Spectre: Yep, going in for the Battle of Orbit, one of my least favorite scenes in Gundam Seed because Halberton's sacrifice for me was almost for nothing because of the Alliance eventually turning its back to the Archangel. A scene that I made a lot of changes out of it.
To Ghostly: It cured Louise's GN Particle poisoning, which made her crazy like the Biological CPUs and was cured by normal (AKA like those of the Gundams that let out cyan colored particles) GN Particle exposure, so yeah I think they can be cured with enough exposure but I don't have any plans for that yet. As for Lockon training Kira in long ranged weaponry, we'll see.
readerofgoodfanfiction: I know a lot hate Flay for obvious reasons, and I decided to make her more of a supporting character than a bitch that she was at canon, just for something new.
Azai Jinn: You'll see soon enough
Terror Dark Calws Army: Lockon wouldn't be appearing until later on at the story, but I won't be saying when ;)
Chapter 13: Battle of Orbit
"To think ZAFT would attack this time and place...", Jane grumbled, now wearing a dark blue and black pilot suit of the Earth Forces, from the 105 Dagger's cockpit while hearing Crewman Haw's voice announcing the Aile Striker Pack being equipped on her machine.
"Not just any ZAFT force; they're led the 6th Division", Rena added, with a sense of caution from her voice from the Buster Dagger's cockpit, wearing a magenta version of Jane's pilot suit. "Considering the four stolen G-Weapons as part of his force, this wouldn't be easy"
"This is your first sortie, isn't it?", Jane asked, almost jokingly if the situation isn't dire enough.
"I worked as an instructor for the original pilots back at Heliopolis before I enlisted to become a pilot myself", Rena told her, though she was still rather uneasy of the implications thrown at her. "We'll just have to do what we can to make sure the ship safely descends en route to JOSH-A"
"Good luck out there Jane", she added for the blonde, giving her a two fingered salute with a wink. "We'll catch up later!"
Jane nodded with a smile as Rena's face disappeared from her monitor. As soon as the conversation ended, she took a deep breath. 'Okay, this is your first time in mobile suit combat. Remember what you learned from the simulations', she thought before exhaling, just as she heard Mir's voice from the hangar.
"01A1, and 01E2, you're cleared for launch!", she announced from the bridge where both pilots activated the visors from their helmets.
"Jane Houston. 105 Dagger. Heading out!
"Rena Imelia. Buster Dagger. Launching!"
With those words, both machines launched from the catapults towards the battlefield.
"Team Nova has already launched from the Ares along with Zala's. GINN teams from the Patroclus, Priam, Hector, Achilles, Galvani, and Ziegler followed suit and the Vesalius is moving in formation with the Achilles and the Galvani on the right flank", Ades' CO relayed to them.
Rau, who had been observing screen finally moved from his place towards the door which was noticed by Ades as he turned to the masked commander "Where are you going, Creuset?"
"To the hangar…" answered Rau who didn't even bother to look back before he stopped for a moment. "There's something that I need to check first."
"Huh?" was the only response from Ades with one eyebrow arched as he watched the leader of the Le Creuset team leave the bridge towards the hangar.
'The Blue Flash, huh?', Rau internally mused, still remembering the medical report when it first appeared to them. 'Let's see who you actually are'
"Lambert, Treadwell, Paulsen, take your teams and advance into the left flank and deal with the enemy mobile armors", Regina ordered the three squad leaders of their respective GINN Teams. "Same goes for Reid, Thorne, and Churchill to the right. The rest, with me but move carefully"
"Roger!", was the stern reply to all the GINN leaders as they broke off formation, leaving Team Nova and Le Creuset team at the front line, not before a White CGUE sortied out from the Vesalius.
"Hopefully I am not intruding with anything?", Rau's voice came from her channel, causing Regina to slightly be taken back in surprise when she saw his standard white CGUE boosting beside her.
"I thought you were staying behind at the Vesalius", Regina wondered to the masked commander.
"To be frank, we may be dealing with an unknown enemy, so I think it would do us good on what we can do together", Rau said in a carefree tone, causing the woman to raise an eyebrow at him. "It will be just like old times when you were a fresh recruit"
Regina rolled her eyes at the memory and the team were met by a few dozen mobile armors heading their way.
Yzak in the Duel, now equipped with the Assault Shroud, opened fire first, launching a barrage of missiles from the left shoulder pod, followed by several shots from his beam rifle and the Shiva railgun on the right shoulder. Dearka followed behind, letting loose with a barrage from both of his missile pods, weapons ideally suited to facing down the swarm tactics of the Earth Forces mobile armors.
Athrun followed suit, firing off several quick shots with his beam rifle, and shooting all four mobile armors while Nicol shot down two mobile armors before firing his Gleipnir towards the Drake-Class, destroying the bridge followed by the entirety fo the entire ship.
After only a few seconds, the mobile armors broke formation, and then the ZAFT pilots from Team Nova moved in, Mare, Courtney and Riika loomed in for a maneuver.
Mare's GINN High Manuever Type moved in and open fired with his machine gun, shooting down incoming missiles from the Moebius Armors before he boosted in and drew his heavy blade, slicing an Alliance vehicle horizontally before barrel rolling to evade machine gun fire from Alliance mobile armors and vessels and returning fire, resulting to some being destroyed as a result and causing a Nelson's hull to explode as Mare shots went through the ammunation stores.
Courtney in his CGUE Deep Arms dodged heavy fire as he moved in towards a neaby Nelson, shooting down its four mobile armors with his submachine gun before firing his machine's Directed Thermal Energy Cannon from his backpack, destroying the Alliance vessel in two shots from both cannons before its cooling process began. 'I got to be careful at using that. Otherwise I'll myself a meltdown', Courtney cautiously thought regarding the cannons
Riika moved in, shooting down several Moebius Armors with her rifle. Though born blind due to her own genetic defects, her visor as well as her glasses provided her the sight she needed in combat. Two Drakes fired volleys of missiles towards her, where she allowed the projectiles to pursuit her before she backpedaled and destroy the incoming missiles using her machine's shield vulcans. Moving further, she went towards the Alliance vessels and her CGUE extended its arms in a line formation, raining down gunfire from its vulcans and destroying the Alliance vessels.
Regina shot down six mobile armors with her beam rifle as she moved forward to a nearby Alliance vessel where scowled as soon as she floated near a Nelson-Class. Firing a handfull shots from her beam rifle, it caused the Alliance ship to explode in a pink blaze. Seeing two Moebius Mobile Armors firing their vulcans, she fired her External Arrestors, piercing through their cockpits and exploding where she noticed the legged ship slowly distancing away from the 8th Fleet.
'They intended to use the 8th Fleet to buy the ship some time to reach Earth', Regina thought, assessing the situation. "Teams Nova and Le Creuset, we're breaking from the main engagement. We'll pursue the legged ship from here", she relayed to the two mobile suit teams. "Same might have to apply for you, Rau"
Le Creuset team, sans Athrun, were a little taken back at the woman ordering their commander who merely chuckled. "Of course, Lieutenant"
"Seleukos and Alexios has been hit and can no longer continue on," one of the operators relayed at the bridge. "Cassandros and Andronikos, not responding."
"Antigonos and Ptolemaios are down!" another operator added
"How can that be?" Hoffman gasped in surprise. "Six vessels destroyed only seven minutes into the battle?"
"The Seleukos, Alexios and Cassandros are moving from the battlefield," another operator added. "They've sustained heavy damage and are withdrawing from the battle. Three ZAFT vessels are moving on to the left and right flank to encircle our formation!"
'A Pincer tactic? As expected from Markhov'. "Understood," Halberton relented. "Contact vessels that could no longer continue on to fall back and send in eight vessels available each to the left and right vanguard respectively to intercept. We cannot afford to risk encirclement!"
"Yes sir."
"Sir, we are receiving three signatures sorting from the Archangel!", the first operator relayed, to Halberton's shock.
"But I have given them orders not to!", Halberton grumbled, but sighed since he knew this was bound to happen due to his student's persistence. "Is it the Zero, Strike and the Raiser?"
"No sir!", the operator replied, taking a closer look. "It's Commander La Flaga and Ensigns Houston and Imelia!"
"This is too easy!", a GINN pilot boasted as he shot down another Moebius Armor. "Not with an antique like that-"
The pilot never finished as a blast from the beam rifle went through his GINN's cockpit, exploding as a result, to the attention to the members of Le Creuset team. "The Strike?!", Yzak quickly called out.
The shot came from none other than a unit that is very similiar to the Strike, but it turned out to be Jane's 105 Dagger, firing off several more shots that forced the rest for evasive manuevers. Behind it, is Mu's Moebius Zero deploying its Gunbarrels towards them.
"This isn't it!", Yzak exclaimed as Regina zoomed in and confirmed Yzak's suspicions. "The Strike is still out there somewhere!"
"A new Earth Forces machine", Rau mused before opening a channel to both Nova and Le Creuset teams. "So they managed to make a variant out of one of the G-Weapons..."
Athrun's monitor beeped and he widened his eyes when he evaded a yellow beam that tore through three GINNs behind him in a single shot, and he zoomed in as he bear witnessed Rena's Buster Dagger taking aim before it seperated its weapons. "The Buster too?
Dearka shrugged. "Guess I'm going after the copycat"
"Make that two", Regina added for the masked commander. "Continue on with the plan towards the legged ship, but proceed with caution against those mobile suits!"
Rena scowled as the Buster Dagger exchanged shots with the Buster and of the Blitz, remembering the that her students perished at the hands of ZAFT when they attacked Heliopolis, marking it as an insult to their memory. Luckily for her, the Daggers that she and Rena possesed had Lanimated Armor that protected the vital aread, but that doesn't mean she does't have to be careful at that.
Jane on the meantime, fired onto the Duel, with the blue machine evading the shots before it boosted towards her with a beam saber, prompting her to raise her shield in defense. "Don't get in my way, Natural!", Yzak shouted towards the Strike-wannabe.
"Y-you stayed?" Kira asked in a shaken tone as he and Setsuna saw Flay wearing pink Earth Forces female cadet uniform when asked why is she still here and in the uniform of the Earth Forces. The Gundam Meister was surprised at this, as he expected her to return to her father by then.
Flay smiled slightly. "Yeah," she said, "We all stayed and we couldn't leave both of you all alone, after all."
"Does your father know about this?", Setsuna inquired, crossing his arms where Flay scratched her cheek with her index finger.
"Yeah, he wasn't easy to convince, citing danger and all, but he caved in eventually", Flay explained to the two. "And it's all because I wanted to help"
The two pilots looked at one another before her. She continued. "I've been thinking about it, ever since you were both protecting the ship while I merely sat around, scared of what's probably going to happen. But then I realized that... you guys have been giving all that you have to protect everyone aboard without anything in return. And after daddy was saved, I was thankful...well more than thankful for everyone aboard, and I wanted to help in any way I could, as a way of saying thanks for all that you did"
The two pilots looked at her carefully, not recognizing this as her some time ago. The Flay they knew would rather go home, away from war and its nature, but here she was no longer frightened, all replaced by the newfound determination she now possesed.
Setsuna could not help but give a meaningful smile at her determination, seeing that all prejudice she had or fear were set aside for a greater purpose while Kira felt the same way, seeing that they could still be friends despite the rough times they faced.
"Yes… good luck you two," Flay finally finished. "I'll do whatever I can to help."
"We'll do.", Kira said in behalf for Setsuna as well. "Thank you Flay."
"All hands, prepare for atmospheric entry interface!" Mir announced over the PA to the entire ship.
"Descending?" Alfred Lim, one of the new transfers from the 8th Fleet questioned incredulously in the hangar. "With what we're going through right now?"
"What good's it gonna do you to yell at me?" Murdoch asked snidely to the newcomer. "But I guess it's better than sitting around not doing anything."
"Even if we lose them, there are still those four machines," came another voice suddenly, and everyone in the hangar turned to see Kira and Setsuna, now clad in pilot suits floating towards the 00 Raiser and the Strike.
Down on the hangar deck, the Strike and 00 Raiser were loaded into the catapults. Murdoch watched this with a worried expression on his face. "Hey you two, be careful when you get out there, okay?"
"We'll keep that in mind" Kira replied as the he looked out at the Earth them. "It's beautiful… if only the war never began..."
"It is", Setsuna agreed. "Our role as Meisters is to ensure that conflict is resolved" He paused for a moment. "But there isn't much we can do for now but go ahead and launch…
"Do you think if we put our power in to good use, is it possible to achieve this?", Kira then asked thoughtfully.
"Without a doubt. But we'll continue on later ", Setsuna replied before the green light to launch was given. "Setsuna F. Seiei, 00 Raiser, heading out!"
"Kira Yamato, Strike launching!" The two pilots wete launched from the catapults.
"Lieutenant, we're detecting two new signatures from the legged-ship!", Riika informed her leader, seeing the strobes moving in a fast pace towards them.
"There you are, you damn Natural… finally got the courage to show your face again," Yzak said , his voice dangerously calm with a distinctly sinister undertone. He disengaged from the 105 Dagger and reached up and grabbed a saber. "This is for the nasty wound!" The Duel shot towards the Strike.
"The Duel? Upgraded?" Kira uttered as the Duel fired two rounds from its railgun at him. He dodged, and parried with the anti-ship sword as the Duel swung its saber.
"Those two have arrived", Jane said, sighing in relief before her monitor beeped and saw the CGUE Deep Arms open firing at her. "And I got a new right away!"
"The Strike is there", Rau mused, trying to look around for a certain machine. "But where is he-"
Before he could finish, his CGUE's shield was sliced in half by a massive blade that came from the 00 Raiser, who then kneed him on the torso. Smirking, Rau open fired with his rifle, with the unknown machine dodging the bullets left and right. Brandishing a heavy blade, Rau slashed towards the 00 Raiser, who parried the incoming blade with his own, before he was pushed back when the machine's wing binders boosted forward.
Rau raised his firearm, but only for the CGUE's right arm to be severed by the 00 Raiser's GN Sword, causing him to grit his teeth and backing away from the machine. 'I didn't expect to win, truthfully', Rau thought but smirked. 'But I got what I came for'
Setsuna watched as the CGUE retreated, wondering what the pilot had in mind. He observed his surroundings; dozens of enemy mobile suits were swarming the 8th Fleet, easily dispatching the Moebius units sent against them and he could see a total of ten ships being divided into three seperate groups, and he decided to make a move.
As he did, something felt...odd. He sensed something familiar, but it was only possible on his world.
"An enemy?"
Setsuna turned to his monitor and found a green mobile suit heading towards him. While it was similar to the GINN, this one looked advanced to be a another GINN, and its mobility was better than the usual.
'So it is really you...', Regina thought, gripping her controls and maintaining her composure. 'Gundam...'
Without another thought, Setsuna drew his GN Sword III and open fired at the incoming unit. However, Regina shrugged and evaded the incoming pink beams, sidestepping left and right with precision, to Setsuna's surprise, as not even those Gundam pilots managed to display reaction time such as this.
"He's fast.", he muttered before the GUAIZ appeared before him, its monoeye flashing before him. His eyes widened as the green unit raised its shield to reveal two claw-like beams. Quickly reacting, Setsuna switched back his weapon to sword mode and parried the incoming blade in time.
As the blades emitted sparks with one another, Setsuna felt a very familiar presence, and he knew it shouldn't be possible, coming from the machine, asking himself who was inside that machine and why did it feel different from the others he had faced. 'What is this...?'
Breaking the lock with one another, Regina braced herself at the sudden impact before she fired her machine's Extensional Arrestors towards the 00 Raiser. Setsuna scowled at the incoming rocket anchor and slashed both beam spikes away from him, not before he saw the GUAIZ delivering a kick onto the torso, resulting of Setsuna bracing for impact as he was pushed back.
'My machine's performance dwarfs to that of Celestial Being's...', she thought, carefully analyzing the 00 Raiser's movements. 'If this keeps on, I wouldn't be able to last long against him. And based on the nature GN Drives, it was neither a Tau or any of the original Drives'
Boosting towards one another, the 00 Raiser and the GUAIZ clashed with their own blades, backing away and then charging again for another strike, so much so that Athrun and Nicol were watching, completely oblivious to the retreating Alliance vessels.
"How did she...", Athrun began but lost his words afterwards, seeing how Regina held her own against the unknown machine, something that he and his teammates were unable to do.
Nearby, Rau watched with a keen eye, observing Regina's duel against the unknown machine, thoroughly impressed as she managed to keep up despite the GUAIZ's lower performance than the four G-Weapons. 'From all the times we have fought together, Regina. I never knew you had in in you', he thought, thinking on ways on how she would serve for his plans.
On the other side, Courtney scowled as he parried another slash with Jane's beam saber with his own blade. Forcing her away from him, Courtney charged up his CGUE's cannons and fired towards the Dagger, where Jane brought her shield to bear. As the beam collided with the shield, Jane let go of her defense and ignited her other her beam saber, boosting towards Courtney's CGUE.
"What the-", was all he could say when the two beam sabers sliced off his machine's beam cannons, to his own shock before Jane raised her Dagger's beam saber towards the stunned CGUE.
"Courtney!", Mare cried out, open firing with his subamchine gun before covering the damaged machine. "Are you all right?"
"I...I am!", the pilot replied.
"Withdraw to a safe distance!", the blond ordered him, being the second in command of the team, his temper apparently focused onto the 105 Dagger. "I'll deal with this one!
"Damn it!" Yzak shouted, forgoing his rifle and charging with a beam saber.
Kira scowled and drew his own saber once more, with their shields blocking their respective swords. As the two machines clashed with their beam sabers, Mu was doing quite well at annoying Dearka. The Buster was immune to anything the Zero could throw at it, and that is where the Hawk of Endymion heard the voice of the Buster Dagger's pilot.
"Mu, I'm going in!", Rena called out to the mobile armor pilot as he deployed his gunbarrels for another firing run. "Can you give him another rain?"
"One last barrage for the Buster", Mu replied, evading several of the Buster's beam rifle shots. "You got a plan?"
Dearka gritted his teeth as the Zero closed in, barely dodging a rail gun shot before realizing that four of its gunbarrels had surrounded him, unleashing several volleys towards him. Deciding to make a move, Dearka held onto the heavy fire, combining his rifles to form an Anti-Armor shotgun and fired onto the Gunbarrels, and towards the Zero, with the four gunbarrels turning into pink explosions.
"Did I get him?"
However, before Dearka could react, he was shocked when a beam saber from the Buster Dagger severed the combined weapons before axe-kicking the stolen G-Weapon away from her.
"What?!", the Buster's pilot exclaimed in disbelief. Seeing her chance, Rena combined both her beam rifle and gun launcher to fire a blast from her Anti Armor Shotgun, blowing off the Buster's left arm and right leg, as well as puncturing all over the mobile suit's body, with the Aegis' pilot hearing the pained scream from the Buster's pilot.
"Dearka!", Athrun cried out, dis-engaging from the other ships and moved in to retrieve the crippled Buster by the right arm. "Do you copy, over?!"
"Urgh...I'm fine!", Dearka answered back painfully, though the blast caused a shrapnel piercing his waist as a result of the attack. "What about Yzak and Nicol?"
"Yzak went after the Strike while Nicol and the others were dealing with the rest of the fleet!", Athrun told him, heading towards the Vesalius. Looking at the Strike, his expression was that of worry for the Strike's pilot, hoping for the best for the two of them
Jane gritted her teeth as she and Mare's GINN High Maneuver continously exchanged gunfire with one another, with neither machine taking a hit from the other. As she prepped for another shot, Mir's voice was heard from her radio.
"Ensign Houston, please return! The Archangel has began its descent!", Mir informed the pilot, who looked at the ship, which was now turning red due to the atmosphere. Looking at her energy gauge, she realized that it was running low, and continued fighting would mean bigger risks for her. "Rena, Mu, I'm running out of juice here, I'm retreatinf!", she informed her teammates as she turned back from Mare's GINN.
"We got you, Jane!", Rena replied as the Buster Dagger and the Zero had closed in on the warship. "What about the Raiser and the Strike?"
'Who is this...who are you?', was the question Setsuna kept asking as he kept clashing with the enemy GUAIZ. There was something off with the pilot, a feeling that he had not experienced for more than half a year since the defeat of A-Laws. His Quantum Brainwaves allowed him to sense those who posses them, but he saw he or she wasn't using them, and from what he knew, the only other people who he can sense are Innovators or Innovades at that matter.
Regina also felt it, the exposure of the GN Particles from the 00 Raiser caused her to gasp slightly. She scowled, knowing she wouldn't last long against the Celestial Being mobile suit. Checking her energy gauge, which was running low, the GUIAZ began to steadily strayed further from the Gundam, where she contacted Markhov through her channel. "Admiral, the left and right flank is secured, you're in the clear!"
Aboard the Ares, Markhov nodded and stood up. "Ares addressing all ship controllers, this is Grigory Markhov. We are clear for long ranged bombardment towards the 8th Fleet! Inform our mobile suit teams!"
As soon as orders were given, the Nazca and Laurasia class warships open fired at the fleet, causing numerous Alliance ships to be at the mercy at the 6th Division. Beam cannons from the fleet hammered the centre flank of the 8th Fleet, causing many to explode or be heavily damaged, considering the outdated nature of their ships. Soon, four ships of the center flank were quickly destroyed, and the Menelaos began to take heavy damage as a result.
"The 8th Fleet!", Kira cried out, evading another swing from the Duel, who was still persisting.
Halberton and his staff braced for impact as the Menelaos began to take heavy damage from the fleet, with most of the fleet's mobile armors were already destroyed by this time. However, the veteran commander held on with a firm look of determination. "We will not let them pass!", he shouted.
Murrue held a mouth of her hand as she watched the centre being hammered by the fleet, seeing that there is no way that they could help them now. It was to leave them behind or be destroyed. Accepting this, she saluted the Admiral, prompting the rest to do the same.
Setsuna scowled, thinking of what to do at the worst possible moment. Should the Archangel or the 8th Fleet fall here, he would most likely be relentlessly pursued by ZAFT, making it hard for him to standby and try to figure out a way to get back home. There was the Trans-Am System, power gauge at 100% and ready for activation. While it could buy the Archangel and the 8th Fleet some time to withdraw carefully, he would have more problems to deal with, such as the possibility of ZAFT coming back for him in greater numbers, or at the aspect that the Alliance would try to coerce him into giving up the 00 Raiser's secrets or at the possibility that it could warp him into another timeline, something he was not so eager to experience right now
But if he didn't act now, all that he and Kira worked for would go to nothing, and he couldn't trust anyone else but the Archangel's crew. If the Alliance is to become corrupt, there would be a need for a leader to lead those who had seen their errors, just as A-Laws had from within. As his mind became clouded with several questions, he witnessed Kira clashing with the Duel, and he saw a shuttle exiting the Menelaos for safety descent, quickly realizing that aboard the shuttle was the little girl that thanked him and Kira along the way, remembering the vow he had made after receiving a paper flower from her.
To hell with this!
"That all you've got Strike?!" Yzak taunted, as he kicked the Strike aside and tried to fire another beam rifle bolt into it.
Kira grunted as he righted his machine and blocked the shot with his shield.
That moment of shock would cost the young pilot, as Kira pushed the Aile Strike to its limits, shooting forward as fast as it could go with gravity pulling it down. Yzak barely had time to react before Kira's machine was on top of him, kicking the Duel in the head and using the momentum to shoot back towards the Archangel's red form. Yzak cursed in frustration, raising his rifle at the retreating form of the Strike.
Kira noticed this, and his eyes quickly went wide as saucers.
NO!
For floating in between the two machines was the shuttle from the Menelaos... dropped off when it became clear the ZAFT fleet would let the remnants of the Eighth withdraw, as Halberton didn't want to take the risk of ZAFT suddenly turning hostile again once the Archangel was gone.
"Damn it! How dare you get in my way!" Yzak growled, turning his rifle on the shuttle. Regina turned onto the shuttle and zoomed in on her monitor, where she quickly realized that the silver-haired pilot thought they were fleeing soldiers but in reality, were civillians. "Hold your fire, Joule!", she vainly ordered the pilot but by this time, his anger and frustration was pointed towards them. "There are civillians inside that shuttle!"
A shot from the Duel's beam rifle headed towards them. Kira, a distance away from the shuttle, felt as if the world stopped before him, helpless at what was going to transpire. "NO!", he yelled out in terror.
However, a brilliant flurry of cyan particles passed through them and it appeared in front of the shuttle where the incoming beam was blocked by an emerald and white blade, revealing it to be the 00 Raiser.
"What the?! Where did he come from?!", exclaimed Yzak, miffed that this machine got in the way once more. Kira began to breathe heavily in relief, seeing that the shuttle was out of harm's way, but not until his Mentor spoke once more.
"Kira", Setsuna called out, his voice laced with anger that the teen had never felt before. "Return to the Archangel at once. I'll deal with them...alone"
"But-!"
"I have no room for any argument", Setsuna firmly told the Strike's pilot, and Kira knew that there wasn't indeed for any judging by his tone and obliged to his request, boosting away to the Archangel. 'What are you trying to do, Setsuna?', Kira worriedly thought for him.
Regina allowed herself to sigh in relief, a bit thankful that the Gundam had came in just a nick of time. Truthfully, the deaths of the innocent civillians involved would haunt her if she or her team failed to prioritized their protection. But her relief was short-lived as Riika made contact with her.
"Uh, Lieutenant", the orange-haired teen called out, now feeling nervous at the unknown G-Weapon. "Why is it turning red?"
'Red?', she looked up to her monitor and zoomed towards the 00 Raiser where its blue and white color had been replaced by a glowing red and flouroscent pink color. Widening her eyes in both alarm and horror, Regina immediatley opened a channel for her teammates. "Mare! Riika! Courtney! We have to fall back now!"
Mare looked at her in disbelief from his GINN. "We're almost at them!", the blond argued, though feeling a little bit off at seeing his Lieutenant acting like this, since this isn't like her at all. "What's wrong?!"
"Whatever it is, I'm with her as this one!", Courtney chimed in, feeling the sense of dread as his lavender-haired Lieutenant. "I think Joule just made him mad!"
Before Yzak could make another move, the now red 00 Raiser shot towards the Duel where he first sliced off the right hand, to Yzak's shock. Before he could react further, the 00 Raiser completely mutilated the Duel, severing its legs, arms, head and backpack in a rapid succession (AN: Savioured Style), leaving the pilot at the mercy of the machine.
He didn't know what he was doing but all anger or rage was replaced by complete fear, and he began to whimper as the the 00 Raiser's Cyan eyes flashed before him. Instead, it kicked the crippled machine towards the entire fleet, as an insult and Setsuna noticed that they along with their mobile suits had stopped firing, as the captains and pilots became fixated onto the now-red machine.
Turning his attention to whatever remained at the 8th Fleet, he opened a channel to the Menelaos. "Admiral, call your remaining ships to fall back now. I will buy you time to retreat towards the Lunar Base", Setsuna informed Halberton, who was gobsmacked along with the rest of his crew aboard the Menelaos.
"Are you out of your mind, Commander Seiei?!", Halberton exclaimed to the Gundam Meister, wondering what kind of stupidty is he trying to form. "You'll face an entire fleet on your own?!"
"This is not a request, Admiral", Setsuna firmly told him. "This is a necessity"
Halberton gritted his teeth but by the looks of it, out of the 31 ships originally, only 12 remained at the original task force and continued fighting would mean the total destruction of the fleet, but still trusted the Gundam Meister's abilities, though he had the right to call it insane.
"Relay to all surviving vessels to fall back to Ptolemaeus", Halberton ordered to his CO, who had wide eyes along with rest, thinking if their Admiral had placed their hopes onto one mobile suit. Sure it was powerful enough to surpass the other G-Weapons, but an entire fleet? That is beyond them.
"Captain Ramius, the Strike has returned!", Flay, who had joined as an operator aboard, informed from her seat, causing her to sigh in relief but quickly noticed that Setsuna hadn't rejoined them yet.
"What of the 00 Raiser?", Natarle inquired to the redhead, who had now a disbelieving expression on her monitor.
"It...it's heading towards the enemy fleet!", she informed in a terrified tone, causing the rest inside the bridge to gasp in both of confusion and shock.
"What?! Contact Commander Seiei and tell him to fall back!", the Archangel's vice captain told the CO.
"I don't think he will...", Mu interjected in a calm tone, causing everyone to look at him. "From what Kira had told me, I think ZAFT made it personal with him"
The crew could only look at the now-red machine in complete worry, wondering how in the world would they support Setsuna at this one, now that they have begun their descent to Earth.
"I will destroy you all...", Setsuna declared, his voice filled with venom that sent chills to the Archangel's crew when they heard his voice through the radio, having lost all composure that he usually had after seeing what ZAFT nearly did to non-combatants, and that was already enough to gave him an excuse.
"Trans-Am!"
AN: Yeah, I think what I'm going to do is a bit over-kill, but hey, situation demands it. Also, Setsuna was already kinda attached by the Archangel, and he saw Halberton as a potential who would rally anyone in case something out of the blue occured. And given that Setsuna hated people who involve innocent civillians, I think it was justified.