took the Le Cruset team with them."

Mu scratched the back of his head "Long story… but if you have about an hour we can sum it up…"

Rena blinked as she looked at him "Wait… it can't be… Mu La Flaga?" she pointed at him

Mu blinked then realized who she was "Rena well… damn you've changed a lot since basic…"

"Keep your jaw on your head Commander…" Murrue shot him a glare "Captain Murrue Ramius, it's a pleasure to meet you Lieutenant."

Rena nodded "So what's the Hawk of Endymion been up to all these years?"

"Well let's see, getting hijacked, fighting against several world powers to overthrow a oppressive government… so where do we start?" Sally asked as she smirked.

Rena blinked then looked at him "How about buying me a drink so two rivals can catch up…"

Noin looked at the two of them then Shiho stormed over "I'd recognize that irritating witches voice anywhere!"

Rena turned and looked at the younger pilot whose violet eyes were locked on her "Well if it isn't that little ZAFT brat Shiho 'Housenka' Hahnenfuss, the only reason I didn't shoot you back there was that for some reason you're with them." She glared at her.

Noin watched the two before stepping forward "Ensign Hahnenfuss go track down Ensign Joule and get repairs underway for the Epyon."

Shiho shot a glare at Noin before saluting and starting to walk away before shooting one last glare over her shoulder at Rena.

Rena shot a similar glare at her before turning to Noin "I'd be happy to hear the story…"

Xxx

Nicol looked at his sensors again "Duo this is about where it should have dropped right?" he turned on the night vision optics and scanned the sea floor.

"Ya the arm should have fallen in this area if their retreating troops didn't recover it…" Duo said as he moved the Deathscythe along his search path.

Nicol sent out a sonar ping "I don't know of any troops that would stop to pick up an arm unless it was really valuable… Why does Zechs want it anyway?"

"Said it tried to hack his system when it latched onto the Epyon, implanted some sort of computer virus…" Duo said as he scanned his sensors again.

"I have something my suit just kicked it whatever it is…" Nicol said as the water cleared from the sediment that had been kicked up

Duo smirked as he looked "Not bad Nicol, let's get it back to the base."

The Blitz picked up the massive assault arm "This thing's built like the Trikeros shield system; it has a mirage colloid interface." Nicol said as he looked over the arm

"So that means that thing's like your suit right… on top of that the damage it caused to the Epyon I don't want to face off against that thing…" Duo said as he activated the thrusters and headed for the surface.

"No kidding… this thing messed up the Epyon it will be down for at least a week…" Nicol said as he activated the thrusters on the Blitz.

Xxx

Shiho put a hand on the gouge in the armor of the Epyon "Look what that machine did to the Epyon…"

"Ya… Duo and Nicol went to recover the arm we cut off of it before it retreated we want to find out exactly what it can do… Zechs said that it tried to hack the ZERO system in the Epyon…" Yzak said as he started to remove the long screws that fastened the chest armor to the frame.

"You said the Armor on your suits are stronger than phase shift right?" Shiho asked as she started on the other plate.

Yzak nodded "Ya it's a metal known as gundanium, it's four times stronger than phase shift and beam resistant, but to have that suit do this much damage to the Epyon… this thing has the ZERO system in it. It shouldn't have even touched the Epyon let alone damage it…"

Shiho blinked "What's this ZERO system you keep talking about?"

"It's a combat system for mobile suits along the lines of the Wing Zero, Epyon, Freedom, and Justice. Only a few pilots can handle it because of what it does." Yzak said as he removed the top part of the damaged plate

"So what's so special about it?" Shiho asked as she sat down a handful of the screws

"It streams combat data directly into the pilots brain, and lists all of the possible outcomes along with their probability allowing the pilot to make the best choice to tip the fight in his favor… it also has a nasty side of overloading your brain." Yzak said as he stopped and looked at her.

"You sound like you've experienced it firsthand…" Shiho stood up and walked over to him.

Yzak looked at the Duel "The Duel still has it installed in it but I never activate it… it causes delusions if you can't control it, it's even driven some pilots temporarily insane."

Shiho looked at him "I'll guess that you had…"

"When I activated it, the system showed me what I had done, it showed me the shuttle I shot down as it entered the atmosphere, the faces of the people I killed, I was standing next to a little girl no older than ten… I killed civilians." Yzak said as he looked down avoiding Shiho's gaze.

Shiho dropped the drill she was holding and walked over to Yzak "You didn't know Yzak… how could you have known at the time…"

"That's not the point… the reason I knew what they looked like was because the Strike had the ZERO system installed at the time and Kira was piloting it… he saw their faces he was trying to protect them." Yzak said as he slumped down against the Epyon

"Yzak Joule, get a hold of yourself!" Shiho said as she grabbed him by the collar and hauled him back to his feet "You've fought to protect many more people during the past year, you fought in operation meteor saved countless lives and ended two governments that were tyrannical in their very nature."

Yzak blinked as he looked into her violet eyes they had tears in them "Shiho… I've just realized I haven't heard what happened with you in the past year…"

Shiho looked down "After you disappeared I transferred to the Carpentaria base in hopes that you would return… when I got there I got acquainted with my new team… we spent a few weeks together then we were called out to counter a fleet that was sailing towards the Eurasian federation, that's the first time we encountered the Federations mass produced mobile suits, the Dagger's those same machines that helped us…"

Yzak cupped his hand under her chin and lifted her head to his gaze "What happened?"

Shiho's eyes welled with tears "That's when I first met Rena Imelia in combat with her team… she killed everyone on my team, after that battle she got the nickname Sakura Burst for taking down ten machines almost singlehanded all of my unit…" she broke down and collapsed into Yzak's arms

Yzak held her and kissed her forehead "We've both had a rough past year then, both of us have lost friends made new ones and our sides have changed several times…"

Shiho wiped her eyes "If we… huh?" Shiho blinked as Yzak pulled her close again and kissed her she closed her eyes and held him as they stood there in front of the half disassembled Epyon on the catwalk kissing.

Xxx

The commander blinked as the lights came on in the briefing room again "That's one trip through hell I'd never want to fight through…"

"No kidding… if the parts the pilots submitted as written accounts are correct then they pulled off missions some special forces teams would call impossible…" Rena said as she flipped through the documents on Operation Meteor.

"Commander, we…" Murrue started and the commander held up his hand.

"Captain Ramius, you said that the target was our mass driver correct… they may have cut off our means to supply our space forces but in a tactical sense it's a minor blow our space forces have other means of supply so long as we aren't going to push an offensive. This was the largest of our remaining mass drivers" Rena said

"Lieutenant Imelia is right, they're not after just cutting our supply lines ability to strike in space they're trying to cut the chain of command. By doing this they've isolated the only safe points of escape for the command." The commander said.

Natarle's eyes widened "Their target is JOSH-A, they're not trying to cut our supply lines they're trying to finish the war in one strike."

"What's JOSH-A again?" Sally asked

"The Joint Supreme Headquarters Alaska base, the largest base of the federation and headquarters of the Earth Alliance forces, the high commands of the Atlantic Federation, Eurasian Federation, African Union, the Republic of East Asia, and the United States of South America. If they take that base they've finished off all of their enemies in one strike." Mu said as he got up "I think we know where we have to go next…"

Murrue nodded "Commander can you…"

"Already taken care of I figured it out before this meeting and sent a warning, they also requested that your ship heads to Alaska to join the defense." The commander said with a smile as he made his way to the door.

Natarle nodded "I don't think we ever got your name sir…" She looked at him.

The commander turned and looked at her "This base had a lot of importance to the Alliance as a whole, I'm the commander from the Eurasian Federation, Morgan Chevalier." He saluted the grey streaks along his blond hair.

"Wait, Morgan Chevalier as in the Mad Dog of the Moonlight…" Mu gaped as he recognized him "Been some time commander…"

"That it's been rookie, take care…" Morgan said as he pulled a cigar from his breast pocket and lit it again as he left.

Murrue looked at Mu "You know the Mad Dog of the Moonlight…"

"He was my commander before I was promoted to the Moebius Zero corps. But that was almost eight years ago…" Mu said as he watched his two old team mates leaving.

"Why's he known as Mad Dog?" Zechs asked.

"The way he fights, Morgan is a ruthless fighter in combat and everyone thinks he's as vicious when it comes to his piloting, the truth is he's calm and thinks everything out like a game of chess that's why he's such a destructive opponent." Mu said.

Noin stood "Then we head to JOSH-A as soon as…"

Howard walked in "Duo and Nicol are back with that arm… it's one nasty piece of equipment… The Epyon will be out of action for the rest of the week at least."

Zechs nodded "I doubt I can pilot within that time anyway… What have you found out about the arm so far?"

"Its construction is similar to the shield system on the Blitz, but stronger, the thing that worries me is the fact that the claws are armed with gundanium, it's just the claws apparently ZAFT's figured out how to produce it in small quantities." Howard said to the officers.

Sally nodded "Well we have our plan let's get moving…" She said as she got up and made her way out of the room.

Xxx

Leons looked at the Testament as it was being repaired "Le Cruset was right that ship and its pilots are a big threat… judging by the course they set after they left the base they're headed north." He turned and looked at the other two pilots who fought alongside him.

"Hay, Rudolf, Alec prepare to move out as soon as our units are fixed up." Leons said as he walked over

Rudolf looked at him "Our forces don't have what…"

"We aren't striking at Panama again we're falling back to Carpentaria to head for space, besides I intend to pay my respects to Commander Gladys wife personally, because of his sacrifice our side was more profitable." Leons said as he turned away from the pair of them.

Alec stood "She's the captain of a Nazca class destroyer in the Jachin defense forces."

Leons nodded "I know…"

Xxx

"Captain we're approaching the bases outer defensive lines." Miriallia said as she looked over at Murrue.

A line opened with the Archangel "Attention Archangel, welcome to JOSH A, please set your navigation to autopilot we'll guide you in." the operator said.

Sally blinked as out of the mist a small escort fleet appeared "Just where is this base?"

Natarle walked up to the forward part of the bridge "JOSH-A is the most highly guarded facility in the Alliance as such it's well hidden…"

Noin nodded "Makes sense the headquarters for such a large military would need to be well hidden to protect it." She watched as the coast appeared and a giant waterfall appeared.

Xxx

Athrun looked at the other pilots "I remember hearing that the alliance was developing some new models."

Heero leaned over the back of the chair at his desk "How many new models we saw the mass produced ones at panama didn't we…"

Athrun shook his head "Like the Freedom and Justice they've developed three new machines, we have no data on them though…"

"Where were they being developed?" Duo asked as he looked up from cleaning his handgun

"JOSH-A, if we couldn't have gotten the Freedom and Justice out, they were our next choice besides building brand new machines…" Athrun said.

"So they're here…" Heero leaned back over to his computer "We've already begun the docking sequence I probably won't be able to access the computer mainframe from here."

Nicol looked up "You can't be serious?"

"Heero's right, we need to find out about those machines if not get our hands on them… they're probably more advanced than the Buster, Duel and Blitz." Trowa said as he flipped a page in his book.

"What's our plan of attack then?" Yzak asked.

"Do what we do best… Get in get the information, remove all traces of our being there and get the hell out…" Dearka said "Am I right?"

Heero nodded "Right on the money Dearka, though I doubt the commanders would approve it… so standard procedure as always."

Quatre sighed "Well if we all go there's a higher likelihood that one of us will get caught, the best for the job have to be…"

Heero nodded "Myself, Trowa, Duo, or Hilde."

"Hilde's out of the question, and my hair isn't exactly regulation for the Alliance…" Duo said "So that leaves you and Trowa…"

"A two man job can handle it…" Trowa said "I'll go get my hands on some Atlantic Federation uniforms…"

"Get the blue ones." Kira said and Trowa blinked as he stopped.

Yzak nodded "Blue is the kind of uniform personnel our age would wear, it would be harder to find uniforms the right size in officers colors."

Trowa nodded "Easy enough…"

Xxx

"This has to be the most uncomfortable uniform I've ever worn…" Trowa said as he adjusted the collar

Kira chuckled "Unbutton the top most button before your face is the same color as the uniform…"

Heero smirked "It may be uncomfortable but it has a lot of places to hide our weapons on them…" he slipped his combat knife under the jacket and the belt followed by his pistol.

"Alright we'll make sure the machines don't move, we'll contact you if anything happens." Quatre said "Besides it gives us time to help out on fixing up the Epyon…"

Xxx

"The Archangel, I never thought it would make it here… You think maybe Halberton's force of will protected it?" A officer smirked as he sat at a meeting table.

The officer at the head seat "These pilots are the ones that really protected it, if Chevalier's report is correct then amongst their numbers are five coordinators no less."

"Captain Sutherland, luckily we wont have to worry about that for much longer… what about the other pilots?" the officer asked.

"Natural's and they apparently have the skills of veteran pilots with records that would make some of our aces look like raw recruits." Sutherland said.

The officer nodded and Sutherland looked at him "The GAT series will be our main weapon. We'll be getting a lot of use out of them in the future, so we don't want people saying they were operated by coordinator children."

"You're right about that." The officer replied.

As another started typing "It just seems like glairing evidence of our own inferiority."

"All of the technology from the GAT Series one machines has been improved upon and this time it is we who will benefit from it." Sutherland said with a smirk.

Another officer looked at him "What have you told Azrael?"

"I told him that we'd take the necessary steps to address all these problems. This was all an unfortunate situation, just like what is going to happen here."

The other officers nodded as Sutherland stood "All for the preservation of our blue and pure world."

Xxx

"We would like to thank you for agreeing to this meeting Captain Ramius, more so to find out what the Archangel has been through these past few months." Captain Sutherland said.

Murrue stood "I'd still like to…" she stopped as Sutherland held up his hand.

"This meeting is being held as an inquiry into the service record of the Archangel, as a result this meeting is being held under the regulations for a court marshal, and as a result anything said here will be entered into the official record." Captain Sutherland said.

Zechs stood "If you don't mind me saying Captain Sutherland, that's going a bit far."

"And you would be?" Sutherland asked as he and the other officers looked at him in his red colonels uniform.

"Colonel Zechs Marquise, head combat commander of the ESUN's Preventers task force." Zechs said staring down Sutherland.

Sutherland smiled "Ah yes, over the past few days we've read about you, Colonel Zechs Marquise, better known as the Lightning Count. Former OZ forces commander and pilot, records also list that as an alias, your actual name is Milliardo Peacecraft who also in the records attempted to cause a nuclear winter by dropping a battleship the size of a colony onto the Earth." He said with a smirk "I believe court marshal regulations are fitting considering the circumstances, you may take your seat Colonel."

Zechs sat back down and kept his gaze fixed on Sutherland "He's not looking for the truth this Captain's looking for a promotion."

Noin glanced at Zechs who shook his head in return and the meeting started.

Xxx

Relena sat down at the table where Shiho and Cagalli were talking "So any idea where the boys have gotten to?"

"I saw them in the hangar earlier helping Howard work on the Epyon." Shiho said as she took a sip of her coffee.

Cagalli nodded "I've been wondering why aren't you and Dorothy at the meeting with the officers?"

"It's not a political meeting, and they closed it to the senior officers…" Dorothy said as she took her seat with her tray.

Xxx

Heero nodded to Trowa and they rounded the corner at the same time each hitting their target in the neck knocking them unconscious "Alright… according to the maps and data I read on this place this should be the main central computer bank, time to do a little work…" Heero said as he dragged the federation guard into the room

Trowa checked their pulses "They should be out for some time…" he pulled out the handcuffs of each guard and cuffed them together above the elbow.

Heero pulled out a drive and sat down at a consol "I've got a feeling we've got bigger problems than three unknown machines…"

"What makes you say that?" Trowa said as he walked over.

"The fact that the room is deserted as if everyone picked up and left already… something isn't right…" Heero said as he started hacking his way into the system.

Trowa looked around the room "Your right, you look for the machines I'll look for the reason behind the room being deserted…"

Xxx

"Well, that's some story to say the least…" One of the officers said as the file footage ended of the Wing Zero shooting the falling block of Libra. "Your ship has proven where it has been and the machines alone back up your story along with the file footage."

Sutherland glared "Though considering the circumstances you were hijacked, until the ESUN is recognized as a nation and the Preventers as a military force you are confined to your ship and are not to leave it."

Zechs held his gaze as Sutherland stood.

"By request we would like to speak with Lieutenant La Flaga, Lieutenant Badgirule, and Flay Alster as to further requests from the command in Washington." Sutherland said as the two commanders blinked.

Noin looked at Natarle "I have a bad feeling we're being set up by this guy…"

"Dismissed, you will be escorted back to the Archangel we've sent for guards to escort you." The Alliance commanders stood and saluted before exiting.

The two guards at the door saluted as the commanders exited and they entered. The two guards stopped and smiled as the officers got up from their seats.

"Well that was nothing but a farce…" Zechs said

Noin nodded "I agree something about that Captain Sutherland…"

Murrue turned to Mu and Natarle "I want you two to be careful don't let your guards down, I'll send Flay with the guards…" she turned and her mouth dropped open.

"Good to see you too…" The first guard said as he removed his helmet "These uniforms are as uncomfortable as all hell…" Trowa said with a smirk.

"We didn't expect them to call those two guards to say the least…" Heero said as he removed his helmet.

"Alright what we're you two up to?" Zechs asked as he turned to face the two pilots.

"Data collection, we couldn't agree more that Sutherland is up to something the room we used was void of any personnel except the guards outside the base seems a little undermanned for a headquarters…" Heero said.

Zechs nodded "What data did you go after?"

Heero held up the small drive he was hiding "The Alliances newest models, a continuation of the GAT series."

Murrue's eyes widened "They made new Gundams?"

Trowa nodded "The Calamity, Raider, and Forbidden. They're on par with our machines performance wise even armor wise… they have an updated form of the phase shift armor."

Mu nodded "Get that data back to the ship we'll go find out what Sutherland wants, and more of what's going on at the base."

Heero nodded as he placed the helmet back on his head "Let's move…"

The commanders made their way out of the room under the guard of the two pilots.

As they exited three boys passed their uniforms had been altered radically one was reading a paperback book another playing a game the third had a pair of headphones in and was listening to music.

Zechs looked at the three then nodded to Heero who looked at them and nodded back.

Xxx

Rau smirked as he left the briefing room "I hope the rumor is true that Leons told me, Mu La Flaga I look forward to seeing you at JOSH-A"

Hartman nodded to Rau "Time to see what the Regenerate can do… too bad the Providence is still down for repairs and alterations…"

"I'll make do with my CGUE… no sense rushing the repairs when we're about to win this war." Rau said as he turned towards the hangar on the air transport.

Hartman nodded "Time to see what a thirty five meter tall Gundam can do."

Xxx

Lieutenant Badgirule shut the door to the room as she entered she looked around a oak desk with a high-backed chair faced away from the door and she blinked "Just who wanted me to…"

"It's been some time Natarle…" a voice came from the chair and she watched as it spun around to face her.

"Muruta…" she gasped as he stood up and walked around his desk towards her.

"I thought I'd never see you again Natarle…" He smiled as he pulled her into a hug "I thought I'd lost you to those coordinators."

"Muruta, it's… what are you doing here? Didn't you hear ZAFT was going to attack here next likely?" Natarle asked as he released her.

"I know… don't worry about it, the reason I asked you here is well not only did I want to see my fiancée again I'd like to ask you if you'd come with me?" Muruta asked.

"Come with you? What about the Arch…" She stopped as he smiled at her

"I have a request, the Archangel has competent commanders as you've seen but the second of the class has just been rolled out and I wanted you to become it's captain, I pulled a few strings and got you the position if you want it… oh and I'll be accompanying you when I retrieve the mobile weapons for it." Muruta said.

Natarle blinked "You're serious?"

Muruta nodded "If you agree you'll be on the next sub towards California."

Xxx

Heero pulled up the data on the new machines "Alright this is the GAT-X 131 Calamity, it's using the same frame as the Buster."

Dearka whistled "Damn that's a lot of firepower."

"It's armed with twin 125 MM long range beam cannons mounted over its shoulders, the thing in the center of its chest is also a beam cannon it's a 580 MM multi phase cannon that is very similar in power to the Wing's buster rifle." Heero said

"Geese that things already nasty and it has more…" Duo said as he looked at it.

Heero coughed "As I was saying, mounted in the shield are twin 155 MM Ram cannons similar to the Shiva on the Duel, and lastly it has a 337 MM Plasma-sabot bazooka, which given the output could do a lot of damage to our machines."

Zechs nodded "Alright what's the next one?"

Heero clicked to the next schematic " This is the GAT-X 252 Forbidden, based on the frame of the Blitz, it's armament though lacking the stealth of the Blitz's mirage colloid has a unique feature to it, it has a set of energy deflecting shields mounted in the backpack, along with this is also the main armament of this suit."

Heero clicked to another side "Duo, if we have to face this suit you know the most about using a Scythe in combat."

"Leave it to me… I'll take care of it." Duo said as he eyed up the machine "What's with those two…"

"That's its main armament the Scythe is it's secondary but it has a small difference with yours." Heero said as he pulled up another data file "The Scythe is used as a focusing point because of the metal it's made of and the shields of the Forbidden it can bend the beams from its main armament the twin guided plasma cannons."

Duo gulped "You mean…"

"Yes it can bend the beams using the scythe as a focal point." Trowa said as he looked at the machine.

Heero nodded as he flipped to the last slide "This is the GAT-X 370 Raider, built on a similar frame to the Aegis, it is a transformable weapon that can fly at high speeds, it's armament includes a 100MM energy cannon mounted in the head, duel 52MM hyper velocity shield cannons, a pair of short range plasma cannons. The main thing we have to worry about is this." He pulled up a image of a weapon that looked like a large spiked ball on a cable "This is the spherical breaker, judging by the material I'd say this could crack the outer armor on our machines…"

The lights came up and the pilots looked around at each other "Well, looks like we have our hands full… not only do we have to contend with the machines from ZAFT but these three…" Quatre said.

Wufei nodded "Do we know where they are?"

"The last intelligence reports placed them here… but knowing the incoming offensive and that you told us the base seemed a little unmanned it looks more like they're running so they've probably moved the machines." Athrun said as he walked towards the door "Still… this is putting a bad taste in my mouth."

Zechs stood "Well, we'll see what Commander La Flaga and Lieutenant Badgirule have to say when they get back."

Xxx

Commander La Flaga scratched his head as he flipped through the stack of papers he was given "What the hell is this shit… offering me a promotion to lieutenant colonel if I took a post as the instructor at the California base?"

Mu flipped a page "Why am I even bothering looking at this garbage… and where did the girls get off to, I know Natarle got called into that room but… what's taking her so long?"

Xxx

Flay wandered down the hallway "Damn it where was it again, she said take this hall make a left… why is the bathroom always so hard to find in military bases?"

Flay continued down the hall and stopped as the ground shuddered "What was…"

Alarms started blaring "What's going on?" Flay asked as the base shook again, "Oh no… ZAFT's started their attack; I've got to find the commander's."

Xxx

The pilots climbed into their machines as the warning went out "Attention all personnel ZAFT has began their attack, defense forces deploy."

Murrue opened a line with the base "Get me captain Sutherland, this is captain Murrue Ramius of the Archangel."

"I'm sorry captain, but because of the panama attack our bases forces have been weakened, Captain Sutherland and the other high command members have been requested to evacuate." The operator said

"So you're abandoning this base?" Noin asked as she looked at the operator.

The operator nodded "Though captain Sutherland asked if your forces would assist in the defense while the re…"

"You've got to be joking defend a base that's on the verge of being overrun as it is…" Noin said "That's a suicide mission."

"For most units it would be, but with our forces we have the best chance of breaking through their line and saving the defense forces from being cannon fodder." Zechs said as he walked up to the forward part of the bridge.

"But what about Commander La Flaga and Natarle?" Noin asked.

Zechs turned to Captain Ramius "We have to launch if we don't this ship is a target sitting still will do us no good, Commander La Flaga and Lieutenant Badgirule can take care of themselves and knowing them one of them is with Flay we don't have any worries…"

Murrue nodded "Though we're lacking a CIC operator…"

Zechs smirked "That's not a problem…" he placed a hand on Noin's shoulder "Noin you've had training to operate a CIC back when we were with OZ…"

Noin looked at him "Zechs it's been almost six years since…"

"I'll use the Strike, though the Archangel is useless without a person to command during the battle." Zechs said as he headed towards the back of the bridge.

Noin bit her lip "Damn it Zechs you're in no shape to fight."

Zechs smirked as he got to the door "Noin, the Epyon was nearly turned inside out by that one machine a Taurus wouldn't stand a chance… Please let me protect you." the door slid closed

Noin looked at Captain Ramius and Sally "Where do I start?"

Murrue sighed "Chandra help Lieutenant Noin, get her acquainted with the weapons systems and make it quick she'll be in command of the CIC."

"Yes Captain." Chandra said as he gestured to Noin to follow him down to the lower part of the bridge where the CIC was.

Xxx

Mu ran through the hallway "Damn it what the hell is going on here, this place is empty." He ran into a lift and pressed the button to take him up to the bases main level.

Xxx

Rau spread the flight wings on the CGUE as the Regenerate flew alongside him "Now, the Curtain has risen and it's time for the actors to show their talents."

Hartman smirked as he watched the ships approaching from the coast "Time to see what this Regenerate can do." He transformed the Regenerate into its mobile suit form and activated one of the giant beam sabers "It's time for this wolf to stain Alaska red with blood."

He charged and brought the beam down into one of the ships cutting it apart lengthwise the ship split around the giant suit before exploding. Hartman smirked as he raised the hyper impulse beam cannon and targeted down the line of ships and fired the beam ripped through six ships instantly causing them all to explode.

Rau smirked as Hartman led the charge he rolled and headed for a waterfall and flew into it right into a tunnel heading into the base "Hmm it appears that Azrael's information was correct."

Xxx

Natarle looked at Azrael "Why don't we just go to the Archangel Muruta we could…"

"Because we're heading to California… and ZAFT has the base breached already it would be too risky to head to the Archangel." Azrael said as he walked into the state room on the sub.

Natarle sighed "Alright but after this I want to get in contact with the rest of them…"

Azrael nodded "Not a problem at all." He smiled

"That is if you can find enough pieces to even make contact with them… the second the Cyclops activates anything within ten kilometers will be vaporized." Muruta thought as he walked over to the small bar in the room and poured himself a glass of wine.

Xxx

"Alright we're moving out, as a result of recent events we're down two commanders so temporarily Heero and Yzak will take command of the other units, understood?" Zechs asked over the communications.

"Rodger that, Duo, Hilde, and Shiho will be with me." Yzak said as he moved the Duel to the catapult.

"Understood, Athrun, Trowa, and Wufei will be with me." Heero said as he activated the Wing Zero.

"I'll be piloting the Strike temporarily; Kira, Nicol, Dearka, and Quatre will be following me." Zechs said as he readied the Strike having the sword pack equipped.

A line opened with the pilots "Guys we have a big problem we have to contend with, ZAFT sent another new machine and it's huge." She flipped the image over to the pilots just as the Regenerate cut another ship in half as it began heading towards the coast.

Yzak glared "Those colors, Its Hartman, my unit will deal with him, everyone else cover the Archangel and the other forces."

"Rodger that, and Yzak… You still have it right?" Heero asked.

"Ya though I'd rather not have to use it." Yzak said as he launched

Xxx

Rau stood at a consol and looked at the data on the Cyclops system "Well…"

Mu looked around the door frame gun drawn "Rau Le Cruset…"

Rau looked to his left and caught the corner of Mu's shadow on the consol he grabbed his pistol and spun firing twice the bullets hit the door frame.

Mu rolled back around the door "Shit that was close."

Rau ran to the far side of the room as Mu ran in and ducked behind the consol he fired again the bullet hitting the back of the consol bank "It's been a while Mu La Flaga…" Rau said with a smirk.

Mu glared as Rau continued "I don't have time for fooling around, though we've only just met again I apologize for leaving so soon… but if you're still hanging around here your usefulness to the earth forces must be nearly at an end." Rau said with a smirk as he looked into the room. "Oh Hawk of Endymion how the mighty have fallen."

He fired twice both shots near Mu's head before he ran out the door.

Mu got up and aimed where Rau was once standing he glared and walked over to the consol Rau was once at "Oh Damn it!" Mu said as he spun and ran "We're all dead if we stay here."

Xxx

Flay felt her way along the wall until she looked up as people ahead fired "A ZAFT SOLDIER HE GOT IN!" a shot rang out and she looked to the end of the hall and a man in a white ZAFT uniform appeared at the end of the hall.

Flay ducked into the next corridor as a soldier ran past and aimed only to get shot and collapsed into the back of her legs causing her to trip over him into the hall right in front of the ZAFT commander.

Rau looked at her and aimed as she grabbed the gun and aimed it at him "Now this is interesting…"

Flay's eyes widened as she looked at him "Daddy!"

Rau blinked "Huh…"

Flay aimed at him as her hands shook holding the gun "That's my… my daddy's voice…" she fired right as he lunged at her knocking her out.

Rau smirked as he picked her up "She may prove useful she's one of the ones from the photographs Hartman showed me, she's from the Archangel."

Xxx

Yzak rolled over a GINN and sliced its legs off "Duo see if you can get in close I'll distract it, try to take out one of its legs."

Hartman glared at the Duel "Hay Yzak… say hello to my beams!" he stored the hyper impulse rifle activate the other arms beam saber and charged the Duel.

"OH SHIT!" Yzak yelled as the Regenerate launched towards him the beams nearly double the size of his own suit.

Hartman smirked as he opened the channel that Yzak and the other preventers used "Yzak, I hope you don't mind but you're my opponent." He swung at the Duel again bringing the blade inches from slicing into the Duel

"I prefer it actually, Duo, Shiho, Hilde go help the other's I'll deal with Hartman." Yzak said as he drew the two beam sabers of the Duel.

Shiho looked at the Duel "Yzak he's double the size of the Duel…"

"The bigger they are…" Yzak started.

"The Harder they are to take out Yzak… we're staying." Hilde said as she fired on Hartman.

Hartman glared "Fine little girl… but understand you're fighting the wolf!" He roared as he brought a beam saber up and caught Hilde's Taurus cutting off one of its legs.

Duo charged raising the scythe "I'll make you pay for hurting Hilde!" he aimed for the head of the machine but was forced back when he had to close the shroud as a beam saber crashed into his machine knocking him away.

"Duo, Hilde!" Shiho yelled as she leveled the beam cannons of the Deep arms at the machine.

"Shiho this is between me and Yzak, get out of the way." Hartman glared as he brought the beam sabers of the Regenerate down onto the beam cannons causing them to explode sending the Deep arms falling towards the ocean

"SHIHO!" Yzak yelled as he dove after her catching the machine he opened a line with her he looked at her the helmet cracked blood running down her face she groaned as Duo flew over.

"Hilde headed back to the ship the Taurus cant fly right like that… Yzak…"

"Duo take Shiho back to the Archangel, and keep the others away, I'm activating the ZERO system." Yzak said as he handed the CGUE to Duo.

"Yzak, you couldn't control it when we used it the first time…" Duo said "Just distract him I'll go get the others…"

Xxx

Noin glared "Wombat's Fire!" she ordered as the ship shuddered from launching a wave of anti are wombat missiles.

Chandra blinked "Incoming missiles!"

"Evade!" Murrue ordered as the CIWS opened up the ship shook again as several missiles struck the forward hangar.

"Direct hit to starboard flight deck!" Chandra yelled up.

Xxx

"Damn they really want this place don't they…"Heero said as he fired into a group of DINN's

Wufei charged launched the arms of the Altron into a pair of GOOhN's "too bad these mass produced models aren't as strong as mobile dolls." He activated the flamethrowers and torched the machines into nothing but scrap.

"Don't get over confident!" Athrun yelled as he drove a beam saber through the cockpit of a ZnO

"Athrun's right, even a rooky with a lucky shot can take out an ace." Trowa said as he fired a wave of missiles at the incoming amphibious suits.

Xxx

"They just don't relent do they!" Quatre said as he brought the shotel's down into a ZuOOT

Dearka fired the anti armor shotgun into a pair of BuCUE's "No they don't… but what else would you expect from them, when we assaulted bases were we nice?"

"I suppose not…" Kira said as he opened fire and took out ten of the attackers.

"Bad news, Yzak's team needs reinforcement that machine he's going after took down Hilde and Shiho, both are out of the fight but for the most part uninjured." Zechs said as he threw the beam boomerang through two DINN's

"Understood, moving to reinforce." Nicol said as the unit backed off a corps of Linear tanks charged and opened fire to hold the line.

Xxx

Mu ran into a hangar that had been hit "Hay who's in charge here!" he yelled to a soldier.

He tried to respond but stopped when a CGUE and two GINN's landed and opened fire as they started to advance into the base. "Never mind…" Mu said as he ran for one of the remaining SkyGrasper's in the hangar.

The mechanic that slumped to his knees next to it looked up as Mu ran over "You gotta get outa here, come on… get up!" he shook him Mu stood and climbed into the cockpit "Gather all the survivors and get out of here, get at least ten kilometers from the base! You got that that's an order!"

The Mechanic stood and ran away Mu closed the cockpit and put a pilots helmet on "I didn't choose to be a hero but…" a GINN landed at the entrance and aimed.

Mu opened fire sending two missiles into it blowing it apart as he launched out of the hangar.

Mu rolled over the base and headed towards the white ship in the distance "Archangel hold on!"

Xxx

Sutherland entered the room where the rest of the command staff sat in the sub half way down the coast of Alaska "They've breached the fourth gate with a little more time we'll have at least eighty percent of their forces ensnared by our little trap."

The commanders nodded as the two seniors pulled out two key "When the main gate is breeched we activate the Cyclops."

Xxx

Yzak punched in the code ZERO "Alright, Hartman it's time for you to see what the ZERO System is."

"Zero system?" Hartman asked as he watched the Duel's eyes change from yellow to a green.

"Yes the ZERO system, a ultimate combat system that omits all emotion from the pilot of the machine, and feeds them all possible data dealing with the combat directly into their head. You have no chance." Yzak said as the cockpit shown gold.

"Hold it together, Hartman will pay for hurting Shiho." Yzak charged as Hartman thrust he rolled over the sword and Kicked the Regenerates head smashing the optics.

"Feel the pain you've caused me, the pain you've caused our family!" Yzak roared as he brought the beam sabers down and cut the left arm off.

Hartman smirked "Who would have though you could actually pose a challenge! This will be interesting." He deactivated the beam saber on the right arm and punched the Duel

Yzak grit his teeth "I cant let the system control me I… what the…"

Yzak looked around he was standing in a shuttle "What's going on…"

"Mr. there's a seat next to me." A little girls voice said from behind him.

Yzak turned around and looked at her she smiled "Don't worry, Kira will protect us…" she looked at him before turning back to look out the window.

A voice echoed in his head "How dare you get in my way!" it was cold with death laced in it Yzak looked out the window and his eyes widened "This is…"

"Don't do it they're only civilians!" Kira roared as he flew towards the shuttle.

"You soldier wannabe cowards want to run away do ya!" The voice said as Yzak blinked his position shifted he watched the Strike fly towards the shuttle but it was too late the beam hit the center of the cabin and it ripped apart in the atmosphere burning up instantly.

Yzak looked down at his hands in his pilots suit "Blood… their blood is on my hands…" his hands shook with rage "It's all because of this WAR!"

Xxx

Hartman blinked as the Duel plummeted "Did I knock him out?"

"Well too bad for you Yzak, goodbye." He drew the hyper impulse cannon and aimed it at the Duel

"It's all because of this WAR!" Yzak roared as he punched the Duel's thrusters to their max

Hartman's eyes widened "It's too late for that now!" He fired and watched as the Duel rolled out of the beam's path "WHAT!"

"If I fall to you then how will I make up for what I have done, their blood is on my hands." Yzak yelled as he flew into point blank range and ran his beam saber the length of the hyper impulse cannon causing it to blow up in the hand of the Regenerate

"Son of a bitch, I won't loose to a pathetic runt like you Yzak!" Hartman yelled as he activated the beam sabers on the legs and started his attack again.

"Oh no you don't!" a voice yelled as two missiles streaked in and struck the Regenerate in the head.

Yzak looked and saw a Skygrasper fly past "Commander!"

Mu rolled and opened fire again "Yzak we've got to wrap this up, they have a Cyclops system under the base!"

Hartman's eyes widened "Yzak, we'll finish this another day." He transformed the Regenerate and kicked the thrusters to their max flying away from the base.

Yzak watched as Hartman retreated "Commander where are Lieutenant Badgirule and Flay?"

"We were separated from each other in the base, we don't have time to go find them we've been set up." Mu said as he fired on a group of ZAFT machines that flew toward him "Damn it!"

A GINN fired and hit the right wing of the Skygrasper "I'm going down, Archangel I'm making an emergency landing in the open bay!"

Yzak flew with him covering him "What's going on!" he yelled as he opened fire on the GINN

"A Cyclops system is planted under the base, the high command plans to set it off taking out everything within ten kilometers." Mu said as he pitched down into the hangar that was blown open.

Xxx

"Is that Skygrasper trying to make a crash landing?" Kira yelled as he flew towards the Archangel.

"Don't know… huh?" Dearka said as Yzak opened a line with him.

"Dearka, tell the others to hit the afterburner we've got to get out of here we've been set up there's a Cyclops system under JOSH-A!" Yzak yelled as he flew into the hangar.

"What's a Cyclops system?" Zechs asked as he flew towards the Archangel.

Dearka, Nicol, and Athrun all pushed their machines as hard as possible "Let's just say we don't want to stick around when that thing goes off." Dearka said

"If they set that thing off everything within ten kilometers will be turned into a blast furnace!" Athrun yelled as he headed towards the ship "Let's go guys!"

Nicol blinked "We can't just leave them with no warning, Kira you still have the codes to the Federations channels right?"

"Ya already on it, Nicol you send the warning to ZAFT." Kira said.

Xxx

Mu ran into the bridge of the Archangel "Captain!"

"Commander La Flaga, where are…" Murrue started.

"No time this is one sick and twisted plan the alliance cooked up." Mu said as he ran up to her chair.

"What?" Murrue blinked

"We've got to get out of here there's a large Cyclops system under the base, that's things powerful enough to turn everything within ten kilometers into a blast furnace!" Mu said

Noin's eyes widened "Good lord they're letting their own troops…"

"When the main gate falls they'll activate it effectively cutting ZAFT's fighting strength in half, that's the scenario the top brass imagined for this battle they're using the defense forces as bait!" Mu said.

"Newman full speed get us away from this base now, Miriallia warn all forces in the area I don't care if they're ZAFT or Alliance broadcast on all channels! To port we'll break through the left side of the bay!" Murrue ordered.

Xxx

The officers placed their keys into the arming devise "It is my sincerest wish that this sacrifice will bring a swift end to this war."

Sutherland nodded "For the preservation of our blue and pure world… three… two… one." They turned their keys at the same time activating the Cyclops system.

Xxx

The Archangel's main screen displayed the mushroom cloud caused by the gamma radiation from the heat of the Cyclops system in the distance "Attention all crew and personnel, we will be falling back to the Orb Union for repairs, I expect that with this we will have more battles ahead of us. At this time I would also like the crew to observe a moment of silence for Lieutenant Natarle Badgirule and Crewwoman Flay Alster they did not return to the ship during the battle and are MIA." Murrue said as the officers on the bridge stood and bowed their heads.

Xxx

Muruta walked into the board room and took his seat as the meeting started the lights dimmed and images of the destruction at Panama appeared on screen

"This is humiliating!" one of the leaders said as he looked at the destroyed Daggers "Our success at Joshua is nearly worthless with the losses at panama."

"Our lunar base is going to exhaust its stores very quickly with the supply route from panama cut off. How are we supposed to launch a counter offensive in this kind of situation?" another executive said as images of the destroyed mass driver showed on screen.

"We're accelerating our plan to recapture Victoria but it's not going to be easy to capture their mass driver undamaged." A senior officer said as he looked at the other members of the OMNI high command.

"And what about Orb, what's the latest news on them?" another man asked.

Muruta leaned against his fist as the meeting progressed tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair.

"We've repeatedly asked for their assistance, but that stubborn fool Uzumi Nara Attha refuses to see things our way!" Another man said as he looked at the rest of the council.

"Oh really… is it because they're neutral…" Muruta said almost as an afterthought

The other council members looked at him "That's just not right now is it." Muruta said as he looked at them "Not when all of the others are risking their lives fighting against… mankind's enemy."

"Azrael, I wish you wouldn't phrase it in such an extreme manner. We are not blue cosmos." A member said as he looked at Azrael.

Azrael shrugged "Sorry, no offense was intended. But I simply cannot understand why you people continue to tolerate a nation like that, one that hides behind such… flimsy excuses. I think we've reached the point in this struggle where being neutral is a luxury."

"But the Orb union is a completely independent sovereign nation. We have to acknowledge that." a member replied.

Muruta nodded "But Orb is a nation of earth isn't it, that means it should be obligated to cooperate with the alliance that only seems fair now doesn't it?" he said with a smirk.

A murmer rose across the council members Muruta stood "If you'd like I'd be more than happy to lead the negotiations. I'll deal with Orb."

The room quieted "What do you mean?" one of the members asked a little shocked.

"Our priority is to get our hands on someone's mass driver, and right away. Why settle for one when you could have two?" Azrael said as he looked around the conference room.

"Well yes but…" one member started

"You'll be quite busy planning the Victoria operation. It would be more efficient to divide these responsibilities, and while we're at it we might even have a chance to test the new toys…" Muruta said with a hint of death laced in his voice.

A member looked at him "You're planning on using the new machines?"

"It all depends on how our… esteemed counterpart reacts. If the noble Mr. Attha is even half is stubborn as he's rumored to be then I think we could find ourselves in for a little excitement…" Muruta said with a smirk.

The head of the council nodded "Alright… and what of the Archangel, they claimed to be of a nation known as the ESUN and we've had reports that they are apparently aiding our cause."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, this was picked up and recorded by our troops that did escape the Joshua battle." A member said as he played a recording.

"Attention all ZAFT and Earth Alliance forces, any moment now the Cyclops system will activate and the Alaska base will self destruct, both sides please cease fighting and withdraw from this area immediately." The voice of a young man said across the room.

"This is a recording of the voice from one of their pilots; apparently the ship did retreat and was headed towards the Orb Union as our forces last reported." The member said as he looked at the other politicians in the room.

"Their machines included several of our prototypes from the GAT series, the Duel, Buster, Blitz, and Strike last reported three of those machines were stolen by ZAFT." An Atlantic Federation officer said.

Muruta smirked "Then it seems we have a rogue force who's fighting both sides, if they're allied with Orb then even more reason to bring them down."

Xxx

"This is our final warning, the Orb Union has failed to take into consideration the current state of world affairs, and has abandoned its inherent responsibilities as a nation of earth by seeking only to preserve its own domestic peace. Furthermore you're nation has continued to refuse continued requests for cooperation. On behalf of all its member states the Earth Alliance demands the following concessions from the Orb Union. First the immediate resignation of the Orb Unions current government, Second the subsequent disarmament and demobilization of its armed forces. If these demands are not met within forty eight hours then the Earth Alliance is forced to assume that the Orb Union is an enemy state and supporter of ZAFT and will confront your nation with force." Dorothy read aloud to the group of officers.

Relena's mouth dropped as she read the documents again "They can't be serious…"

"I'm afraid they're trying to force our hand… we however have decided to stand by our creed 'we will not attack another nation, will not allow another nation to attack us, and will not participate in others wars.'" Uzumi said as he sat across the table from the vice foreign minister

Relena looked at Captain Ramius "Captain, we cannot allow them to bully nations like this, this is exactly how the Alliance and OZ pushed around the colonies and nations of earth."

Murrue nodded and looked at Uzumi "Our forces are at your disposal sir."

Zechs looked up from his copy of the document "The world is being divided into to armed camps because of the Atlantic Federation. Just like our own war Earth and Space are heading into conflict."

Ezalia nodded "Chairman Zala will not back down from this, and you've refused the aid of the ZAFT forces from Carpentaria…"

Uzumi nodded "If we move to either side it will tip the balance in that factions favor, and the ESUN's force is known to both sides now as a hostile threat that must be dealt with. The second they got to us they would demand us to turn you over."

Relena nodded "But we can't just let this nation sacrifice itself to guard us what if…"

Uzumi held up his hand "We accepted you on a number of terms, we will not yield to this pressure."

"Then we'll prepare for battle, but first I think it's a good idea to get the Eternal out of here." Zechs said

The former ZAFT council members blinked "You cant be serious to say that we'd run and…"

"Zechs is right, if we have to escape the Archangel can use a booster to get into orbit, and we have one of our Izumo class battleships being broken down for launch on the mass driver, if we launch the Eternal now it's one less problem in case we do have to retreat." Uzumi said

Ezalia nodded and Waltfeld stood "Thank you, Lord Uzumi for your aid and protection, we'll prepare the Eternal for launch." Waltfeld said as he and the other council members left the room.

"The Epyon has been repaired, and the units are ready to take up the defense. But the size of the fleet their sending, this still won't be easy…" Mu said as he looked at the statistics on the Federation fleet being sent.

Sally nodded "This isn't a fleet, it's an armada they have almost two hundred ships heading for Orb, and I don't think we'll be able to stop that…"

Xxxxxx

Alright that's it for this chapter next – The battle for Orb

Now for a few questions I'm sure that are popping up in your mind –

Q: Who the hell is Leons Graves?

A: Leons is a ZAFT commander from the Seed Frame Astray series who pilots a Civilian Astray custom he shows up in the destiny arch of the Astray

Q: What are the Testament and Regenerate

A: ZAFT produced five machines not three the Freedom and Justice are the X 09a, and X 10a. Providence is X13a, the two machines in the middle are the X11 Regenerate and X12 Testament they both show up in the Astray series information on the machines can be found if you search for them.

Q: Will we get to see a battle between Forbidden and Deathscythe?
A: … Duo quit hacking my computer.

"Hay I want to fight that thing he's cramping my style!" Duo yelled as he got up from his laptop.

Alright I'll see what I can do…

"Also what's with…" *THWACK*

Can it Duo we're not going to give everything to the readers just yet…

*Knock* "Hay Ald I think those interns are here…" Dearka said as he walked into the room.

"Hey my name's Shinn what's yours?" Shinn said as he walked over to Heero.

"Heero Nice to…" *THWACK* "Meet you." Heero finished as he slugged Shinn in the gut

Go get us some coffee Rooky you've got a lot of work to do.

*Groan* "Yes sir…"