A/n
Here is Phase 35, it's an action-packed chapter, but I will admit, it doesn't move the story as much as I would like. However, I decided to split what this chapter was going to be into two Phases rather than have an extremely long Phase. My usual disclaimer still applies and enjoy the Phase!
Phase 35: Confusion at every Turn
December 20th, 73 C.E.
-Neutral pov-
Carpentaria, Oceania Union
The Minerva arrived at Carpentaria after the fight with the Earth Forces fleet in international waters. Repairs and resupply was done for the Minerva and a few days later, Captain Gladys received the Minerva's new orders. The Minerva was assigned to go with two other Vosgulov-class subs to join in the operation that was in the works to deal with the Alliance's Suez base. So, after a few days in Carpentaria, the Minerva departed out into the Indian Ocean, going towards the Suez Canal. They were accompanied by the Degtyarev and the Nyirgongo with them and the trip across the ocean was uneventful.
Meanwhile, the John Paul Jones arrived in Gulf of Aden south and slightly east of the Suez Canal and the Alliance base that was to be a forward base to defend the canal. The "base" itself, was still under construction, to be a defense against any that would approach the Suez base by water from the south. The locale men were being forced to do the work of building the base, the men's families were being used as hostages to make them work. The time constraint was heavy as ZAFT or the Federation could discover this base before it was done.
Neo had got into contact with the base's commander and gave him the rundown on why the John Paul Jones was here for. Current intelligence put a ZAFT force coming this way, the Minerva among them, assumed to be heading for the Suez base. The base's commander wasn't interested in helping Neo or others from Phantom Pain. However, the privileges that Phantom Pain had to take command and overrule others, gave Neo a way around this disagreeable officer and that's exactly what he did. Neo knew that if this base were to be discovered, that would make trouble later on. Plus, the loss of the Gaia during the battle against the Federation's Asgard Base had put Neo's team one machine down.
The Chaos and the Abyss would do fine, but the Minerva and its mobile suits had proven rather resourceful in previous encounters. Neo would be very satisfied if that ZAFT ship were to be destroyed or even being sunk would be good. The Alliance needed a serious morale boost, since lately, there had been anything but with the recent losses against ZAFT and the Federation. Then, with the Federation essentially closing their borders to the Alliance, things had been even more difficult, and the top brass were sending the flak down from them.
Neo ordered the captain of the Jones to keep the ship in its assigned position while the mobile suits deployed. Then he headed down to the ship's hanger and met up with Sting and Auel, who were waiting to board their machines. The Windams had been equipped with their Jet set equipment as the upcoming battle would be over the sea. The Alliance began launching their mobile suits and heading the direction that the Minerva was suspected to be traveling in.
The Abyss was the only machine that didn't fly in the air but used its mobile armor mode to travel underwater. The Chaos and the other Windams flew in squads towards their target that was getting closer to them. Even the Windams that were in charge of guarding the base launched, which didn't go unnoticed by the locales being forced to work. To them, that was seen as a good number of their guards would be away for a time and they were the more dangerous of those overseeing the base's construction.
When Neo's turn came to Launch in his own custom Windam, he finished checking over his machine's systems. "Finishing things with that ZAFT ship would really make my day," Neo said to himself, recalling the trouble he and others had with the Minerva. "Neo Roanoke, Windam taking off!"
The Minerva had come into view of the African Community and the Middle East by midday. And it wasn't too long after that, when the Minerva's sensor operator reported multiple signals incoming and identified them as Earth Forces mobile suits. Talia was surprised at hearing this, of course she knew that they would encounter Earth Forces, but it was earlier than expected. The Minerva and her allies were a sizable distance from Suez, so the question of where these Alliance forces came from was coming to mind. She told Meyrin to communicate to both subs of the situation and then declared Condition Red.
Burt Heim reported that the Alliance force was made up of forty Windams as well as the Chaos. Talia didn't like hearing that, for it had been a while, back in space since encounter any of the stolen mobile suits. "Where did this group come from," posed Talia.
Burt put in some commands, in hopes to answer the question, but he had no luck, "I can't find any vessels or any other Alliance craft in range."
Talia knew that there was not the time right now to figure out where their attackers were coming from. "Lower the bridge, prepare for anti-mobile suit combat and establish connections with the Degtyarev and the Nyirgongo," she ordered.
The Minerva's pilots quickly suited up and proceeded to their mobile suits, readying themselves to go out. The Impulse with the Force Silhouette, the Saviour and the Osiris launched, while Rey and Lunamaria were on standby to counter possible attacks that got past the others. Athrun took point while Aila was on the left and Shinn was on the right as they faced the approaching Windams.
Sting and Neo saw the three mobile suits come from the Minerva and instantly noted that one of them was unfamiliar. Neo tried to bring up data on the machine, but there was nothing, which implied that it was a new ZAFT model. It had to have joined the ship sometime after the Gulnahan incident. Not too long after seeing the new mobile suit, Sting shot forward towards the Saviour. Neo tried to tell Sting to be careful, but the Chaos was flying forward, showing that Sting was unlikely listening, but if he wanted to go against the unknown, so be it. Instead, Neo decided to handle the two that he and the others had encountered already. The gold suit had the more skilled pilot according to the data, while the white and blue machine had different equipment sets.
Shinn surged forward and began shooting down Windams, realizing that there were quite a lot of them. "Shinn, don't get too far ahead, we're outnumber in this battle, so quality, not quantity matters," Aila communicated.
Athrun was going to say that they would do better working as a team, but he was forced to dodge as the Chaos attacked him. Athrun shifted the Saviour into its mobile armor mode, which gave him better mobility and speed over the Chaos. Aila and Shinn managed to stay in the general vicinity of one another as the Windams started closing in around them. However, Neo rallied the other Windam pilots to work together to separate the ZAFT mobile suits so that they could be picked off one by one.
On the Minerva, Talia was wondering where these Alliance forces were coming from, as there weren't any known bases for the Earth Forces around the area. The closest Alliance base was the one at the Suez Canal and that was too far from the area to send mobile suits. There had been no ships detected in range that could be the carrier for the mobile suits, so there was no logical means for these Alliance mobile suits. Talia told Meyrin to get on the line with the Degtyarev and the Nyirgongo, "Captain Darius, where did these mobile suits come from, do you have anything that would help explain," she asked.
"I realize it seems strange, but we've detected nothing; no ships, nor any other mean. Degtyarev, have you found anything," Captain Darius posed.
The captain of the Degtyarev replied that they were seeing nothing, which left the question of where the Alliance force attacking them had come from. All three ZAFT vessels had been searching for signs of some sort of carriers for the Alliance. There was a possibility that there was an Alliance base around somewhere, but there was no intel on such activity around the general area. Yet the search was put on hold as both submarines detected a sonar contact, which was identified as a mobile suit, specifically the X31S Abyss. The submarines started launching mobile suits, while Talia ordered Rey and Lunamaria to equip underwater gear and head down under water.
Meanwhile, both the Osiris and the Impulse were being hard pressed to defend themselves against the onslaught from the Earth Forces. The Saviour was dodging the attacks from the Chaos and a few of the Windams. Athrun was forces to utilize his piloting skills to evade and fire back and destroying some the Windams. Aila was switching between the high-energy beam rifle and beam machine guns to fight back against the Windams, also adding the twin barrel vulcan guns. The Impulse was made to set it shield in front of its cockpit, while Shinn shot back with the Impulse's beam rifle.
Under the water, a number of GOOhN sub-aqua mobile suits ZAFT used, were setting their sites on the Abyss. By the time Rey and Luna entered the water, the GOOhNs were sending the torpedoes they had at the stolen machine. The Abyss evaded the torpedoes with its superior mobility underwater and then rushed forward and lance to start destroying the GOOhNs. Luna and Rey headed for the Abyss to stop it from destroying their allies.
Shinn was still being drawn away from his allies as he fought against his opponents. Neo had to admit, that the pilots from the Minerva with exception of the new one had improved. Yet, after a bit, a sight caught Shinn's attention for a moment, which was an expected collection of structures that looked out of place. Neo was caught up in attempting to taking down the Osiris while the Chaos kept going against the Saviour. That left Shinn left to deal with the few Windams that were attacking him as he drew closer to the structures.
At the unfinished Earth Forces base, alarms began sounding, and the soldiers rushed to defensive position. On the other hand, those that had been forced to work and build, decided that now was the best time to escape, so they dropped the tools and took the opportunity to run and get to their families. The locales heard the sound of gun fire start and hurried to the chain-link fence. Some got in front of the damaged sections of fence and helped others through one person at a time going through small holes into the ditch. Alliance guards noticed the movement shortly after it started and began shooting at the people that were sliding into the ditch and trying to climb up the other side.
The Impulse came into close view of the unfinished base, and even though fixed defenses began firing at the Impulse, yet due to the Impulse's phase shift armor, the guns did little. Shinn used the CIWS guns in his suit's chest to destroy the turrets shooting at him. Then Shinn got a view of what was going with the locales down in the ditch and the sight of them getting gunned down incensed him. These people were being killed and all they wanted was to be with their families! He wouldn't just stand by and let people die just because some believed they should!
Neo was seeing that this fight against ZAFT had morphed into a lost cause and the Windams that they borrowed had been wiped out. The enemy was in the process of discovering the base that was being built and none of the major targets had been taken down. Neo had to cut losses and contacted the Jones and told them to be ready to pick them up. Then, Neo ordered Sting and Auel to fallback, neither of two liked the order to retreat. Auel was irritated enough to claim he could take out one of the submarines and set out to do what he said. Rey and Luna attempted to stop the Abyss, but the Abyss managed to destroy the Degtyarev. The upwelling geyser that came from the sinking of the submarine was massive and couldn't be missed.
Shinn was destroying the Alliance forces and their equipment, first to take their attention off the people they were trying to escape, but also, to make the Alliance pay for what they had been doing. Aila, with the Osiris in its mobile armor mode, flew over where Shinn was razing the base, frowning at what she was seeing. As the Alliance mobile suits fell back, Athrun also flew over to where the smoke and fires were happening and witnessed Shinn destroying the Alliance base. The sight of Earth Forces' personnel running away and yet dying as they did so, brought back terrible memories from the previous war. "Shinn, stop this! None of them can fight back any longer, so enough of this," Athrun shouted over the radio.
At hearing Athrun, Shinn ceased attacking the base and moved over towards the ditch that had chain-link fence on both sides. The people on both sides fled out of the way as the Impulse approached the ditch. The Impulse grabbed both fences and pulled them upward and out of the ground completely, then let them drop. Once the fences were down, the women and children moved forward, while the men slide down the side of the ditch, the separated families and loved one reunited in the ditch.
By sunset, the mobile suits returned to their ships, and the Minerva resumed its journey towards Suez along with the Nyirgongo. The pilots were dismissed once back onboard however, before Shinn was able to leave the hanger, he was called out, "Shinn."
Shinn turned to see Athrun approaching, "Yes sir," he asked.
"Come with me, I would like to discuss something with you before you go off duty," Athrun stated.
Shinn was kind of curious as to what Athrun wanted to talk about, he followed Athrun into the pilot lounge. Athrun was gathering his thoughts along the way, for what Shinn had done on the battlefield shouldn't have happened. Shinn saving those people wasn't a bad thing, but things could have gone far worse than they had! Athrun saw that Shinn had potential to be a great pilot, but he was playing the hero and that came with cost of lives. The problem as Athrun saw it, Shinn didn't see the danger that could have happened, and he had to understand before such came to lives being lost.
Athrun reached the pilot lounge and turned to face Shinn and folded his arms, "Shinn, what happened out there today," he posed.
Shinn was kind of taken aback by the question, "What do you mean sir? I went out and fought the Earth Forces, like Aila, Rey, Luna and you," Shinn answered.
Athrun sighed, noting that Shinn was missing the point that he was trying to get across, "And tell me, what was your location in relationship to the ship for the majority of the battle?"
Shinn took a moment to think, "Um well," he began, before he started to see what Athrun was probably pointing out, "A distance from the ship sir."
Athrun nodded, "Yes, do you understand why that can be a rather problematic position?"
Shinn lowered his gaze, as he believed he knew where this was going, "Yes sir, I might not get back and defend the ship if the Minerva was in danger," he said evenly.
"That is true Shinn," Athrun said. "However, if that were the only thing that was done today, I wouldn't be having this conversation with you."
Shinn looked at Athrun, wondering what he was talking about, Athrun continued, "What you did to the Alliance base, wasn't wrong, but things could have been different than how they did. Imagine if you saved those people, but because you were away from the ship, Rey or Lunamaria was shot down and killed where they wouldn't have been if you had been close to the ship."
Shinn was shocked at what Athrun said, for it was completely unfair to pose, "Forgive me if it sounds insulting sir, but the scenario you paint is unfair," Shinn snapped.
Athrun nodded, "Indeed it is Shinn, but I bring it up for a reason, for the scenario I depicted is possible. The point I'm making, is that your decisions effect those around you. You might at some point find yourself in a situation that you will be forced to choose between two or more options and the outcome of each option will end with someone dead. The real choice you get to make is who it will be that dies, not if someone dies," Athrun iterated.
Shinn didn't like what he heard, and it irritated him, "And what you would you know about what you say," he demanded.
Athrun was somber, "By personal experience unfortunately. During the last war, I was ordered to steal a mobile suit along with four others. It came down to a comrade who was also a friend of mine and myself going for our targets, but we were pinned down by enemy forces. I was faced with a choice, go for the machine or cover my friend for him to make a dash for his target. If I had made a dash out for the suit I was to obtain, I wouldn't have likely made it without being shot and it was the same if my friend ran for his target. In the end, my friend lost his life covering me in my decision to rush for my target."
Shinn couldn't think of anything to say, so Athrun kept going, "You have potential Shinn, but you also need to think about your choices. Today, the battle was won however, the Degtyarev and her crew were lost as a price. So, be aware that what you do will have an effect on others that you need to consider. I say that so that you don't make decisions only to regret them and blame yourself for what happens Shinn."
-Line Break-
Western Pacific Ocean
It was mid-afternoon by the time we came close to Shira. Before surfacing, Tyler left with the Exia to return it to Teswa as he was borrowing the mobile suit. After the Exia left, the Archangel surfaced and made contact with Shira's docking center. The Archangel was given permission to dock, no real issue with the procedure, as the Archangel is considered a part of the Federation Military. It was recorded after the Second Battle of Jachin Due, and Archangel then was seen off duty until further notice. Where the last time that the Archangel had been here in Shira, the policies had not been well-received, there was just a cursory inspection and that was all.
After docking, the kids walked off the ship with Reverend Malchio and Caridad Yamato, Lacus, Kira and Cagalli followed closely behind them. For the crew of the Archangel, they along with the kids were invited over to the Prime Minister's residence as guests. When they arrived, they were greeted by the staff there. The niceties that the staff showed, frankly surprised all but Lacus, Kira and Cagalli. The invitation to the Prime Minister's residence was unexpected by the crew of the Archangel.
The Republic of East Asia's Prime Minister Ellen Blass had a well-known reputation in politics, even nicknamed the "Dragon of the Republic", but it was said that she was quite different off the political stage. The citizens of the Republic all said nothing but good things about their leader whenever asked. The woman was loved the people as they kept reelecting her each time elections came up in the Republic. Minister Blass was on her fifth straight term, so the woman and her cabinet had to be doing enough right in the Republic's citizens eyes.
Upon arrival at the Minister's residence, the kids began running around the immediate area, even though Caridad and Lacus attempt to calm them down and keep them together. Cagalli was kind of embarrassed by the display the kids were making, especially in this place as the owner was a woman that Cagalli respected the most. And Cagalli had a great deal of embarrassment today sent her way, from being kidnapped from her own wedding, then having to admit what she had on the bridge of the Archangel. She didn't see how things could be worse than they were now, but fate as it so often does, was good at proving such wrong.
"My my, it hasn't been this lively around here since the Horizon Jubilee, and I prefer this over that," said a feminine voice.
Everyone turned to the woman that came into the room, she was in a blue blouse and dress pants. Cagalli was horrified to see that she had been wrong about things not being able to become worse. Kira smiled at seeing Ellen as it had been a while since he had visited the Republic and seen Tyler's mother. In fact, in had been close to a year since he and Lacus had visited the Republic, to see Lacus' father Siegel who lived here. The rest from the Archangel stared at the woman and assumed that she was Ellen Blass. Ellen bowed, "To all of you, it is nice to meet you all, my name is Ellen Blass," she introduced herself.
The kids all rushed over to Ellen, and crowded around her, vying for her attention all at the same time. Cagalli moved forward, trying to get all of the kids organized and behaved, but the children didn't listen to her. Ellen squatted down and did give the children the attention that they were clamoring for. The sound of a door behind everyone came and they all turned, "I see that everyone else got here before me," said Tyler walking towards the group.
"Tyler, surprised you got by the front gate," remarked Andrew Waltfeld.
Tyler laughed, "You assume that I need to use the front gate, I know other ways to get inside here other than the front gate. Besides, I know those at the security checkpoint and they let me in with no issue, since I'm not a stranger to this place," he replied.
"Oh, and why would that be," asked Murrue curiously.
Instead of answering, Tyler strode forward into the view of the Republic's Prime Minister, "Hey, you're looking well as usual, and popular with the kids, must be a nice change from politics," Tyler said.
Ellen's gaze shifted to Tyler, "Indeed, and I hear that you have pulled not one, but two of your illustrious stunts, one last night and the other earlier today," she replied.
Tyler moved a hand to rub the back of his head, "You don't say, take it that you got to talk with Uzumi then," posed Tyler.
Everyone was watching and listening to the exchange with fascination as it continued, "Yes, Uzumi called me a couple of hours ago and regaled me with the damage left from the activities that occurred last night. Then he told me what happened earlier today that I wouldn't doubt that you had a hand in," Ellen said tiredly.
Tyler chuckled somewhat nervously, "Have to say, the man is well informed, did he say anything specific," he questioned.
Ellen gazed at Tyler for a moment, "As it happens Tyler, Uzumi asked me to tell you thank you for your actions, they were much appreciated."
Tyler smiled, "Glad to play a part, helping others in need, even when they don't necessarily think they need it is something I take seriously even if it doesn't look like it, you made sure of that mom."
The last word Tyler said, registered in the minds of those listening, then the implication sunk in. Many in the crew of the Archangel had been curious about who the parents of Tyler McGregor were, Natarle chief among them. Heck, there were some that had even made wild guesses as to who they could be. However, none of them in their most ludicrous imaginations would have ever guessed that the woman in front of them could be related to the trouble making young man. Murrue was the first to find use of her voice, "Wait, the Republic's Prime Minister is your mother Tyler?"
Tyler twisted around, "Yep, she," he said, gesturing to Ellen Blass, "is the woman that is responsible for bringing me into the world, whether you see that as a good or bad thing. And now, perhaps you can understand why I've gone to the efforts of making sure that my actions don't get connected to her?"
For those that had been original members of the Archangel's crew, it did make all the sense in the world why Tyler would want the identity of his mother secret now. With her being a major political leader in the Human Federation, with whatever Tyler might have done, it wouldn't be good for that to be traced back to Minister Blass. Ellen herself, who had been giving the children attention, rose back up, "Hard as it is to imagine with how Tyler acts at times, he is indeed my son," she confirmed.
Cagalli held herself back from blowing up at Tyler, she just faced Ellen, "Then why have you not curtail behavior like ruining official functions Ellen," she asked curtly.
Ellen sighed and rub her temple with a hand, "You refer to his ability as he puts it, to crash parties. Tyler developed that behavior on his own, my attempts to discourage it have not had the desired results unfortunately."
Tyler smiled, "I learned the art of mischief from dad, he was the quiet type that you should watch for he could do a neat prank. I was but a humble student of the art when I watched him," he piped up.
Ellen sighed, "Yes, your father did have that side to him and it did come out from time to time, but he knew better when not to give into those urges to not make a scene like you do," she remarked.
Ellen had a meal prepared for her guests' dinner, which was welcome after recent events. After dinner, all but the Archangel crew, with the exception of Andrew Waltfeld and Aisha were taken by Tyler to Shira's airfield and they all divided themselves into two groups to board the two helicopters waiting. Tyler made mention that the place he had arranged was easier to reach by air, before he climbed into one of the helicopter pilot seats, while Andrew and Aisha got behind the controls of the other craft.
The two helicopters took-off and the one Tyler was flying took the lead as they headed to wherever Tyler had arranged for the kids to go. The kids enjoyed flying in the helicopters as for most of them, it was the first time they had gotten to. The flight lasted close to half an hour and the sun was setting when they came out of the wide canyon they flew through to an area surrounded by mountains and a house in the middle of the area. The house was not small, nor was it huge, but somewhere in between, which had the children ooing and awing as they saw it coming closer.
-Line Break-
-Tyler's pov-
I brought the helicopter I was flighting down and hovered in to land in front of the house, the kids cheering, which got a smile to come to my face. Lacus and Kira made sure the kids on their craft didn't jump out and just going running around the place they were. Lacus once again asked me where we were and added the question of who it was that lived here. I merely told her what I had before, which was that she would find out soon enough in essence. It was kind of meant to be a surprise for her and the kids who it was that I went to for help for their situation. I know it will be a bit of a shock for most and for Lacus, likely a bigger shock, but in the end, it will work out, I feel it!
To say I wasn't disappointed in my expectation, was not wrong in any way. Caridad and Malchio were herding the kids from the helicopter they rode on over to where we were, when the door to the house open and I smile widely at seeing Siegel Clyne. "Hey Siegel, sorry for not bringing them earlier, but my mom insisted on providing them dinner beforehand," I greeted.
All attention shifted to the former chairman of the PLANTs, "It's fine Tyler, I would be surprised if Ellen would let these energetic individuals go without getting some time with them," Siegel replied.
Kira was looking at me to staring at Siegel to shaking his head but saying nothing. Lacus rushed forward and hugged her father, "It's good to see you Lacus, I'm glad you're safe. After being told about the attempted assassination you went through, I've been losing some sleep," greeted Siegel, before he turned to me. "Tyler, you have my gratitude for defending and saving my daughter's life."
I rubbed the back of my head with a hand, "Not a problem my good man, always ready and will to help a friend with whatever. It was probably better that it was me, Sakura would have not stopped at just eliminating the assassins but would've hunted down those that sent them and done the same," I said.
Siegel chuckled a bit, "Yes, Sakura would do just that I have no doubt," he replied.
The job of settling in the kids to the house that Siegel lived at currently took a bit of time, for it was dark by the time it was done. But once it was, Kira, Lacus, Waltfeld, his partner and I headed back to Shira's airfield in the helicopters. All other than myself went back to the Archangel, while I went back to the Normandy. I didn't reach my quarters before I bumped into Lisa, "Oh hey Lisa, thanks for holding down the ship while I was away," I said in greeting.
My friend nodded, "Don't mention it, the Normandy received new orders by the way," she said.
New orders? I wonder what we will be doing, "And those are Lisa," I asked.
She handed me a datapad, and I glanced over it and felt a mix of surprise and unpleasantness. The order had the Normandy going back to the field, I expected that, but not what we were assigned to do. Currently, there is dispute with borders with the Earth Alliance and the Federation, specifically borders between the Euros Coalition and the Eurasian Federation. The Normandy was to head to the Channel of Dardanelles, which was between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Fighting was expected to break out soon, in the next few days at most, the tension was that high.
After reading over the orders, I sighed, "When were these received Lisa," I inquired.
"This morning," she answered.
I took a moment to think, "Then we head out 0800 tomorrow, that should get us there by late evening or during the middle of the night the same day."
Lisa nodded, and I resumed the journey to my quarters, it had been a long day and it had started really early thank to those trying to kill Lacus. The sight of my quarters was a welcome one, I just fell onto my bed and was out within minutes.
The next morning came, and the crew of the Normandy working to get the ship ready to move out. I contacted the Archangel and gave them a simplified rundown of what was going on and what the Normandy was to do. Murrue actually said the Archangel could go with the Normandy, which I think was her and the crew wanting to do something. I wasn't going to say no to extra help, so I agreed to the offer from Murrue of the Archangel accompanying the Normandy.
It was after eight in the morning, when the Normandy left the port at Shina, the Archangel following shortly afterwards. We took to the air and began making the journey towards the area that the Normandy was assigned to go. The trip took us across the Republic and the Equatorial Union and continued on to what was known as the Middle East. From there, we would go northwest to the Dardenelles Channel area.
-Line Break-
-Neutral pov-
Red Sea
The Minerva entered the Red Sea after the battle with the Alliance forces at the Gulf of Aden. Granted, the loss of the Degtyarev wasn't nice or helpful, but the results of the battle could have been worse. Yet, allies from Gibraltar and forces from a base near the Black Sea that were heading for the Alliance's Suez base, so meeting up with them should help in the goal of breaking the control that the Suez base gave the Alliance.
The Earth Alliance's Suez Base controlled the canal between the Mediterranean Sea and the way to the Indian Ocean and from there, the Pacific Ocean. That wasn't all that the base had influence over, it was also a supply base from which distributed to Alliance bases in the Eurasia Federation and the South African Union. The Suez Base had made things more difficult for movements and operations for ZAFT. Hence, the objective of going against the Alliance Base, to disrupt the absolute control of the Alliance. The destruction of the base wasn't necessary, and if not for the abuse of the control of the canal, this operation wouldn't be needed.
So, when orders came to change course and detour for the ZAFT base by the city of Diocuia, the crew of the Minerva was wondering what was going on. They parted ways with the Nyirgongo and went over land, heading for the ZAFT base. A full day went by as the Minerva traveled without much events of note. The Minerva dropped into the eastern Mediterranean Sea as the sun rose and she turned to point towards the Dardanelles Channel. Beyond that, was the Sea of Marmara and the city of Diocuia and the ZAFT base. Another day went by with little happening, but the tension was building as they got closer to the Minerva's new destination.
It was the earlier part of the morning, when the Minerva was approaching the entrance of the strait, that things changed. Ahead of the Minerva, right in front of and even through the Dardenelles Channel were both Earth Alliance and Federation forces. The Dardenelles Channel, formerly the Dardenelles Strait had once been longer than it was now according to historical records. There had been a narrow stretch of land that had come from the northern landmass. That had changed over time as the stretch of land sink into the ocean, making the 'strait' into a large channel that was between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. On the northern side of the strait, was Federation forces faced off against the Alliance vessels on the south side of the channel.
The issue for the Minerva was that the Federation and Alliance were duking it out and making passing through the channel essentially suicidal. From long-range observation, it appeared to that the fighting had only recently started, but the reasons were uncertain. Talia Gladys had the Minerva come to a halt and called a meeting of particular personnel on the ship.
When all that were called for assembled in the briefing room, which included the pilots, Arthur and Talia herself, there were mixed reactions. The pilots were wondering what was going on, since their orders to go against Suez had changed and now they had come to a stop. Talia began the meeting, "Our current orders are to travel to the ZAFT base around the area of Diocuia between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Normally, we would sail though the Dardenelles Channel to the base however, currently, that is a problem," started Talia.
Arthur brought up the live feed of what was ahead of them, and all the Minerva's pilots looked at the ongoing battle with varying expressions, most of which were of shock and worry. The battle that was being fought out even seen from a distance, was huge, ugly and neither side appeared to show signs to be willing to give to the other. Talia continued where she had paused, "You can see it for yourselves, a harsh battle is going on, the Federation versing the Alliance."
"The captain and I believe from what we see, that this battle has to do with a territorial dispute," Arthur added.
Talia nodded, "That being the assumption, it would be best that we not be involved with the dispute. Still, we need to get pass this, going around will take a good deal longer and will like being filled with other issues. So, it comes down to choosing between going around this conflict taking longer or jumping into the battle ahead of us," she stated.
Lunamaria spoke up first, "I say go around this, like the captain said, we shouldn't get involved in this fight."
"It doesn't matter in my view," Rey said.
Shinn shrugged, "I agree with Rey, either way works, both have their pros and cons."
Aila was studying the feed of the fight, "I would actually vote for going forward and getting into this battle. Before now, we've been taking on the Earth Forces that come our way by ourselves, in this it wouldn't be the case, or at least, all the attention wouldn't be on us," she iterated.
Talia turned to Athrun, "And what about you Athrun, what are your thoughts on the choices," she asked.
Athrun didn't say anything right away, he just looked at the battle and thought about what the best course would be. Truthfully, going around was no better than fighting to Athrun, the Alliance wasn't going to leave the Minerva alone. And as Aila had mentioned, if the Minerva joined the fight ahead of them, then the attention wouldn't be focused on them alone. "Both choices have merit, but if I were to suggest one over the other, then I would say that going forward and as you put it captain Gladys, jumping into the battle, would be the better of the two choices," Athrun stated.
Talia nodded, "I came to the same conclusion. Then all of you are to suit up and standby to launch out in your mobile suits," she ordered.
All the pilots saluted and headed off to do what Talia ordered, while Talia turned to Arthur, "We're going to go to condition red Arthur."
"Yes ma'am," Athrun replied.
The two raced back to the bridge, Talia ordered the Minerva to set course toward the channel ahead and prepare for combat. As the Minerva drew closer, the real intensity of the skirmish between the Federation's military and the Earth Forces became clearer. Ships of every known classes were visible for both the Alliance and the Federation, firing at one another. The clash of mobile suits above the ships, was a mess and following individual suits was nigh impossible. Explosions filled the air along with beams going back and forth, muddling any signs of who might be winning this fight. The battle wasn't pretty for either side, though the Alliance was appearing to be taking more harsh losses by a margin, but not a very large one. That was not to say that the Federation was winning and had the advantage, they were taking losses as well.
Talia had Meyrin contact the lead ship for the Federation, and when she had, the Federation captain was curt and to the point with telling Talia to state her business or cut the communication. Talia could understand the tone, it wasn't appreciated to be interrupted while you were in a battle. So, she told the Federation officer that the Minerva was trying to get to Diocuia and to get through the channel, the Minerva would like to 'unofficially' help the Federation in their fight with the Alliance. The Federation Commander replied that it wouldn't be refused, but that the Minerva would be watching after itself. Talia acknowledged the point that the Minerva would be defending herself.
The Minerva moved towards the Federation side of the Dardenelles Channel, taking a place close to a few Dolphes-class cruisers. The Impulse was the first to launch out, Shinn going with the Force silhouette for this fight. The Saviour and the Osiris came out of the linear catapults and were followed by Lunamaria's ZAKU Warrior with the gunner wizard and Rey's ZAKU Phantom. The battlefield was even harsher looking up close for the Minerva's mobile suit pilots.
-Line Break-
-Tyler's pov-
The battle against the Earth Forces in the Dardenelles Channel had been going on for hours, I had started just after sunrise. The tension had been building to its breaking point even before the Normandy and Archangel got here early yesterday morning. It had broken when the Alliance initiated its assault on the Euros Coalition side of the channel. Both the Alliance and us defenders had ended out having to start staggering resupply for mobile suits between the first and second hour of this battle. The Earth Forces were stubbornly fighting on without stopping, drawing this fight out into the hours it has been thus far.
I myself, had to go back to the Normandy by the end of the third hour and do so again at the end of the sixth. Nuclear reactors have lots of power, but it's not infinite or limitless, the Freedom had to go in at about the same rate as I did, but other mobile suits had to resupply more frequently. The Strike Rogue and the Shadow were forced to resupply more often. Cagalli had been adamant about doing something and she settled on piloting for some reason. Then, Lacus volunteered as well and she picked the Shadow as it was the other mobile suit on the Archangel available. Kira hadn't been the keenest on letting Lacus go out, but I kind of pulled him aside and leveled with him that Lacus was going to go out whether any of us wanted her to or not. Kira begrudgingly accepted my point, though he still didn't like it, but we needed pilots and mobile suits out on the field.
Anyways, when the Aurora's resupply was complete, I headed back out to the battlefield for likely another long fight with the Earth Forces. I was wondering when this was going to end. Either the Alliance force would retreat, or they would be wiped out, I was hoping for the former rather than the latter, but it's looking more like the latter with how long this skirmish was going.
I saw that like for much of the battle, Cagalli and Lacus were sticking together, which worked for them. Lacus was fairly good with the Shadow… not as good as I was with it, but I'm a top pilot and had lots of practice and Lacus hasn't. Piloting a mobile suit is more Sakura's thing, but Lacus does decently with the idea, especially as she doesn't do it a great deal after the First Alliance-PLANT War. Cagalli… Well, I'm of the opinion that she has issues that she's working out, but that's my personal opinion and Cagalli isn't fond of listening to those lately. I mean, yes, I authored the plan that got her out of being married to the jerk Yuna Seiran and that might have been a tad embarrassing. I don't think she's going to let that go for a while, even though I came up with the plan to help her, the things I do to be helpful, I tell you.
Honestly, Kira and I were the ones that should be out fighting and not the two girls, they're too nice for this kind of thing. Heck, Kira is too kind-hearted for duking things out with the Alliance, but I think that he was getting restless. I know the feeling, this conflict was getting bad fast, the Alliance was just being led by idiots these days.
Back to the fight, the battle had a long while ago become tedious and now it was more grueling, and it would continue to be I wager. I resumed where I had left off, shooting at Alliance mobile suits, them shooting back at me, I block them, they get damaged or destroyed. I did catch sight of the Freedom back on the field doing the same as me, for whatever reason, Kira and I were a tad more popular than others. However, it was around twenty minutes after I was back on the field that I saw an odd machine coming from the bowels of an Alliance Spengler-class. The machine I was guessing was a mobile armor, not of a type I've seen before now was bigger than any mobile suit. It was definitely larger than an average mobile armor by a notable margin, it was green overall and had an orange stripe up the middle. It appeared to be well armed and could take on opponents from multiple directions, if the weapon positioning was anything to go by.
A second one of the same type of mobile armor was being deployed from another Spengler-class. I certainly didn't like the look of the mobile armors, the weapon loadout appeared to be meant to destroy on mass scale. The two mobile armors launched and floated forward, shooting at any Federation mobile suit that came near them. The projectile cannons were annoying, but their heavy beam cannons were harsh and had a tendency to destroyed what they were aimed at. So, I made the closest of the two mobile armors my target, moved closer and brought out my plasma cannons. Yet, when I fired at the mobile armor, it deployed what looked like a field over itself, which blocked my shots.
I'd heard rumors that the Earth Alliance had been attempting to develop a shield or field that could block beams and conventional weaponry. It looks like they were successful in doing so, but why not use it until now would be my question. The idea complicates things a margin admittedly, since that field being on means that ranged weapons won't work the same if at all against the mobile armor. That leaves one option, getting up close and personal, and that came with risks, due to the weapons the craft had.
I backed up a bit and found the Freedom coming up next to me, "Tye, any idea what that thing is," Kira asked.
"Nope, I've never seen that thing, my guess is it's a newer type of mobile armor for the Alliance. The problem is it has a field that can block most if not all ranged weapons, so taking it out will be a bit more of a challenge," I replied.
There was a pause, "Any suggestions on how we can disable it," Kira pose.
I thought for a moment, trying to figure out a way to take out the mobile armor and not potentially get killed for it. Then an idea popped into my mind, "I think I might have a way to do it, we double team it. We charge it at high speeds, you go over it while I go under it and was cut with beam sabers as we pass. If we can disable that field's emitters, then it will be easier to disable it from being able to cause trouble," I stated.
"That would put us in the line of fire you know Tye," Kira said.
I didn't miss a beat, "Then isn't a good thing that we're good at dodging my friend," I posed.
I heard Kira sigh, "Okay, let's do it then," he returned.
Kira and I began flying towards the mobile armor, the Freedom above the Aurora. I shifted the Aurora into its flight mode and began firing the vulcan guns at our target to throw its pilot or pilots off. The mobile armor took notice of Kira and I approaching, the projectile cannons began shooting at the two of us. We were weaving out of the way of the shots, which were added to by the energy cannons, that the readout said was a multi-phase beam. Still, Kira and I were up to evading as we kept closing the distance between us and the mobile armor. It was becoming obvious that the pilot of the armor was getting more desperate as the Freedom and Aurora got closer.
Just before flying under the mobile armor, I switched the Aurora to its mobile suit mode and drew a beam saber. Yet, before Kira and I reached the craft, where it had multi-phase beam cannons, changed into claws which quickly started to glow red. As the Freedom when over the top of the armor, it tried to make a swipe to grab the Freedom but missed. The thing also made a lunge at me as well, but like with the Freedom, it missed me. Kira and I zoomed over and under it, using beam sabers to cut gashes into the machine. Kira clipped off the center fin, where one of the field emitters appeared to have been, while I cut a line that had arcs of energy going after I passed, meaning I sliced some power lines.
It was now time to test whether the charge that Kira and I made, produced desired results of disabling the reflection field. I took out the Aurora's beam rifle and took aim while the mobile armor turned to face me. I shot its right back arm, and there was no field that blocked it, meaning Kira and I disable that reflector. Using a plasma cannon, I took the shot and the mobile armor got a hole through it and exploded.
Nonetheless, Kira and I quickly became separated again by Alliance forces and I was forced back onto the defensive. For the next twenty minutes, I tried to make headway, but had very little to show for the efforts. The Earth Forces were dug in and were giving up, plus another Spengler-class vessel appeared, and with it came the two Gundam-types that I last saw during the assault on Asgard. The green one soon enough made its way towards me, clearly looking for a fight, why with me, I can't say.
The pilot, whoever they were, weren't half bad, yet they also gave off some of the signs that Stella Loussier had. That said to me that they were probably from the Enhanced Human Project, and they could be mean and dangerous. The suit certainly had an array of weapons to use, and its pilot was utilizing most if not all of the arsenal. The next full thirty minutes, I spent dancing with the green Gundam-type, neither one of use doing significant damage to one another. However, my guess was my opponent was running low on power, since they don't have a nuclear reactor as I do.
The next thing I registered, I had beams shooting towards me and I used the deflection shield to prevent the beams from hitting me. When I spotted the one who had fired at me, I found myself looking at yet another mobile armor, but this one I've seen specs for, but never seen in person, the Alliance's TS-MB1B Euclid. It had some similarities as the one Kira and I took down but was smaller and had less weapons to work with. I also bet that it has a reflector like the other one, which will make dealing with it annoying.
I activated the Aurora's stealth system and disappeared from sight and the mobile armor was quickly occupied by others. It was as I was working my way around to get behind the mobile armor, that I spotted mobile suits that I'm fairly sure are on the ZAFT ship Minerva. Why the Minerva would be around here, I haven't the faintest idea and honestly, I don't care by this time. This battle has been going on for long enough, any that help out in bring this to a close, I say the more the merrier.
Anyways, I did manage to get behind the mobile armor, noticing that the reflector that I expected it had, was emitted from parts on either side. I landed on the center section of the armor reappearing, took out a beam saber and stabbed one side, getting the emitter and using my beam rifle to puncture the other emitter. Leaping off of the armor, forcing it to drop a distance downward while I took aim with one of my plasma cannons. I fired and made a hole through the machine and it was destroyed by exploding.
Yet, I was not given a break at all, Earth Forces mobile suits attacked me, and I had to do acrobatics to evade. I received help in the form of a red Gundam-type mobile suit, shooting at the Alliance suits. A few minutes of watching the fighting style of the one helping me, I knew it was Athrun in the suit. And thankfully, Athrun and I can still read each other and make a heck of a team. As if to prove the point, we both moved forwards at the Alliance mobile suits in sync. Athrun shifted his suit's beam rifle to the left hand and I tossed the Aurora's beam rifle up to him and he caught it. I drew both my beam sabers and surged forward at the Earth Forces machines, Athrun covering me by firing the beam rifles in rapid succession. We destroyed the series of mobile suits, me slashing and Athrun pegging the others. Athrun dropped my beam rifle and I caught it before flying off to other areas of the battlefield.
-Line Break-
-Neutral pov-
Shinn and Rey were working together on fighting the Earth Forces, both taking in the difference in the ways that the Federation and the Alliance fighting. The Federation clearly utilized team work far more than the Alliance did, while the Alliance relied on numbers. The Alliance forces were definitely not making this battle easy, they were determined to get a foot hold in the Federation's Euros Coalition territory.
It wasn't long after coming onto the battlefield, that the Alliance sent out mobile armors, two of them were the same as the Minerva faced on its way to Carpentaria. The difference was that there were two of them instead of one. Rey and Shinn began approaching the closer Zamza-Zah, but Rey got separated from Shinn. The Impulse kept going towards the mobile armor, yet Shinn caught sight of a mobile suit that he had seen images of, the X10A Freedom. It was one of the more well-known mobile suits from the previous war for the things it did. With the Freedom, was the red Federation mobile suit, the same one that had been seen around Armory One.
The two machines zoomed towards the other Zamza-Zah, avoiding the shots from the mobile armor. They sliced at the armor as they passed, the Freedom over the top and the other along the underside. The red suit shot its beam rifle at the armor and destroyed one of its legs, before using one of its cannons to finish the mobile armor.
Shinn refocused on the Zamza-Zah ahead of him and before he reached it, the Osiris launched an attack against it. When the Zamza-Zah was distracted, Shinn closed the rest of the distance and dodged the glowing claw that had got him the last time. He drew one of the Impulse's beam sabers and slammed it down into the middle and slashed towards the front. The mobile armor lost its ability to fly and fell, hit the water before blowing up.
Shinn didn't get long to appreciate the job he did, because the Chaos and the Abyss along with a group of Windams began attacking him and Aila. However, Federation mobile suits broke up the unfair fight and separated the Alliance machines, letting Aila and Shinn come up for air. As the battle dragged on, the Minerva's mobile suits had to start coming back to the ship to resupply. When Shinn brought the Impulse in to resupply, he decided to go with a different silhouette flier, which pretty much required the Impulse be disassembled.
The Impulse launched out again assembled with the Blast silhouette equipped this time. When Shinn arrived back on the battlefield, he quickly spotted a new mobile armor attacking. The Saviour and Impulse moved to intercept the armor as it turned towards the Minerva. Yet, when fired upon, the mobile armor activated a positron reflector it had, blocking the incoming beams. The reflector prevented any effective attacks from Athrun or Shinn, while allowing the mobile armor to fire away with its high-energy beam cannons and gatling guns. However, minutes later, the Aurora appeared on the center section of the armor. The red suit took out a beam saber stabbing one side clean through, destroying the reflector emitter, then used its beam rifle to do the same damage on the other side. After destroying the reflector emitters, the Aurora leapt off the mobile armor, forcing it downwards and shot it first with its beam rifle and then a heavier beam cannon. The result of the actions was the mobile armor fell and then exploded.
Shinn was shortly occupied by other Alliance suits and was separated from the Saviour. Nonetheless, Shinn did see the Saviour again, helping the red Federation suit from earlier. The sight of the Saviour shifting its beam rifle to its left hand was odd, but then came a scene that Shinn wouldn't soon forget. The Federation mobile suit tossed its beam rifle upward, which was caught by the Saviour. Then, the Federation machine rocketed forward with a beam saber in each hand, hacking and slashing while the Saviour used both beam rifles to cover the red suit. The two together took down between twenty-five and thirty Earth Forces suits in around a minute.
It was unreal to Shinn seeing such synced teamwork, it had been as if both Athrun and the other pilot had been reading one another's mind. But, Shinn was forced back to fighting when he was attacked by Earth Forces machines. Nevertheless, the surprises weren't done appearing yet, and the one that came next shocked the pilots of the Minerva, with the exception of Athrun. It came close to three quarters of an hour later, when the Aurora suddenly became able to see attacks coming without looking. It didn't stop there, the other part of this 'surprise' was even more unbelievable, and that the pilot had become incapable of missing. Every attack from the Aurora hit the intended target, even if the Alliance suit was attempting to dodge. It was like the pilot of the Aurora already knew where their target would be before they did, which sped along this battle among other things.
It was midafternoon when the Alliance fired the retreat signal and the battle came to a close. It had lasted about ten hours in total, the Minerva coming in between the sixth and seventh hour. The Minerva's mobile suits returned, and the ship proceeded forward toward Diocuia.
-Line Break-
Western area of the Republic
Earth Forces launched from a base that was close to the northwestern border of the Republic. They were keeping low so as to not be detected by Federation forces after crossing the border. The Alliance force's mission was to go to a 'facility' close to the northwestern border and retrieve one of the Alliance Extendeds that was there for some reason. The soldiers were prepared for some resistance as there could be some, there was not much information on the place, nor what or who was there. The Extended, Stella Loussier, was wanted for an upcoming mission was the explanation from the top brass.
The sheer amount of danger and risk involved in this mission, was clear and not even joked about. The Earth Forces were crossing into territory that they had no influence or sway in and those that had that, weren't fond of the Earth Alliance at all, especially the military. Relations between the Alliance and the Federation were the worst they had been historical speaking. If any of the Earth Forces were caught in this, they were on their own and they all knew that. Mobile suits would be following them soon, but when the Federation forces here in the Republic, those pilots would be outgunned and outnumbered quickly.
The soldiers were silent as they traveled on the aircraft towards their destination, all of them with a serious air. The one person that wasn't a soldier was nervous, as there was so little information on the place they were going. But the nervousness could be due to stress as there was lots of that lately for those that worked at Lodonia Lab. It was shortly after Dr. Moss disappeared that the Alliance had changed how things ran. Things hadn't improved, just became more unpredictable than it was when Dr. Moss had run things. The journey took less than half an hour, before the first sight of the area their mission would take place in. Structures and buildings for habitation were spread around the valley, while there were some larger buildings at one end of the valley.
Meanwhile, the aircraft weren't fully silent or undetectable, there were some around Shangri-La that heard the sounds of four transports approaching. Mina Moss had been preparing to retire for the night, when she registered the sounds of the aircraft. And as Federation forces wouldn't approach from the northwest, nor at this time of night, there were only two possibilities, either ZAFT or the Alliance forces were coming. Personnel from either group would not come here at this time if it was for friendly purposes. So, Mina grabbed the modified revolver she had, and a bag filled with darts filled with mixtures that Mina herself had come up with.
Next, Mina headed over to where her girls slept and woke them up and told them to go to the hanger that Shangri-La had. The girls headed off without question, whereas Mina made her way outside, activating the alarm that Shangri-La had to alert the inhabitance of trouble. The girls were going towards the three mobile suits that they piloted in the previous war and were still completely capable of using. No matter who it was coming here to complicate things, the fools would not be greeted nicely at all. If it was the Alliance as Mina suspected, then they would get a firsthand experience of what candidates from the Enhanced Human Project could do. When Mina had gotten outside, the sight of Alliance aircraft hovering low to drop off their occupants. Mina loaded the cylinders of her revolver with fatal darts and then proceeded towards the valley of Shangri-La.
The second the first group of Alliance soldiers touched the ground, they headed forward towards the valley. They were quickly forced to be aware of their surroundings when gun fire came their way from some of the larger structures. The Alliance soldiers returned fire, but kept moving forward, searching for their target. However, they were taken by surprise as people that ranged from appearing to be teenagers to young adults, came out of the darkness and attacked them. These individuals quickly proved that they knew how to fight and could kill by overwhelming the Alliance soldiers that were coming into the valley. As more Alliance soldiers came, more inhabitance in Shangri-La woke and joined the fight against the Alliance forces.
Stella had been sleeping, but Max had woken her with his whining and it didn't take long for Stella to understand that something was happening that wasn't supposed to. As Stella approached the door, it was kicked open and a soldier in an Alliance uniform came in. When the man spotted Stella, he strode over to her and grabbed her arm, "Stella Loussier, you are to come immediately for a-" the man stated, but he never finished instead grunting in pain.
Stella saw that Max had bit down hard on the man's leg and was holding fast, even as the man tried to shake off Max. The puppy that she had been looking after, was attempting to protect her, even if Stella couldn't identify the reason why, other than they were friends. However, the soldier managed to shake Max off and send the puppy smacking into the nearest wall with a yelp. Witnessing the sight of Max getting hurt, had the effect on Stella that she wished to hurt the soldier for what he did. In fact, Stella rushed forward without thinking and crashed into man, wrestled the gun from his grip and then turned it the soldier and pulled the trigger.
After the soldier stopped moving, Stella hurried over to where her canine friend had landed. Max was breathing, but he was clearly hurt by being flung as he had. Stella put down the gun and carried the puppy to the bed and set him down gently. Max opened his eyes a small bit and licked Stella's hand, before he closed his eyes again and didn't move much. Seeing this angered Stella, she went over and grabbed the gun she had taken from the soldier and headed outside.
The scene outside was one of chaos, the candidates that were around Shangri-La were fighting back against the Alliance forces. The sounds of battle echoed around the valley as the Alliance kept trying to accomplish their goal. Mina was walking around, shooting the soldiers that she came across, leaving them in agony before their deaths occurred and looking for the one in-charge of these invaders. Mina wasn't happy in any way to see Earth Alliance personnel again, every time she was around them, they only caused issues for everyone else. Mina might have 'loosened up' somewhat after leaving the Lodonia Lab, but she still detested others interfering with her work.
Although the sight of the Raptor, the Sinister and the Bandit coming out from behind the waterfall and shooting down the Alliance mobile suits that were taking to hover around the valley certainly brightened Mina's mood, if only a little. Her daughters were proving their skills by beating the Alliance pilots with ease and that brought a smile to Mina's face. Lori was already organizing counters to the intruders and was steps ahead of the fools, things were going as well as they could all things considered.
It took more than five minutes for Mina to find the one she sought, identified by the man giving out commands to others. Mina approached the small group of soldiers, her revolver reloaded and ready. She shot darts at the soldiers as he got closer, which got the attention of the rest as their comrades fell to the ground and quickly began to writhe in pain. Guns were pointed at Mina, who didn't react at all to other than shooting darts at all but the leader of the bunch. She then focused on the leader who was still standing, "Your intrusion is not appreciated at all you foolish jar headed soldier," Mina stated coldly as she pointed her revolver at the leader.
"You bi**h!" shouted the lead Alliance soldier.
Mina didn't move, "It's fitting as well as ironic, that you come to interfere with my work, and yet it is the results of my work that is repelling you," she remarked.
The leader shook his pistol at Mina, "Who the hell do you think you are," he barked.
Mina glanced over at the one non-soldier here and only other standing, to which the man flinched. Mina knew the man, had seen him before as he had worked at the Lodonia Lab, so she shifted her gaze back to the lead soldier, "You can ask Mr. Matthews, he's likely the only one using his brain for its purpose at the moment."
"D-Dr. Moss," uttered Matthews, tones of fear audible.
Mina calmly moved her revolver's cylinder to be open, reached into her bag of darts and took out some more and loaded the empty chambers. Then she flicked the cylinder back into place and pointed at the soldier, who after seeing that the revolver was loaded with darts, was laughing. Mina simply shot him with a dart at the neck and then trained the gun on the scientist. "Start talking Matthews, I doubt I need to iterate what will happened if you don't, for it is still the same as before. And for your information, the dart I'll shoot you up with, is my personal blend that others named "view of hell"," Mina said emotionlessly.
Matthews went pale at hearing what Mina intended to shoot him up with should he not do what he was told. To hear that the darts being fired off the revolver contained mixtures that Mina Moss came up with was scary enough. Seeing the idea was worse, as the soldiers writhing on the ground in pain made clear the type of mixtures being used. For the former head of Lodonia to say that she would use one of the concoctions that had been given a name by others that Mina Moss had worked with, said the mix was especially nasty from her, and the woman was not nice to begin with. Matthews did the best option he had in this, he spilled his guts about what he knew about the question. "The Alliance forces that were sent here were to retrieve an individual and bring them back for something. The individual was Stella Loussier, I don't know what Logos wants her for, only that they need an Extended for whatever it is," he said in a panic.
Mina suspected that Earth Forces personnel might be sent here at some point, it was one of the risks of leaving the influence of the Alliance. Nonetheless, of the candidates here at Shangri-La, why pick Stella Loussier as the one to bring back? That was the point of this that didn't make logical sense to Mina. But Matthews didn't appear to know more than what he had said, so Mina waved her revolver, "Fine then, make yourself useful Matthews, ignore the Alliance soldiers you see," she stated.
The man did what he was told, knowing that Mina wasn't one you questioned if you wanted to live without pain. Mina then took out a com-unit, "Lori, it would seem that these intruders are here to pick up, their target is Stella Loussier."
"Stella Loussier? But, why her of all the candidates here," Lori asked.
"Honestly, I don't know the reasons. However, I doubt they intend to leave without her, so either we wipe them all out or have some follow them back to their base they came from," Mina replied.
"As usual, that's easier said than done, but I'll see what we can do on the first option. The second option is your department Mina," Lori shot back.
"Agreed Lori, and no need to be nice to these Alliance Marauders, if we don't handle them, then I wouldn't doubt the Federation Military will," Mina said, before ending the conversation with Lori.
She then connected to the Bandit's cockpit, "Deborah, the Alliance forces are here to take Stella Loussier, should they do so, you and your sisters are to follow them back to their base. When you three find the base, do your best to prevent the Alliance from taking Stella further away. And it would be best that none of you are seen following, do you understand," Mina posed.
"Yes mother, we'll do it," Deborah replied.
Mina then moved on to finding what soldiers she could, making them pay for their interference in the work being done here. At the same time, Stella was going around, helping the others like her here deal with those that were intruding. However, a group of Alliance soldier managed to overpower the group Stella was with and dragged her away. Stella fought back the best she could, but the men restraining her were stronger than she was. The dragged her to an aircraft and once on board, the craft lifted into the air and began flying away from the valley that Shangri-La was in.
The next sight that Stella saw was the view of an Alliance base the aircraft was coming into and it was not a sight that Stella wanted to see. When the aircraft landed, Stella was forced off the craft and was being taken to one of the large structures on the base. Stella struggled as she was dragged by the soldiers. Even when she was taken inside, things didn't improve at all, for Stella didn't want to go back to what she had been doing before Shangri-La. That in mind, she fought harder to break the hold that the soldiers had on her.
Even seeing Neo, Sting and Auel didn't help Stella, she didn't want to be here and wanted to go back to Shangri-La. Things had been going well and circumstance had been improving for her, so Stella wanted to continue in that. Whereas, Sting and Neo Roanoke were baffled and worried at seeing Stella struggling against the Alliance personnel. All they had been told was Stella would be brought to this base for them to pick her up. Nothing had been said about how or where she was found, just that she would be brought here. Sting moved forward, "Stella, calm down, you're going to be okay," he said.
Neo hoped that hearing Sting would help Stella calm down, but it did nothing as the girl continue to struggle. She broke free of those that were holding her down and made distance from them. Auel walked forward towards Stella, "If don't stop Stella, then you're going to die," he said in a sing song voice.
Sting rounded on Auel and started chided him on using another's block word, but then Auel received a fist to his cheek. Auel stumbled back a few steps, before he looked up and saw that Stella had been the one to hit him. Everyone else in the room was stunned at what had just happened, not only had Stella struck Auel, she hadn't reacted like she normally would to her block word being said. True, Stella after striking Auel, clutched her head with clear signs of pain, but she wasn't losing control like she would before. Clearly something had changed while she had been separated from Neo and the others of her trio.
Neo was going to see what he could do to calm Stella, but the ground shook before he could, which was followed by men and women scream and the sound of explosions and weapon fire. Sting put an arm around Stella as Neo went to the entrance of the building to see what was going on. The sight of three mobile suits unknown Gundam-types attacking the base was not a welcome one to Neo. He was really starting to wonder where Stella had been brought from and why she had come to this base particular. This Alliance base was uncomfortably close to the Republic's border and the Federation had tightened their security lately.
Neo rushed back inside and grabbed one of the men that had brought Stella, "Where did you bring Stella from," he demanded.
The man Neo was demanding information from was shaking, "A backwater settlement," the man stuttered.
That wasn't enough, the mobile suits outside were here for a reason and Neo was worried that some idiot had done some border hopping. Border hopping came with serious repercussions these days and with the relations between the Alliance and the Federation was bad, it could lead to the Alliance fighting both ZAFT and the Federation at the same time. "And was that 'backwater settlement' on the Republic's side of the border?!" Neo posed.
The soldier didn't answer, but he didn't have to, his silence said that wherever those that had retrieved Stella had gone for her, it had been in Federation territory. Now the three Gundam-types were razing the base and doing an admittedly an impressive job. Neo let go of the soldier and turned to Auel and Sting, "We're leaving now," he said before he grabbed Stella and began guiding her towards where an aircraft was waiting.
Phase End
A/n
There was lots of stuff in this Phase, mostly battles, but that's where this went. The next Phase will be more story advancement and less fighting, it's the exchange in my view. Thanks for reading this Phase and some of you leave comments and reviews, peace out all!
Duked
The wedding scene was more meant to be a power grab for the Seirans as Uzumi and those who agree with him still has the overall control of Orb politics. Yes, politics play a horrid part and it was for kicks and giggles for me as is kind of referred to for Tyler's characteristics 'party crashing'. The GN Drives are not the exact same as from Gundam 00, there are similarities but that's all I'll say for the moment.
KakeruPB
Why thank you, you'll be in for treats as this story keeps going, for it crosses with ideas from Gundam 00. As for Lacus' mobile suit, I've been creating one for her, but it won't come into play until later. I hope I can say it will be worth the wait, but Lacus is going to play a part soon enough, I promise. I forgot to mention that she wears the Kimono from Destiny as she looks better in my opinion in it.
Titanic X
I don't like the way America is portrayed either, and in the next Phase is went that starts changing!