Spectre: Took me a while. Well maybe because I was busy building my MG Astray Red Frame Kai so that is why I haven't updated.
To Ghostly: I could see if possible. They weren't quick but rather skeptical but began to accept him as time would pass by due to his contribitions. He would definetly keep the GN Drive's secrets, since the drives the 00 had were improved Tau Drives that could be replicated by Seed-era technology and he didn't want to have another Operation Fallen Angel at that matter or a corrupt government getting their hands on it. And regarding when this is before the Awakening of the Trailblazer, this is set six months after season 2, so ELS won't be showing up.
Chapter 10: Rendezvous
At the Archangel, Kira was eating in his room, his friends sitting on the opposite bed while Setsuna opted to remain in his room to eat his meal, all the while browsing the datapad's news outlet at his own leisure. Due to the whole Lacus affair, while Kira thankfully didn't face any severe punishment, he had to remain inside his room unless there is maintenance duty, which was leagues better than the death penalty. Which meant, his friends, including Flay strangely enough, had taken to eating with him. While supposedly restricting them from entering the room, Murrue and the others weren't so strict enough to enforce the rule, which they let it slide.
Meanwhile, Koopman and Monroe had re-supplied the Archangel from their ships, thus removing any problems for any shortages as for now as well as additonal crew transfers for the already under-staffed ship. Both Alliance captains had elected to have Minister Allster to be transferred to the Archangel for safety precautions, after realizing that neither the Law or the Montgomery aren't capable against any of the G-Weapons.
"How are you holding up Kira?" Tolle asked, setting his plate down.
The Strike's pilot shrugged, "Better than janitorial duty, I guess. But I could manage myself well enough"
Sai chuckled along with the rest of his friends, who were all relieved at hearing this. "You could say. We're glad that Lieutenant La Flaga and Setsuna vouched for you, or else things would get messy along the way"
"That reminds me", Miriallia spoke up, turning to Flay. "What happens to Foreign Minister Allster now, Flay?"
"Daddy has transferred to the Archangel as a safety measurement", she answered, opening up quite a bit to the group. "Captains Koopman and Monroe believe that he would be much safer here, and he's currently in a meeting with some of the other diplomats from Eurasia to ease tensions between them and the Atlantic Federation'"
"Aye, those two couldn't get along I heard", Tolle chimed in. "Reminds me of two superpowers back at our history class. So Kira, can you tell us how was your training with Setsuna before smuggling Lacus out?"
Before Kira could give a reply, an alarm sounded as the fleet came under fire by enemy mobile suits once more.
The crew jumped to their feet, running for the door. There was no questioning what was going on or waiting for confirmation of orders. The crew ran to get to their stations and defend the ship. As Sai, Tolle, Kuzzey, and Mir ran for the bridge, Kira met up with Setsuna at the hallways. With nods with one another, turned in the opposite direction towards the hangar.
As they did, Setsuna ran over the little girl from earlier. Motioning Kira to go ahead, the Gundam Meister moved to help her up and once again, Flay moved past him and grabbed the young girl herself. He nodded his thanks, and set off for the hangar again while Flay stayed behind, and holding onto the girl's hand set off to find her parents. She had faith that they can protect the ship. After all, they had protected her father and the rest of the crew as well.
"Radar wave interference," announced Pal to the bridge. "N-jammer levels are rising."
Murrue and Natarle both glanced at Pal, gritting their teeth, and rushed to their seats.
"All hands, level one battlestations!" ordered Murrue as she took her seat. "Arnold, fire up the engines to maximum speed!"
"Yes ma'am," said Arnold.
"Notify Captains Monroe and Koopman to temporarily withdraw the Law and Montgomery to a safe distance!", she continued. "At this rate, they won't stand a chance against three G-Weapons"
"Laurasia-class identified in one oh three, orange alpha," said Kuzzey. "Detecting mobile suit thermal patterns, matching… what?" Kuzzey turned to look at Murrue. "Detecting Blitz, the Buster, and the Duel."
"Damn it," cursed Natarle, "and just moments before our rendezvous."
"All hands, level one battlestations!" came Mir's voice over the PA. "I repeat, all hands, level one battle stations!"
A few moments later, Mu had launched in his Zero, and the other two had boarded their machines, and belted themselves in as they were moved to the catapult.
"Kira, Setsuna," said Mir, "the ZAFT units are a Laurasia-class, the Duel, the Buster, and the Blitz."
"Duel, Buster, and Blitz? I thought we'd lost them at Artemis," said Kira, a little puzzled.
"The Nazca might told them where we were and transferred the Aegis over to them," said Setsuna, as the 00 Raiser picked up its stored GN Sword III from the hangar. "The Aile would do as fine, Kira. I'll deal with any mobile suits near the ship"
"Right!", said Kira. "Mir, I'll go for the Aile! Be careful out there Setsuna"
"You too," he answered in response.. "Setsuna F. Seiei. 00 Raiser. Launching!"
Moments after, the Strike was outfitted with the Aile Striker Pack along with the standard shield and beam rifle.
"Kira Yamato, Strike, taking off!"
"I see them!" Mu informed Kira and Setsuna, as the three stolen G-Weapons flew in close formation.
As the three pilots opened up on their ZAFT counterparts, Gamow blasted off a shot from its main cannon, and the ZAFT pilots broke away from one another, the shot flying between them to crash into the Archangel.
"They're using their mobile suits to conceal the firing position," Setsuna relayed, his grip on the 00's controls tightening, "We'll have to split up against the three of them. I'm going after the Laurasia to divert their attention from the Archangel"
"Got it", Mu agreed to his suggestion. "I'll deal with the Buster"
"All right then", Kira agreed.
The Duel charged at him, beam rifle spitting emerald beams towards him. Bringing his shield to bear, Kira easily blocked the shots, moving in a different direction to draw the blue machine away from Mu, who was now flinging shots at the Buster.
For his part, Yzak was frowning as the Strike dodged around his beams, utilizing its Aile Pack for more mobility so much so, that the Strike didn't bother to use his shield any longer. Growling at frustration, Yzak drew a beam saber and flared his thrusters for close combat.
"Show me what you've got, Strike!"
"I won't be defeated here!", Kira declared as tossed aside his rifle and pulled out his own saber, the two machines clashing against each other. Neither machine could overpower the other, and they backed away temporarily. The Duel took another initiative to slash down the Strike, but the Strike dodged, boosting above the Duel before delivering a kick on the back of its thrusters.
"You're getting on my nerves," Dearka growled as the Zero deployed its gunbarrels and fired on him from several vectors at once. He emptied both missile pods, hoping the small, high explosive warheads would eliminate at least two or three of his problems.
Refer to it as luck, he only got one gunbarrel, and the Zero tugged itself around as soon as it passed the Buster and blasted away with the linear gun, a shot Dearka only barely avoided.
"Come on, you're just one mobile armor," Dearka snarked. "Go down!"
"Concentrate fire on that legged ship!", Captain Zellman barked to his crew aboard the Gamow. "How many hostiles are there?"
"Sir, only the Strike and the Moebius Zero had engaged the Buster and Duel", one of his operators informed him but noticed something was...odd. "But the unknown machine is nowhere in sight!"
"What?!", exclaimed Zellman. He had already seen enough of the machine's abilities from the reports of Commander Le Creuset aboard the Vesalius and he wasn't taking any chances. "Conduct a scan all over the area! He could be anywhere at this time!"
"But sir!", his operator argued, feeling uneasy all of a sudden. "We're receiving signal interference at the surrounding area and of the radar! We cannot contact our mobile suits or detect any signatures!"
Just after uttering those words, a sillhoutte appeared appeared before them, its new feature in reminiscent of the Blitz's mirrage colloid system with its cyan colored eyes flashing before them. Needless to say, the crew was horrified at the sight of this unknown machine whereas Setsuna remained impassive for them. "Deactivating Optical Camoufladge. Initiating elimination"
It didn't take long for the Gamow's crew to receive orders from Captain Zellman to shoot down the mobile suit, where its railguns, beam cannons and CIWs open fired on the 00 Raiser, who easily evaded all the incoming beams, and the machine shot towards them, slicing off the left railgun cannon tubes with its GN Sword III and, after folding the blade to activate its Rifle Mode, proceeded to shoot down several CIWs, six of them to be exact.
"Damn it! The Gamow!", Dearka cursed as he evaded several shots from the Zero's gunbarrels. "How the hell did he went there undetected?!"
Opening the comms, he contacted Yzak, who was still fighting the Strike. "Yzak, the Gamow is under attack! They need our help!"
"They can deal with it!", Yzak spat, his temper getting the best of him, all focused towards the Strike. "I'm taking this guy down, right here, right now!"
Slamming his fist down the console, knowing he couldn't get Yzak to his senses once he made up his mind, Dearka attempted to turn back and reinforce the Gamow, which had since lost its railguns and more than half of its CIWs to the 00 Raiser but Mu's gunbarrels proved to be troublesome as ever and he was forced to evade the shots. "Nicol! Hurry it up! The Gamow needs our help!"
"I'm trying!", Nicol said with a scowl. The Archangel fired the Valiant's at the Blitz, but Nicol evaded… and then the Blitz vanished from sight.
"Captain, I've lost the Blitz," Arnold relayed, nervous.
"Its Mirage Colloid must've been activated," said Murrue. "Fire another spread of anti-beam depth charges and reload all missile tubes with anti-air shrapnel warheads."
"Fire anti-beam depth charges," ordered Natarle, echoing Murrue. "Stern missile tubes, switch over to anti-air shrapnel warheads."
Nicol fired the Trikeros beam rifle at the Archangel, but were dispersed instead by the anti-beam curtain surrounding the warship.
"Calculate the Blitz's position from the shot's angle," Natarle ordered. "When you have its position, link the data to the fire control station. Officer Pal, when you have the data, open fire with anti-air warheads."
"Yes ma'am," said Arnold and Pal. He ran through several console commands as he narrowed down the stealth mobile suit's location, then linked it to Pal's station as ordered.
"Firing anti-air warheads!" announced Pal as he let them loose.
The missiles blasted off from the Archangel's forward firing tail-fin mounted missile tubes, and upon reaching their designated range, the outer shell of the missiles broke apart to reveal small, shrapnel-sized explosive-tipped darts that blasted away from the missile casing.
Seeing this, Nicol immediately activated his PS armor, releasing the Mirage Colloid, and brought his shield up, blocking the shrapnel darts.
"That's right, this machine once belonged to you," said Nicol, as much a remark to the enemy ship as a reminder to himself, "of course you know its weaknesses." With that, Nicol reactivated the stealth system as the shrapnel fire died down, immediately moving to a new position to avoid further fire.
Approaching theArchangelso as to get through the anti-beam particle curtain the warship had released, Nicol's eyes widened as the CIWS turrets all began firing wildly on randomized vectors… a barrage of bullets numerous enough to tear any mobile suit to pieces.
"The Blitz is approaching!" Kuzzey notified as the black mobile suit weaved through the shots that went towards him.
"What are the Strike and 00 Raiser doing?" demanded Natarle.
"Kira has engaged the Duel while Setsuna went after the Laurasia-Class!," Sai relayed.
Nicol smiled slightly, in satisfaction and relief, as the Blitz landed next to the Archangel's bridge tower. He didn't even need to aim, as he began firing away straight into the tower.
"We can't get him with the cannon," muttered Natarle. "Where are our mobile suits?!"
"Kira, Setsuna!" called Miriallia desperately. "The enemy's beside the bridge! Get back here!" Kira's eyes widened as he looked at the side monitor, which zoomed in to show the Blitz firing on the side of the bridge tower.
"No!", Kira shouted in terror as he tried to back away from the Duel, but had to evade and block every swing thrown at him.
"The Archangel!" Setsuna exclaimed at the same time, forcing him to turn back from the Gamow.
If the Archangel sank here, then all they had work for would've been for nothing… the refugees would be lost… and without Murrue and their friends to back them up…
Kira couldn't bear to fail where he would've had if Setsuna wasn't there. They were all depending on them, and with the Gundam Meister away at the meantime, it was all up to him.
And he cannot fail them. Not here. Not ever!
Within the mind of the young pilot, a purple seed burst in a brilliant light, and Kira gazed at the screen,his pupils disappearing.
Setsuna widened his eyes in surprise, sensing a rather strange sensation coming from the Strike, wondering what had happened to Kira.
The Duel charged directly at Kira, beam saber at hand. Scowling at him, Kira turned off the thrusters of his machine, with the Strike bending down and evading the Duel's beam saber above, and then flip-kicking the machine on the chin, causing Yzak to be taken back at the sudden movement from the Strike.
"It's him!", Nicol exclaimed, turning on the Mirage Colloid System towards the 00 Raiser. The Gundam Meister merely shrugged, and feeling its presence from behind, turned and parried the beam slash with his own. "How did he-gah!!", Nicol braced impact as the Raiser turned off its beam saber and kneed the Blitz directly on its chest.
'Damn it, how did he know where I was? Is he a Coordinator?", were the thoughts of the green haired boy as the Buster loomed in to support the Blitz.
Kira closed in on the Buster, appearing on Dearka's monitor and landed a kick on the chest, leaving him disoriented as the pilot discarded its shield and pulled ou both sabers, slicing down both of its Gun Launcher and Rifle.
"The hell?!" cursed Dearka as he backed away, launching his remaining missiles only for the Strike to appear with its CIWs and cleaved off both the Buster's arms.
Without another thought, the two machines shot forward to the Blitz and the Duel. The 00 Raiser sliced the Blitz's shield with its GN Sword III. Realizing the danger, Nicol let the weapon go before it exploded as the Raiser blasted a few more shots from its Rifle mode, forcing Nicol to barely evade the incoming projectiles before the Strike loomed in. The Blitz fired the Gleipnir, the Strike merely barrel rolled in evasion and sliced off the and slashed the incoming projectile before completely slicing its left arm.
'Kira's reaction time and spatial awareness had increased', the Gundam Meister observed, thinking of the unfamiliar phenomenon earlier. 'What could have happened to him?'
"I got you now!", proclaimed Yzak, as he attempted to slash down the 00 Raiser from behind but Setsuna raised one of his GN Swords to parry the attack before it pushed back the Duel with a knee on its chest but not before landing a shot at the Duel, the shot missing the waist but grazing it severely at the left side. Using this chance, the Strike used this opportunity to boost forward where it pulled out one of its Armor Schneiders and stabbed the Duel right at the waist, causing Yzak's monitor to explode right in front of him.
"Yzak?! Yzak are you okay in there?!" cried Nicol.
"It burns!" Yzak cried out over the radio. "It burns, it BURNS!"
"Dearka!" called Nicol, pulling back and evading the pink shots that came from the 00 Raiser's GN Sword. "We have to retreat! The enemy fleet is almost here and we've taken way too much damage!"
"Damn it!" cursed Dearka as he pulled away and rejoined his squad.
On the Archangel's bridge, Murrue sighed in relief as the ZAFT forces retreated, the Strike and 00 Raiser landing together on the deck of the ship above the hangar, just as soon as Mu landed first..
"Look at that, they're gone!" said Mu. "You two were good out there!"
Panting, Kira looked up the pressure gaining on him. "Lieutenant…Setsuna..." muttered the Strike's pilot, part of him wondering what had just happened. Setsuna looked at him rather curiously, as he he was sure sensed something had triggered within Kira that increased his spatial awareness as a whole.
"Wow…" muttered Mu, "no, you're more than that. You're unbelievable." Smiling slightly, Kira his eyes while he felt another pat behind him and he realized that to be from Setsuna.
"Take credit for yourself sometime", Setsuna encouraged him with a small smile. "You did well over there"
Kira smiled in returned until they heard Mir's voice at the hangar.
"The 8th fleet is here!" announced Mir to the bridge and over the radio, drawing the eyes of all three pilots up to the massive collection of blinking lights that revealed to be the Alliance's 8th Orbital Fleet.
Athrun couldn't believe his eyes. The records taken from every source available such the Gamow, the Duel, the Buster, the Blitz and the Aegis. He had reexamined it over and over in hopes of finding a counter.
The battle when he and a squad of GINNs were tasked in destroying the Alliance convoy ended in defeat when the Strike and the unknown machine swooped in and annhilated them, where the Aegis was outmatched by a slower Launcher Strike, while the unknown machine protected the Nelson-class with a powerful barrier that nullified a powerful shot from a crusier, no less before Kira returned fire that damaged the Vesalius significantly.
And then there is the one with Yzak and the rest. Yzak and Dearka managed to keep the Strike and the Moebius Zero at bay while Nicol went after the legged ship. What they didn't know that the unknown machine was also equipped with a Mirage Colloid system and ambushed the Gamow in order to divert its attention from the legged ship.
Needless to say, Athrun seen the situation as hell breaking loose. The three G-Weapons were overtaken and were quickly dispatched by the Alliance mobile suits where they barely escaped with their lives at that matter.
Yzak wasn't taking it well—the Armor Schneider that stabbed damaged section of armor exploded that resulted on shattering his visor. And whatever smug or arrogance he carried died there, replaced by rage driven by vengeance, and that worried the rest of his team.
As for damages, the Aegis managed to recover from its last battle against the Alliance convoy. The Blitz and the Buster suffered considerably. Luckily, they managed to replace the missing parts with spares but this was already the last they could give, and creating new spare parts would take a lot of time.
The Duel managed to recover internally, where its internal structure was replaced by newer parts. In addition, they were creating an armor that could increase the Duel's firepower and mobility in space out of the concepts that were supposed to be for thr GINN.
"Sup, Athrun?" greeted Dearka as he walked into the lounge and found Athrun working on his computer.
"I'm examining the footage from the last battle of yours and to mine," said Athrun, noticing how Kira managed to sync with the unknown machine very well, "Before he came along, we managed to push the Strike over the edge and then he and his machine showed up and proved to be superior in both aspects. Then at the next time we fought him, the Strike's piloting had improved considerably, managing to maximize his mobility and armaments"
"It's as if the Strike had taken notes under that machine," said Nicol as he entered the lounge behind Dearka. "I can't really recall ever seeing anything like it; the reaction time and precise movements at the field made it even stronger compared to the first time we went against him. Word is, Admiral Markhov and the 6th Division will be moving out to assist."
The Buster's pilot snorted but sighed in dejection. "He isn't really an Admiral, but he's a swell guy within the navy with a high rank. Met him a few times, pretty good to have a chat with"
"Well, at least you met him," said Nicol before he shook his head. "I'll be honest that we're lucky. If the Strike and the unknown machine did want to kill us, I don't think we'd be talking to one another right now."
"Hate to say it, seems plausible," Dearka admitted. "But that doesn't explain why it chose to shoot down GINNs for all that matter"
"That could be true", Athrun chimed in. "With our machines getting ready soon, we have to be extra careful at our next move, especially against that new machine"
"The unknown machine and the Strike are very impressive," he continued, keeping the subject of Kira out of this. "But looking at this, I don't think the pilots were Natural at this level. They synced well in the field, being able to take us down one by one utilizing their advantage in mobility and hit and run tactics. However, we have to be more precise by our movements soon as well as figure out a plan to take them by surprise"
"Not a topic I'd normally agree but I'm in," Dearka agreed, as did Nicol.
Admiral Grigory Markhov silently loathed his job. A man in his late fifties, he had graying black hair, had a thick beard with sideburns, and wore the ZAFT black uniform, despite having thep rank of commander, and he sat down, reading down the reports that included the unknown mobile suit that tore apart several GINNs, the elite Le Creuset team, and the near-sinking of the Gamow.
Being the commander of the 6th Orbital Division, Markhov carried a lot of weight on his shoulders, superivising every troop and ship movement within his unit. He was called Admiral but not as a rank but a sort of endearment from his troops and his colleagues. As one of the first leaders of ZAFT, Markhov gathered years of experience. Though a commander with equal authority as with the white uniforms, he opted to wear the black uniform, as a tribute to his fallen comrades and family back at Junius Seven.
Apart from his organization of the fleet, he oversaw the development of new mobile suit models such as the CGUE Deep Arms and the proto-type GUAIZ. Although he appreciated the presence of mobile suits at turning the tide of the war, he was a conservative when it comes to naval warfare, especially ship-to-ship combat. And now, he was looking over the reports regarding the succesful development of the CGUE Assault Type and newly produced GINN High Maneuver Type.
"Sir?"
Markhov looked up from the reports on his desk, grateful for the interruption that he was looking forward at getting a break from it. He looked at the familiar lavender-haired woman, who gave him a warm smile and a salute, a gesture he returned as he stood up.
"It's been a while, 'Gina," Markhov greeted in a warm, welcoming tone. "And here I thought you were on reconnaisance with your team. And I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon."
"And you have your answer in front of you, Admiral," joked Regina gesturing herself, causing the man to chuckle. "Intel passed on to you regarding supply lines from Panama to Daedalus. However, due to it being fortified by dozens of ships or so, and its forces stationed there, a full scale attack on either base would be too risky."
Markhov nodded in understanding as he looked over to the file Regina gave him on his computer, with the lavender-haired woman went beside him.
"Mobile suits had changed the tide of war for quite some time" Markhov said, holding his chin. "One of the reasons we couldn't push through with it is because of the legged ship and its two mobile suits still flying under the Alliance flag."
She shuddered at the sight of the 00 Raiser slashing through the Vesalius' GINN but shook her head.
"Out of caution that they may mass-produce any of those soon," Regina finished for him, understanding his unease. "Have you received the latest reports from the Le Creuset team?"
Markhov merely sighed, earning a raised a eyebrow from the woman.
"I have, not all of it pretty" he said, sitting back on his chair. "The unknown mobile suit, who had since been given the alias of Blue Flash by some, prove to be superior at every aspect over the four stolen G-Weapons, piloted by elite Redcoats no less. Their latest operations, both by the Vesalius and the Gamow, had ended in failure with both ships sustaining heavy damages at the hands of that mobile suit and of the Strike, who seemed to coordinate with him very well"
"Does the Council know anything about this?"
The elderly man explained to her. "Out of fear that the Blue Flash may be mass produced alongside with the Strike, the 6th Orbital Division is ordered by the Council to reinforce Le Creuset Team's task force, as a means to increase their firepower against the legged ship and their newest mobile suit. Ezalia Joule and Tad Elsman weren't very happy to see their children nearing death's door for more than one occassion and they made it imperative that the mobile suit be either destroyed or captured"
Regina nodded, her thoughts betraying her to the unknown mobile suit. "And I trust that Nova would be ordered to sortie out to join Le Creuset team?"
Markhov nodded. "I'm afraid so, Lieutenant", he admitted to her. "You will be meeting with Commander Le Creuset to discuss your next move regarding the legged ship while I have to organize the fleet to join up with the Gamow and the Vesalius"
Complying, Regina saluted the black uniform in front of her with a smile. "It will be done, Admiral"
The elderly commander smiled at that and saluted back. Just as she neared the door, he noticed her distress regarding that unknown machine and asked a question out of the blue. "Does that mobile suit had anything to do about you by any chance?"
It caused Regina to freeze, but managed to remain rational. "N-no, sir...", she answered before walking out of the door. Markhov was worried for that and her answer doesn't seem to be in character but he chose to let it slide and he went back to work.