Gundam SEED: Witches of the Cosmic Era Chapter 2: Colony Battle: Heliopolis Pt1, a Gundam Seed + Strike Witches Crossover fanfic

Gundam SEED: Witches of the Cosmic Era

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 2: Colony Battle: Heliopolis Pt.1

"Year 70 of the Cosmic Era. Due to the Bloody Valentine tragedy, tensions between Earth and the PLANTs quickly developed into a full-fledged armed conflict."

The scene shifts from a view of the hourglass-shaped PLANT colonies to a squadron of TS-MA2 Moebius Mobile Armors with each carrying a single nuclear missile. As the missiles were launched, the Mobile Armors were destroyed by a squadron of ZGMF-1017 GINNs, which then proceeded to shoot at the missiles that were headed for the PLANTS. All but one of them were destroyed, and the single surviving nuclear missile went on to strike the PLANT known as Junius Seven and detonate its deadly payload, destroying the colony and killing all 243,721 inhabitants within the structure.

The scene then shifted towards a ground engagement in northern Africa several months after the tragedy, showing several anti-air guns and missiles firing at squads of GINNs that were emerging from their drop pods. The GINNs fired back and managed to take out several of the missiles, but several of their own number fell victim to the intense anti-air fire as missiles and heavy rounds slammed into their victims. One unlucky GINN was just about to touch down onto the planet's surface when a heavy shell from a linear tank managed to shoot off its left leg, causing it to slip onto its back as several missiles homed in on the unfortunate Mobile Suit, destroying it and killing the pilot before he had a chance to react. In response, several TMF/A-802 BuCUEs armed with either missile pods or dual railguns, as well as several TFA-2 ZuOOTs opened fire and destroyed the offending enemy units.

"No one doubted that the larger Earth forces would be victorious, but these early predictions proved to be wrong. Almost eleven months passed since the war began, with no end in sight…"

January 25th, C.E. 71

Heliopolis Colony, Lagrange Point 3

Time: 1309 hours

In the Orb colony of Heliopolis, more than 200,000 people were going about their daily business. Shopping, relaxing at the park, swimming in one of the several pools scattered in the cylindrical structure, going to school, you name it. But if one were to look up in the sky, there was an oddly-colored green and yellow bird flying within the colony's airspace. If one were to get a close enough look, they would notice that the bird was actually robotic. The robotic bird continued on its flight, its destination in front of it.

Sitting in a gazebo was a sixteen-year-old boy who was currently working on a project on his laptop. Hearing the sounds of mechanical wings flapping, he looked up from his screen to see the green mechanical bird land on the upper edge of his laptop's screen. He smiled fondly, as the mechanical bird had been a gift from his childhood friend back when he still lived at Copernicus City on the moon.

"Kira!" A male voice called out.

The boy, whose full name was Kira Yamato, looked to his left to see two people walking towards him, a boy and a girl.

"So this is where you're hangin' out. Professor Kato was looking for you." The boy, whose name was Tolle Koenig, told him.

"Again?" Asked the purple-eyed Coordinator.

"He's asked us to bring you to him immediately." The girl, Miriallia, answered. "What's it about? Are you helping him out with something again?"

Kira sighed. "I'm still not finished with the stuff he handed me yesterday."

That was when something on his screen caught his attention, which didn't go unnoticed by Tolle and Miriallia. The two walked over to take a look as Kira brought the news feed to full screen, while the mechanical bird, known as Birdy, hopped onto the Coordinator's shoulder. The three friends looked at the news, and were shocked at what they discovered.

"If these are from last week, ZAFT may have already taken over Kaohsiung by now." Tolle noted as Kira shut down his laptop and retracted the screen.

"Kaohsiung isn't that far away, is it?" Miriallia asked. "Will the homeland be alright?"

"Sure. There's no need to worry." Tolle answered. "Although they're close, we're a neutral entity. It's unthinkable for Orb to become a battlefield."

"Really? Then I guess we're okay."

During this exchange, Kira had only been looking at Birdy, who was currently flying around the gazebo. As he watched, his mind flashed back to a scene where he first received the mechanical bird from his best friend.

"Kira?" Tolle asked, leaning in quite closely to the purple-eyed boy.

That snapped Kira out of his momentary trance. Looking up, he jumped back in surprise upon seeing Tolle's face a little too close for comfort.

"What are you doing? Let's go."

As that was going on, an Earth Alliance Marseille III-class transport vessel was entering the colony's space port, slowly following the laser guidance beacon. "Axis adjusted, right, 6.51 points. Entering vectors is satisfactory. Braking jets off. Changing control to electromagnetic bucket." As that was said by the head officer of the space port's control tower, the space port's electromagnetic bucket activated, grappling the transport vessel in its electromagnetic grasp. "Deceleration rate at 2.56. We're stopping the ship. Stand by."

Inside the bridge of the ship, the captain smiled as he took off his cap. "This ship has safely completed its final mission. You served well as an escort. Thank you, Lieutenant La Flaga."

The man the captain was talking to turned to look at him. "Don't mention it. I'm just glad we arrived without incident. What's the status of the ZAFT vessels in the vicinity?" Mu asked.

"We traced seven vessels, but don't worry." The captain answered. "They can't do a thing once we're docked."

Mu let out a chuckle at what he heard. "Because it's a neutral nation? What a joke."

The captain laughed. "Sure, but thanks to that we've been able to proceed with our plans to this point. Orb is a nation of Earth, after all."

Mu's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "No… Orb is also a nation of the stars."

Before the captain could say anything about it, he was interrupted by one of the five pilots to his right. "Excuse me, captain?"

"Hmm?" He turned to look at the five pilots selected to pilot the secret G-Weapons that were nearing completion as they saluted. He returned the salute, and the five took that as their cue to leave.

Mu looked back at the captain after watching the pilots take their leave. "Are you sure they can handle things on the ground?"

"They're young, but they're all top guns selected as G-pilots. They'll be fine." The captain answered. "Someone like you would stick out like a sore thumb out there."

Outside the colony, seven ZAFT vessels were hiding behind a depleted asteroid. There was the single Nazca-class destroyer Vesalius, and the six Laurasia-class frigates Gamow, Galvani, Leonardo, Zeigler, Laurasia, and Tsuigara.

From the bridge of the flagship Vesalius, Captain Fredrik Ades looked on in disappointment as the commando shuttles left the seven ships.

"Don't look so disappointed, Ades." His commander, a man named Rau Le Creuset, said as he floated in the zero-g towards the tactical board behind the captain's chair.

"I guess it won't be too late if we wait until we hear back from the Supreme Council!" Ades tried to argue.

"It will be too late by then. My sixth sense is telling me so." The masked man countered as he gently tossed a picture into the captain's direction.

Grabbing it, Ades' eyes widened in shock. "A Gundam!?"

Rau nodded. "It seems as though the Earth Alliance wants to build their own set of Gundams as their first Mobile Suits. Not surprising, considering how dangerous the Gundams that the Crossbone Vanguard use are. You do know how dangerous those machines are, especially the one known as the RX-78-2 Gundam piloted by the 'White Devil', right?" Here, the masked man known as the "Crucible" tossed two more pictures to the man, the first one showing an image of a young girl who looked no older than 23 years old who had short brown hair and hazel eyes, while the second showed the image of a Mobile Suit that ZAFT pilots have come to dread.

This specific image was taken right as the MS in question had been outflanked by two ZAFT GINN OCHER Types in Africa seven months ago in close range, but paid the price for trying to engage the suit in close quarters as the unit stabbed the desert GINNs with two Chinese short swords. Behind the white Mobile Suit, a third GINN Ocher Type went up in a fiery explosion as it had been destroyed by the white MS only two seconds prior, casting an ominous shadow of the MS for the camera.

What truly made the image terrifying, though, was the fact that the yellow eyes had flashed right as the image was taken, giving the Gundam the appearance of a White Devil staring directly into your soul.

Ades nodded, having heard of the infamous Mobile Suit from one of the few MS pilots who had crossed paths with the "White Devil", also known as Yoshika Miyafuji Sahaku, the runaway daughter of the Sahaku Family if the intelligence reports were accurate, and lived to tell the tale.

"If we let things slip now, we would eventually have to pay for those actions with our lives." Rau explained his thoughts on the matter calmly. "The Earth Forces' new model mobile weapons. We must seize them before they're moved from there."

As that was said, the commando shuttles deployed their frontal airbags, allowing them to safely touch down onto the asteroid the colony was currently mining from. Exiting the shuttles, the commandos used their back-mounted thruster packs to fly to the nearest airlock. Opening it using stolen access codes, they peered in, and saw that there was a tight laser grid guarding the way in. Looking at his watch, one of the ZAFT commandos pressed a button, which transmitted a code to the security system. The system seemed to accept the code, as the laser grid disengaged to allow them through. The commandos did so, but what they didn't know was that the codes they used were outdated.

The system, which was updated once every 24 hours, remembered every single access code that was keyed into it. But in order to safely enter and exit the airlock, one must possess the correct access code, which was changed every 24 hours. While the system would still accept an outdated access code in the event of a Mobile Worker running behind schedule, it would also trigger a silent alarm and alert the Colonial Militia Guard of any potential intruders.

And it was this alarm that the ZAFT commandos had unknowingly tripped.

There was much activity going on at the Morgenroete facility inside the colony, especially inside the underground hangars as personnel were running about, the alarm blaring loudly.

"All personnel, secure everything you possibly can! ZAFT vessels detected outside the colony, consisting of a single Nazca-class destroyer and six Laurasia-class frigates! Small commando shuttles also detected near airlock F2, with enemy commando teams detected in the connecting shaft! All Colonial Militia pilots, board your assigned machines and stand by! Marines, secure the five Cornelius-class tenders ASAP! Everyone else, secure the prototype Gundams and Astray units and take them to the Archdemon!" Yelled the voice of Vice Admiral Chifuyu Orimura over the speakers.

As they were scrambling to their machines, two particular pilots started a small conversation with each other.

"Hey, Sahaku!" A young woman who was 27 years old, had medium length black hair, a pair of deep emerald eyes, and naturally tan skin, called out to the girl running next to her.

Said girl looked to her left and saw the woman running alongside her. "What is it, Doglio?" She asked while the two dodged a small group of marines who were running towards the lab where the Astray units were being developed.

"Why are you headed this way? Shouldn't you be securing your new unit?!" The young woman, whose full name was Federica Niclot Doglio but was infamously known as the "Crimson Lightning", asked.

"The Strike Witch has already been loaded onto the Archdemon an hour ago! I'm gonna help defend the colony if ZAFT launches–"

Before Yoshika could finish, the Vice Admiral's voice came back on the speakers. "All pilots, stand by for launch! ZAFT Mobile Suits have just been detected launching! Enemy N-Jammer levels rising! All personnel, man your battle stations!"

"Goddammit!" The young Coordinator cursed loudly as the two ran down a corridor leading to one of the hangars.

"You just had to jinx it, didn't you!?" Federica yelled.

In the secret hangar where the white warship was stored, a lieutenant looked at his commanding officer in worry as the alarm rang around them. "Captain!"

"Don't panic!" The Captain said sharply yet calmly. "If we get excited, we'd only be playing into their hands! Let Heliopolis handle the situation!" He said with no remorse to the colony's Colonial Militia.

After all, why should he care about a bunch of Coordinator-sympathizers?

"Propellant filled to 80%. Squad 16, begin loading materials. Activation voltage, stable." The speakers to that particular hangar blared out.

A few moments later, the Captain was having a heated discussion with someone on the other end of the phone in his hand. "I know! If needed, we'll set sail!" Hanging up the phone, he turned around and pointed to two people behind him. "Get Lieutenant Ramius for me! Commence transfer of the G-Weapons!"

"Yes, sir!" Two Ensigns who went by the names Natarle Badgiruel and Arnold Neumann answered as they saluted, then floated out of the room due to the room's near-zero gravity.

In the hangar of the Marseille III-class transport, Mu rushed as he entered the cockpit of his upgraded TS-MA2mod.00F Moebius Zero High Mobility Type Mobile Armor. "Dammit, I knew this would happen!" He cursed to himself as he started up his trusted MA. "This is Lieutenant La Flaga! I'm taking off!" With that said, he engaged the throttle of the Mobile Armor's engines and rocketed out of the open hangar doors of the old transport craft.

Taking a look around him, Mu had the pleasant surprise of seeing dozens upon dozens of automated Mistral drones of various types taking off from both the colony as well as the transport, which had also launched its two upgraded TS-MA2B Moebius Boosted Type Mobile Armors, on an intercept course towards the ZAFT GINNs that were rapidly approaching. He smiled slightly at the sight, now feeling more comfortable with the increased numbers that were on his side. When he spotted the other machines that were sliding into the formation, however, he knew that his chances of survival were going to be significant.

Orb's FX-514 Tomcat Tigers, after all, were notoriously powerful in their own right. And in the right hands, could even take on a GINN in a one-on-one fight and emerge the victor.

The Mistral drones were the first to break formation as they accelerated towards their targets, scattering to spread the fire of the enemy Mobile Suits as the MAW-79B Mistral Boosted Types led the charge. Turning in for the first attack run, the Mistral Bs first opened fire with their 40mm Vulcan pods, forcing the GINNs to break formation before the drones got a proper bead on them, then their operators opened up with their 180mm Recoilless Cannons, aiming to pick off the scattered units one by one. Not all of the GINNs were successful in evading the battle's initial one-two punch, as seven of the Mobile Suits suffered light to moderate damage, while two more were heavily damaged and one was destroyed outright. The drones scattered after they made their attack run to evade the returning fire from the ZAFT MS' MMI-M8A3 76mm Heavy Assault Machine Guns, but one unfortunate pod took a HE (High Explosive) bullet to its port side, causing the unit to tumble out of control while another three detonated as their fuel tanks were struck. Taking advantage of the momentary opening that the drones gave him, Mu deployed his MA's four wire-guided gunbarrel pods and surrounded one of the distracted GINNs. Opening fire with the pods' built-in Short Linear Guns, he peppered the unfortunate GINN with several HE rounds to disorient the pilot, then lined up his EML (Electromagnetic Launcher) on the enemy MS and fired a KEP (Kinetic Energy Penetrator) round straight through its rear thruster block, hitting the fuel tank and causing the unit's torso to explode.

With the opening act complete, the battle began as the ZAFT and Orb units merged into a large furball.

It was at that time that the time bombs planted around the white vessel, the LCAM-01XA Archangel, by the ZAFT commandos exploded, causing severe damage to the hangar and collapsing parts of the ceiling onto the new warship. Inside the overlooking control tower, the Earth Alliance Captain looked on in terror as the force of the explosions shattered the glass and killed both him and his fellow officers in the explosion.

Looking back towards the explosions being heard, Natarle and Arnold were surprised to see a wall of smoke and debris headed in their direction, even as several EA officers behind them were enveloped.

The explosions also shook the colony as a whole, which alerted the two girls who had just arrived at the hangar where their older units were stored. "The hell?!" Exclaimed Federica.

"No time! The colony's under attack!" Yoshika yelled as she ran towards her Gundam, which is currently equipped with the EF-12R G-Sky equipment that took the form of enlarged winged boosters mounted on the rear waist and a pair of miniaturized Ion Cannons mounted on the backpack, with two small external propellant tanks mounted on the lower sides and one larger tank mounted on the bottom of the backpack and two extended battery packs mounted on each ion cannon. In addition to this, on the left shoulder is a red emblem that resembles the head of a unicorn with a sharp right triangle extending out from where the neck would meet the body, and another two lines jutted out from the base of the head and the near the top of the right triangle to intersect at the lower left of the head, giving the overall appearance of a unicorn's head being mounted on top of a slightly crooked triangle; this emblem identified the unit as Yoshika's personal Mobile Suit. Mounted on the unit's backpack is the 350mm "Crann Buidhe" Gundam Rail Bazooka, a prototype weapon developed using data from the Duel Gundam's 350mm "Gáe Bulg" Rail Bazooka and is meant to evaluate the viability of an electromagnetic bazooka-type weapon for future mass production.

Federica gritted her teeth in anger as she ran towards her own Mobile Suit.

This unit shared several similarities to the base GM, but there were several differences. For one the thruster arrangement is different from that of a regular GM, with the number of main thrusters increased from two to six along with being of a newer type that produced more thrust. There are also more Vernier thrusters scattered all over the unit's body, as well as two large thrusters in the back of each leg. Supplying all the power needed are, in addition to the Ultracompact Helium-3 Energy Battery in the torso, two extended battery packs on the sides of the backpack along with two external propellant tanks attached to the bottom of the backpack to give the unit longer endurance. The backpack is also equipped with a large stabilizer that doubled as an external fuel tank and is equipped with its own Verniers. In its head are two 20mm Multi-barrel CIWS for intercepting missiles and lightly armored targets. In its right hand was a weapon that had just entered limited production: The Modular Powered Tactical 76 Battle Rail-Rifle, known simply as the MPT-76 Battle Rail-Rifle, which was currently loaded with a 72-round box magazine, and had two spare magazines mounted on the rear skirt armor. On its left arm was a large Spiked Shield that was currently equipped with a detachable 75mm Gatling Shield fed by a 600-round drum. The two hardpoints on the backpack are currently equipped with two 60mm Gatling Smashers, and the forearms were equipped with two ejectable Type 71 Beam Sabers, which are currently being evaluated for mass-production. Lastly, the entire suit was painted in a dark crimson color, and on its right shoulder was an emblem that looked like a crimson greyhound running on top of a blue lightning bolt and is framed in a black circle with four stars surrounding the greyhound, identifying it as Federica's personal machine. This unit is the RX-81LA G-Line Light Armor, one of the four G-Line prototypes that are competing to be Orb's next-generation mass production unit.

Running up to two platforms, the two Crossbone aces activated the lifts, raising themselves up to the level of their MS's cockpits. Entering their machines and starting them up, the two strapped themselves in and prepared for the fight up ahead. Completing their MS's startup sequence, the G-Line's sky-blue visor flashed to life. Beside her unit, the legendary RX-78-2 Gundam's yellow optics also flashed to life, and the two metal titans began walking towards the nearest elevator that would give them access to the colony's interior.

Up on top of a cliff inside the colony, five ZAFT Reds as well as several more Greens were overlooking the colony interior. One of them, a ZAFT Red named Yzak Joule, was scanning the area using a pair of electronic binoculars until he found a convoy of Gatling Trucks and Missile Trucks escorting three large Mobile Suit carriers, each of which were carrying one of the Earth Alliance's new prototype Mobile Suits, as well as several large vehicles transporting the spare parts for the units.

"That's it." He said to his fellow teammates smugly. "It's just like Commander Le Creuset told us."

"That if we poke them, they'll come out of their hole?" Another fellow Red, Dearka Elsman, asked.

"The Naturals are blockheads, after all." Yzak replied as he sent the location to the six GINNs that managed to break into the colony interior despite the Colonial Militia drone pilots' best efforts.

"Looks like they found the treasure chest!" One of the GINN pilots said to his comrades. "Sector S, 37th factory district!"

"Roger! Way to go, Yzak. That was fast." A blond pilot, whose name was Miguel Aiman, said to himself as he and the other GINN pilots directed their Mobile Suits in the specified direction, his custom orange ZGMF-1017AS GINN Assault Type leading the way.

Outside the colony, the defenders were putting up a valiant fight. Several Mistrals were attempting to outflank the Vesalius when they came under fire from both the ship's 58mm CIWS and the fleet's defending GINNs, destroying three of them and leaving two more incapacitated as their primary batteries were suddenly destroyed, forcing the rest of the formation to break off their attack run and shift their focus to the Mobile Suits. One of the Moebius Boosted Types was firing on a GINN with its 40mm Vulcan guns to line up a shot with its EML. The green Mobile Suit easily dodged the shots and locked onto the MA, but before it could fire it was suddenly slammed with several 180mm shells from behind by several Mistral drones. Taking advantage of the distraction, the Moebius fired its EML at the doomed Mobile Suit before swiftly turning around and firing its thrusters to set up for another attack run on a different target. The pilot of the damaged GINN had no time to respond before the KEP slug pierced straight through the unit, instantly destroying his upper body when the slug punched through the cockpit hatch on its merciless path.

The Moebius pilot had no time to celebrate, as he was forced to evade a burst of machine gun fire from his upper right, which was abruptly cut off after only a single second. He quickly spotted his enemy, a damaged GINN that just had its right arm blown off by a lucky shot from another drone. Smirking in confidence from his first victory and at the state of his current target, the Moebius' pilot fired two of his missiles at his enemy, then followed up with his Vulcans to line up another EML shot. To his surprise, the machine was able to evade as it darted off to the side. Charging the Mobile Armor with its MA-M3 Heavy Blade in hand, the GINN moved to slice the MA in two. But right as he began to swing, the Moebius' pilot panicked and fired his EML. The ZAFT MS had no time to react, but the slug, misaimed from the pilot's panicking, still managed to strike the GINN's left leg in the knee joint and blow off the lower left leg. But the Mobile Suit was undeterred, and continued on its path and cleaved the MA in two, killing its pilot in an instant.

Heavily damaged, the GINN turned around to head back to its carrier for repairs, but was met with the sight of several dozen Mistral drones peppering the Nazca-class destroyer and three Laurasia-class frigates with their 180mm cannons, blowing numerous small holes in their armor and destroying several of the 58mm CIWS emplacements at the cost of losing 18 of their own, creating an opening for the second Moebius to fire its four missiles and underslung EML at the Galvani. All four missiles slammed into the catapult that was just beginning to open to allow the damaged ZAFT MS back into the hangar, jamming it halfway open, while the slug punched through the compartments that held the underslung hangar to the ship. Several Mistrals that were harassing the ZAFT ship took advantage of the opportunity and positioned themselves to open fire inside the now-exposed hangar.

Not on the ZAFT pilot's watch. Charging in with sword in hand, he stabbed the first drone right as it began firing into the hangar, destroying it in an instant. However, its guns resumed spitting out their 40mm and 180mm shells for two more seconds before they stopped, and the fact that several other Mistral drones had also opened fire with their own Vulcans and cannons resulted in the inside of the hangar being peppered with bullets and high-explosive ordnance. They must have hit either the MS fuel tanks or the ammo dump, as an enormous explosion erupted from the hangar several moments later. To prevent the ship itself from being damaged any further, the captain gave the order to detach the destroyed hangar. However, due to the damage the section holding the hangar module took just moments earlier, several of the explosive bolts and clamps holding the hangar to the rest of the ship malfunctioned, keeping the module loosely attached as the stricken frigate fell back while adjusting for its shifted center of gravity.

The drones paid the price for it, though, as several more GINNs moved in with machine guns blazing, tearing through the drones and destroying them in short order. The purpose of these drones was completed, however, as the GINNs in turn found themselves under fire from two separate formations of five Mistral drones that were led by a single Tomcat Tiger each, whose operators and pilots capitalized on the distraction the previous drones provided, the drones' cannons tearing through the formation of ZAFT Mobile Suits. Two of them went up in fire balls as their stricken fuel tanks detonated, while the third GINN that was hit, which was also the one that was currently lacking a right arm and a lower left leg, found itself lacking a left wing as well. The GINN, while lucky that it didn't suffer from a direct hit, now had to deal with the sudden loss of thrust from the left side. Before the pilot could make adjustments to the GINN's OS to compensate for the loss of the left wing, the cockpit was struck by a direct hit from a linear slug fired from the Tomcat Tiger that was leading the second formation, the twin rails of its EML crackling with electricity as the Crossbone-trained pilot re-primed his main weapon while taking aim at the Galvani. Lining up its shot at the intended target point of the ship, the Mobile Armor, too far from the target's effective CIWS range, fired once more, this time sending the slug straight through the window of the ship's bow-mounted bridge, forming a large hole that sucked out the air and personnel that were currently occupying it, the vacuum of space killing them within seconds. The slug continued to travel through the bulkheads and sailed straight into the main engine room, slamming into the engine block and embedding itself deep within its structure as it finally ran out of momentum. The fuel lines, ruptured from the impact, sprayed their explosive contents onto the superheated metal of the engine's inner workings, causing a tremendous explosion that destroyed the entire engine room, while the resulting chain reaction triggered the detonation of the ship's fuel tanks shortly afterwards and caused the entire rear half of the ship to go up in a fireball.

The Orb MA immediately went evasive to break a lock that a GINN had acquired on it, dodging the shot it had fired from its M68 "Cattus" 500mm Recoilless Rifle in an attempt to avenge the loss of its carrier. Seeing the shot miss, he threw away his cannon and drew his machine gun. Unfortunately for him, he was so focused on trying to kill the Mobile Armor that killed his comrades that he didn't notice the missile warning beeping in his cockpit until two Munitions General (MiG)-29M Fulcrum-E Guided Multipurpose Missiles slammed into his main thrusters. Seeing an opportunity, one of the drones closed rapidly and grappled the crippled machine. The GINN's pilot, rattled as he was, was quick to respond as he let go of his weapon and wrestled with the pod in an attempt to pry it loose. The pod's operator, instead of attempting to wrestle back, jammed her Mistral's right manipulator onto the cockpit hatch of the enemy Mobile Suit and activated the built-in Concentrated Blowtorch, which quickly burned through the hatch and incinerated the pilot inside. The GINN stopped moving as its pilot's input suddenly ceased, and the pod let go of the dead machine before turning around to look for another target.

It was suddenly destroyed by a hail of gunfire from a ZGMF-515 CGUE's MMI-M7S 76mm Heavy Assault Machine Gun, whose pilot was enraged at seeing both his carrier and subordinates be killed. With the drone in front of him taken care of, he turned his ire on the Tomcat Tiger that killed his ship. Quickly spotting the Orb MA, he boosted towards it as he readied his M7070 28mm Vulcan System Shield, opening fire with the weapon in an attempt to herd his target into the sights of his machine gun. While the tactic would have worked against an Earth Alliance-trained pilot in a standard Moebius, the Crossbone-trained Orb pilot was able to maneuver his Tomcat Tiger out of the line of fire while avoiding the sights of the ZAFT machine's primary weapon. The ZAFT squadron commander, now even more angered that the Orb pilot was denying his vengeance, drew his sword and fired his thrusters at full power to close the gap and cleave his target to pieces.

In his rage, however, he had forgotten one vital fact; the Tomcat Tiger wasn't alone.

His CGUE was suddenly peppered by 180mm shells from five different directions at once, the Mobile Suit shuddering as it was struck by more than a dozen HE shells in a time span of less than three seconds. The ZAFT pilot, to his credit, was able to quickly recover and take evasive action, which was slightly difficult when his machine's left arm and both of its legs were either crippled or destroyed, throwing off the machine's center of gravity and making gyroscope-assisted AMBAC (Active Mass Balance Auto-Control) maneuvering significantly more difficult. He took aim with his machine gun and fired at one of the drones, managing to take it out in short order before shifting his aim at a second drone. The second drone also fell, but not before it destroyed his CGUE's monoeye camera with a lucky shot from its main cannon. Disoriented, the pilot engaged his auxiliary cameras when the suit was rocked by a tremendous impact and he lost his main battery, courtesy of the EML of the Tomcat Tiger that he had tried to kill just moments earlier. In response, the emergency battery kicked in and he was able to see out of the auxiliary cameras, just in time to see a drone slam into the damaged torso, its left claw directly in front of the cockpit hatch.

He barely had enough time to scream as the claw's built-in torch ignited, quickly burning through the hatch and cutting his scream short as his upper body was quickly vaporized by high-temperature plasma.

The drone was then immediately destroyed by a single 120mm bullet, courtesy of a white CGUE that was equipped with additional armor and weaponry, and whose right hand was currently holding a MMI-M13S Heavy Sniper Rifle. The pilot of the machine, Rau Le Creuset, immediately shifted his aim towards another drone and fired, this time only managing to knock out one of its engines and make it spiral out of control. He boosted his machine to the left, breaking a lock that a third drone was trying to acquire and whipped out the ZGMF-515AS CGUE Assault's left hand towards his attacker, the machine gun in his left hand spitting out three bullets that quickly dispatched the Mistral. He turned towards another formation of drones and sped off, the wreckage of twelve more of his drone kills drifting behind him.

Spotting the three gleaming prizes rolling along the highway, the six GINNs opened fire, destroying most of the escort vehicles before they had a proper chance to respond, as well as the convoy vehicles that were transporting the spare parts for the G-Weapons. Touching down (and unknowingly crushing a few bodies under the GINNs' feet), the ZAFT Mobile Suits opened fire at another part of the convoy and destroyed several more transport vehicles. What few offensive escorts were left lit up the GINNs with their laser designators and fired their missiles and Gatling guns, but the GINNs, having detected the lasers, easily dodged the shots and returned fire, destroying the remaining Gatling and Missile Trucks.

"Destroy the parts we can't carry, as well as the factories!" Yzak ordered as he and the other ZAFT commandos flew down to the devastated convoy. "According to the report, there should be five. Are the other two still inside?" He asked himself.

"Rusty and my squads will go. Yzak, you guys take these three!" Another ZAFT Red, whose name was Athrun Zala, told him.

The white-haired Red looked back at him. "Okay. It's all yours." He then turned to look back towards the other two teams as Athrun's and Rusty's squads broke off. "Those who board them, immediately disarm the self-destructs first."

Several technicians grabbed their assault rifles and opened fire on the approaching ZAFT commandos. But there were two things that played to their disadvantage; one, they only ever passed basic firearms courses. And two, the ZAFT commandos were much better trained.

Easily dodging the bullets that came their way, the ZAFT forces touched down onto the pavement that was the highway and took action, firing away at the technicians and easily killing them as the commandos ran towards the three MS carriers. Entering them, the three ZAFT Reds entered the machines, beginning the procedures of disarming the self-destructs and rewriting the Operating Systems.

"Well! This is pretty impressive." Yzak commented as he completed his work and activated his newly acquired machine, the GAT-X102 Duel Gundam. "How's yours, Dearka?" He asked as he grabbed the Duel's 57mm High-energy Beam Rifle equipped with an underslung 175mm Grenade Launcher and a shield in the Mobile Suit's hands.

"Okay." He replied. "Update activated, nerve links reconstructed. Calibration completed. It'll move." Activating his stolen suit, the GAT-X103 Buster Gundam, he made it stand up and grab the two weapons that were next to it, a 94mm High-energy Rifle and a 350mm Gun Launcher which could be combined into either an Anti-Armor Shotgun or a Hyper Impulse Long-Range Beam Rifle.

"Nicol, how about you?" Yzak asked.

The green-haired Coordinator known as Nicol Amalfi was busy typing on the keyboard in the suit's cockpit, rewriting the OS into something that would be acceptable for the time being. "Just give me a little more time." He replied calmly. He finished up within the next ten seconds, and moved his newly acquired unit, the GAT-X207 Blitz Gundam, into a standing position.

"Where are Athrun and Rusty?" Dearka asked. "They're sure taking their sweet time."

Yzak smirked. "They'll be fine. In any case, we'll head back now with these three. Make sure they don't get damaged before we hand them over to Commander Le Creuset."

With that order, the thrusters of the three stolen EA Gundams, as well as their five GINN escorts, took off and headed for the space port.

It was too bad that Yzak's last order would have a hitch thrown into it, because a red blur was closing in quickly from behind.

Just three minutes prior, Yoshika and Federica had maneuvered their Mobile Suits onto the elevator that would take them to the interior of the colony.

"Takei, status report!" The Romagnan Cluster native said into the 13th ATF's private channel.

"Not good." The girl on the other end of the line, whose name was Takei Junko, replied. "The ZAFT forces destroyed the spare parts of the Duel, Buster and Blitz before we could retrieve them, and they've also sabotaged most of the Mobile Suit elevators. We're repairing the damage as fast as we can!"

"Dammit!" Yoshika cursed to herself.

"Roger that!" Federica said into the radio. "We'll do what we can, but I don't think we can stop them from stealing the EA's prototypes." As she said this, she activated the elevator making it begin to slowly rise to the colony's interior.

The trip took two minutes, and by the time the two Mobile Suits arrived at the surface the theft of three of the EA's prototype Gundams was already underway. As the elevator stopped, the two girls shifted their Mobile Suits from Max Conserve Mode to Full Combat Mode, enabling all the combat features that weren't previously available in their low-power consumption state. Warming up their thrusters, Federica sent Yoshika her plan of attack. "Listen up, Sahaku. I'll hit 'em from behind, and while they're distracted you hit them from above. If you can't capture the prototypes, destroy them!"

"Roger!" Yoshika replied to her senior as the two Mobile Suits took off into the colony's airspace.

Now behind her targets, the Natural of Italian descent began planning her first attack against the ZAFT forces. Taking careful note of the positions of the three stolen Gundams and their GINN escorts, she saw something that caused her to grin like a predator.

The formation around the Buster, which was on the right side, was looser than the other two formations. Now taking note of the positions of the Buster and the lone GINN escorting it, she formulated her plan of attack.

Cranking the power of her unit's thrusters to the max, the Natural was pushed back violently into the back of her seat as the G-Line accelerated to its maximum speed, brandishing one of the beam sabers in its right hand after stowing her rail rifle while spinning up the barrels on the Gatling Shield. Charging towards the Buster and the unfortunate GINN, Federica flipped her Mobile Suit upside down to take a swing at the Buster with her now-activated beam saber while aiming her Gatling Shield at the GINN.

Inside the cockpit of the Buster, the proximity alarm went off, alerting Dearka of an approaching hostile unit. "Huh?" He asked to himself, shifting the Buster slightly to the left as he began to turn around to look behind him.

That small shift in position saved his life, for as a red blur shot passed him his 350mm gun launcher, which was now where the cockpit was a moment ago, was sliced clean down the middle as a pink streak cut into both it and his suit's right leg, cooking off the few shells that had already been loaded before the attack and causing the weapon to explode as the right leg fell away from the destroyed hip segment. He shouted in surprise as the Buster began to spiral out of control. "What the hell!?"

He didn't have time to wonder what hit him, though, as the GINN that was escorting him suddenly went up in an explosion after being peppered with numerous AP (Armor Piercing) rounds.

Dearka's shout alerted the rest of the ZAFT forces, as well as the pilots of the other two stolen Gundams. "Dearka, what's wrong?" Nicol asked in worry.

"Dammit, something just took out my right weapon and leg and killed Caspar in an instant!" Spotting something on his view screens as he struggled to regain control, he tried to make out the red blur as it headed for the Duel. "Yzak, it's headed your way!" He shouted as he managed to stabilize the damaged prototype.

"What?!" Seeing the blur coming right at him, the white-haired Coordinator raised his new unit's shield to block the incoming attack, not having enough time to properly aim at an enemy moving that quickly. His shield was met with a kick so powerful that the left arm began creaking in protest and developing a multitude of cracks along the grey armored surfaces, while several alerts inside the cockpit indicated the internal damage the left arm just suffered, which included loss of all power to the lower left arm and hand. Fortunately, the hand was locked in the closed position, so the shield was still being grasped. But now that Yzak had a moment to look at his attacker, he was quick to realize that the unit in front of him was a new model that bore some resemblance to the GMs that the Crossbone Vanguard and, more recently, Orb and her colonies used. However, his blood ran cold upon seeing that the suit was painted in a crimson color and had an eerily familiar emblem painted on its right shoulder. Its right leg was still on his shield, with its shield-mounted Gatling cannon on the left arm already spinning and aimed at another of the GINNs in Nicol's direction.

"What the hell's the Crimson Lightning doing here!?" Yzak shouted in alarm.

Those eight words made the blood of the attacking ZAFT forces run cold; the Crimson Lightning, or also known by her real name of Federica N. Doglio if intelligence was accurate, was the young woman who single-handedly sank five of ZAFT's newest Nazca-class destroyers during the final Battle of Endymion Crater last year, as well as managing to shoot down ten GINNs on her own during the same battle. The kicker was that despite flying at the extreme speeds and G-forces she pushes onto her Mobile Suit, she was a Natural; a human who was born without any genetic modifications and enhancements. It was beyond them as to how she could pilot a Mobile Suit at those high speeds, Natural-friendly OS developed by the equally infamous Natural genius Ursula Hartmann or not.

But before Yzak could warn the GINN the woman was targeting, her enormous Gatling gun opened fire, shredding the unfortunate ZAFT pilot and his machine with a one-second burst. Using his shield as a springboard, the red GM-lookalike was already back into its comfort zone at high speed combat as it took the battle into the vertical and flew straight upwards relative to their position.

One of the GINNs turned to Yzak's new Gundam. "Yzak, get those units to Creuset! We'll hold her off for you!"

Yzak gritted his teeth in frustration, but had no choice to comply; their mission was to steal the Earth Alliance's new Mobile Suits and deliver them to the PLANTs for analysis of any new technologies that the Naturals may have invented, not to try and duke it out with an enemy veteran pilot while stealing said units and getting them damaged any further than they already have been. "Just be careful!" He answered with a hint of frustration in his voice, angered at the hitch in the plan.

He just stole this unit, dammit, and the Crimson Lightning had the nerve to attack him while he was still unfamiliar with it!

Watching the three GINNs, as well as four newly-arrived GINNs from the space port, charge after the red CGUE, he and the other two in their stolen units took off towards the space port… unaware that an even bigger threat was lying in wait for them near the entrance.

Hiding on the other side of the colony shaft near the space port, Yoshika took a breath to steady herself as her Gundam held the 350mm "Crann Buidhe" Gundam Rail Bazooka in its hands. Steeling herself, she maneuvered the Gundam so that it was belly-down on the central shaft, overlooking the space port. She almost immediately spotted her quarry, the three stolen Gundams that were making a break for the space port as quickly as their thrusters would allow. Taking a closer look at the units through her bazooka's optical sensors, she could make out the damage that the Duel and Buster Gundams had taken, while also noticing that the Blitz had yet to even suffer a scratch.

Now knowing which enemy unit to target, Yoshika began typing away rapidly on the Gundam's keyboard as she analyzed the distance, speed, and direction of the Blitz manually as she checked and double-checked the data, refusing to use the laser rangefinder and potentially give away her position while also dialing down the bazooka's power down 75% just in case she missed and struck the colony wall instead. Once the targeting data was inputted, she took aim center mass with the weapon while leading the target the correct distance and pulled the trigger.

Inside the cockpit of his new Mobile Suit, Nicol Amalfi spotted the flash of light above him, and instinctively evaded to the right as his intense training told him to. However, despite his training as a ZAFT Red and the Blitz Gundam's reflexes, the slug fired in his direction tore clean through the left shoulder and severed the left arm from the stolen suit.

But for him, losing the suit's arm was better than losing his life. But that still begged the question as to who shot at him, and with exactly what he was shot with. "What was that!?"

"Dammit, there's another one?!" Yzak shouted when the proximity alarms began blaring as yet another unknown suit charged straight at them.

The three looked up, only for Nicol to quickly bring up the Trikeros Offensive Shield on his remaining arm to block the two sonic blades that would have cleaved him in two. Now able to see their attacker, their blood froze solid upon seeing an eerily familiar white Mobile Suit that had a set of equally white horns on its head.

"I…IT'S A GUNDAM!" Dearka shouted in terror, having been nearly killed by that very same Mobile Suit during an unlucky patrol run several months ago. The only reason he was still alive was because his wingman took a lethal blow meant for Dearka for himself, sacrificing himself so that Dearka could fall back with the heavily-damaged GINN he was piloting back then.

"Out of all places, why here and now?!" Yzak shouted in alarm before the dreaded MS turned its yellow optics in his direction. Kicking off the Blitz's shield, the Gundam charged directly at the Duel with its swords at the ready. Reacting on instinct, Yzak moved the stolen Gundam to the side, just barely dodging the gleaming blades of the White Devil. Unfortunately for him, the infamous girl wasn't deterred, swinging her Mobile Suit around at a speed that would have made the GINN High Maneuver Type even greener than it already was in envy, blades ready to pierce his cockpit. Swinging the Duel around since the left arm was mostly out of commission, Yzak managed to position the shield in time to block the two stabs the Crossbone ace sent his way. "Dammit, we need backup!"

"This is the Schlüter Team. We've broken into the space port. Yzak, state your situation." A voice said over their frequency.

"Intelligence screwed us over big time!" Yzak yelled, his frustration mounting as he dodged yet another sword slash from the Gundam. "No one told us that the White Devil was here!"

There was silence on the frequency for a few seconds. "Th-The White Devil!?"

"There's no time for questions–" The white haired Coordinator started, before he was interrupted by the RX-78-2 firing its XM8 Gundam Rail-Rifle at him after it had stowed its right blade and grabbed the gun mounted on her Mobile Suit's rear waist, forcing him to dodge the best he could with a slightly damaged prototype suit he was unfamiliar with, although a few lucky bullets managed to blow off and destroy his right leg after hitting the internal tanks located there. "Dammit! Someone get this bitch off of me!"

The eight GINNs that consisted of the Schlüter Team hesitated for a moment as they considered their chances of making it out alive against such a feared Mobile Suit, but the mission to steal the Earth Alliance's new Mobile Suits came first. With grim determination, they charged the white Mobile Suit with the intent of buying enough time for the three ZAFT Reds to withdraw.

Charging towards the Buster, Yoshika was just about to stab her left blade into the cockpit when her proximity alarm went off. On instinct, she stopped in her tracks as a large volume of lead peppered the airspace in front of her. Turning towards the source of the attack, she spotted eight GINNs charging at her head-on.

She sighed. "Great. Guess I'll have to let those three go," Then she smirked as an idea formed in her mind. "However…" Charging the Duel again, she made a stabbing motion with her sword, forcing the Duel to maneuver its shield to block. Yoshika's smirk turned vicious. "He's taken the bait!" Quickly sheathing her left blade, she grabbed the Duel's head with her free hand and squeezed down, digging the fingers of the Gundam into the inactive Phase Shift Armor material to get a better grip. Noticing that the GINNs were firing on her again, she maneuvered herself so that the Duel was in between herself and the ZAFT forces, using the stolen Gundam as a meat shield and forcing the GINNs to cease fire. "That head of yours, I'M TAKING IT!" Squeezing down with even more force, she gave a sharp yank, wrenching the Duel's head free from the rest of the Mobile Suit. With a sharp kick to the Duel's torso, she used the stolen unit as a springboard to launch herself upwards, her prize held firmly in the Gundam's left hand.

She began to take aim at one of the GINNS when a barrage of bullets slammed into one of the ZAFT suits, destroying its right arm. Before the GINN could register what had hit it, a red blur shot through the formation, cleaving the unfortunate ZAFT Mobile Suit in two. Yoshika didn't even need to guess the identity of the blur. "What took you so long, Doglio?" She asked as the enemy Mobile Suit exploded.

"Sorry, but a few GINNs 'volunteered' to have a little dance with me." Federica replied, swinging her G-Line around for another pass while taking note of the damage done to the three stolen prototypes that were now leaving via the space port. "Well, the big fish got away from us… let's say we finish this up, shall we?"

Yoshika smirked. "I'm game." She replied, grabbing her rail-rifle with her right hand and aimed it at one of the GINNs. Before she fired, however, she noticed something else on her radar.

It was the GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam… but it was broadcasting ZAFT IFF.

"Ah, dammit. They managed to steal the Aegis as well… and this guy's Phase Shift is active, too. We got a smart one here. Hey, Red. Do me a favor and rough him up a little for me, will you? I'll keep these guys occupied." Spotting an opportunity, she quickly fired a weakened salvo from her two ion cannons at another GINN, the two beams punching through the torso and destroying the suit.

"I'm on it!" The Crimson Lightning answered, deactivating her beam saber to preserve power as she charged towards the Aegis full tilt.

Inside the cockpit of his stolen Gundam, Athrun's mind was in a maelstrom of confusion. Why was Kira Yamato, his childhood friend, at Heliopolis? Why was he at Morgenroete? And most importantly, why was he in an Earth Alliance Mobile Suit?

He didn't have long to ponder his questions as the proximity alarm began screaming at him, putting him on the alert. Spotting the crimson blur diving straight at him, he managed to bring his shield up in time to block the pink blade of beam energy that was being held in the right hand of a Mobile Suit with an eerily familiar emblem and color scheme.

Great… so Yzak wasn't lying when he said that the Crimson Lightning was here. And she was currently armed with what he now knew was a beam saber, a weapon that could slice through Phase Shift Armor if what he had just learned about the EA's new armor system was correct. It only protected the suit from projectile and explosive attacks at the cost of some of the unit's battery power, not beam or plasma-based attacks. Which meant that it was a good thing his shield had an anti-beam coating on it or else he would have been dead right now.

Seeing the red suit kick off of his shield and disappear in a blur, Athrun's instincts screamed at him to block an attack from behind. He was lucky that the Aegis had much higher specs than a standard GINN, as the stolen Gundam was able to spin around just fast enough to block the beam saber's stab that had been aimed at his back with his shield. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he brought up his stolen Gundam's beam rifle and pointed it at the Crimson Lightning. The enemy pilot was quick to react in dodging the point-blank beam shot and lashed out with her saber. He backed off to dodge, and acting fast he activated the beam saber on the right arm and lashed out with his new weapon, a strike which was barely blocked by the Crimson Lightning's own shield. Federica gritted her teeth in frustration as she saw two GINNs making their way towards her, having managed to get past the White Devil. Thinking quickly, she put some distance between them, opening up with the large Gatling gun mounted on her shield in an attempt to make her foe's Phase Shift use up more of his battery power. Athrun rolled to the side to avoid the bullets and snapped off a few shots with the Aegis' beam rifle, which the G-Line evaded as its pilot was forced to back off. Seeing his chance, Athrun spun around and gunned the thrusters to their maximum power, keeping an eye and his beam rifle pointed in the general direction of the infamous ace as he linked up with the two GINNs that had come to his aid.

Federica huffed in frustration. While she could possibly defeat him, her Gatling shield was just about out of ammunition, and her G-Line hadn't been fully fueled due to how quickly she had to be scrambled.

Sighing to herself, she let her partner know what had happened even as she deactivated her beam saber and stowed it away. "Eh, sorry Miyafuji. I'm gonna have to let him go; starting to run low on fuel, and I'm nearly out of ammunition in the Gatling shield."

Hearing this caused Yoshika to blink as her fifth victim in the Schlüter Team went up in an explosion. Looking back, she saw the Aegis making a run for it to the space port, with a couple of scratches where Federica managed to nick him with her beam saber and its lack of a lower right leg. Looking back at her quarry, she noticed that they decided to bug out of the one-sided slaughter. Yoshika let them go, as a chase would only waste precious battery power and ammunition. Taking a moment to assess the situation, Yoshika made her decision. "We're heading back to resupply. No point in flying around and wasting power, is there?"

"I can agree with you there." The Crimson Lightning answered before she contacted Takei. "Takei, what's the status of those elevators? Did they fix them yet?"

"Standby… Confirmed! The repairs have just been completed, and the Colonial Militia Guard is scrambling as fast as they can!" The girl native to Orb's Fuso colony cluster answered.

"Roger that. We're returning to rearm and resupply. Over and out." Federica cut the link as she and Yoshika headed back to the elevator they entered the colony in.

FX-514 Tomcat Tiger

Model number: FX-514

Namesake: Tomcat, Tiger

Unit type: Mass Production Aerospace Superiority Multirole Mobile Armor

Developed into: YFX-537 Fullback Terminator

Variants: FX-523 Black Widow II, FX-522 Razorblade Raptor (export model)

Manufacturer: Morgenroete Inc

Operators: Orb Union, Walpurgisnacht QRF Mobile Armor Wing

Known Pilots:

Power-plant: 2 x Ultracompact Energy Battery, located in central hull

Armor: Titanium Alloy/Carbyne Composite

Armaments:

2 x 30mm Vulcan Gun – Mounted in the nose of the Tomcat Tiger are a pair of 30mm Vulcan Guns. While their small caliber of 30mm makes them useless against the armor of enemy Mobile Suits, they have a much higher ammunition capacity as a trade-off. These weapons are best suited against missiles and precision targeting of enemy sensors.

2 x Missile Launch Bay

• 12 x Multipurpose Missile

◾MiG-29 "Fulcrum" Air-to-air Missile

◾MiG-29K "Fulcrum-D" Air-to-surface Missile

◾MiG-29M "Fulcrum-E" Guided Multipurpose Missile

◾MiG-35 "Fulcrum-F" Target Honing Missile (e.g. Heat-seeking, IFF tag scan, IR, laser-guidance)

4 x MiG-25 "Foxbat" Anti-Ship Thermobaric Missile

Electromagnetic Launcher – The Electromagnetic Launcher (EML) is a railgun-based weapon that is much more powerful than the standard Linear Gun. Each shot fired by the EML weapon has a velocity greater than Mach 5, allowing the fired rounds to penetrate through even the heaviest of ship-mounted armor with a single shot. The tradeoff for this amount of firepower, however, is a vastly reduced rate of fire and a drastic increase in power consumption per shot. To offset the increase in power consumption, there are two hardpoints on the sides of the EML that can mount external energy batteries, with one on each side.

Special Equipment and Features:

Mobile ARMOUR (All Range Maneuverability Offence Utility Reinforcement) Multipackage System

• Advanced Targeting and Weapons Guidance System

• Chaff, Flare, & Smoke Dispenser

• Emergency VTOL Capability Substitute Subsystem

• Hyper Impulse Mobility Thruster (H.I.M.T) System

• Tactical Maneuvering Thrusters (T.M.T)

• Select IFF Comms and Sensor System Jamming

• Stealth Coating Layer

Optional Equipment:

Type 61 Nuclear Missile – The Type 61 Nuclear Missile is Orb's answer to the Earth Alliance's Mk5 Nuclear Missile, and is armed with a 20 megaton warhead. Due to the yield of the warhead, the Type 61 is restricted to space-only deployments and away from Orb's colonies to mitigate the effects of the EMP effect that accompanies the weapon's detonation.

Various Guided & Unguided Bombs

"Bunker Buster" Warhead – A D-type weapon that replaces the Type 61 Nuclear Missile after ZAFT introduced the N-Jammer, rendering all nuclear weapons useless. Despite it's name, it can also be used to great effect against an enemy ship as it's effective detonation range can destabilize an enemy fleet (albeit only in Earth's atmosphere), and can inflict significant damage on space colonies, with a single bomb capable of destroying an entire PLANT if it impacts and detonated inside the connecting section between the two habitable sections.

Colors: FF-6 TIN Cod colors

TS-MA2mod.00F Moebius Zero High Mobility Type

Model number: TS-MA2mod.00F

Namesake: Möbius strip

Unit type: Prototype Multi-Vector Assault Space Mobile Armor

Developed from: TS-MA2mod.00 Moebius Zero

Developed into: TS-MA2B Moebius Boosted Type, AQM/E-X04HMT Gunbarrel Striker, TS-MA4F Exus

Variants: none

Manufacturer: Morgenroete Inc

Operators: Earth Alliance, Orb Union (13th Azad Task Force)

Known Pilots: Mu La Flaga, Charlotte Elwyn Yeager, Francesca Lucchini

Power-plant: 5 x Ultracompact Energy Battery (1 x located in central hull, 1 x located in each Wired Gunbarrel)

Armor: Titanium Alloy/Carbyne Composite

Armaments:

2 x 30mm Vulcan Gun – Mounted in the nose of the Moebius Zero High Mobility Type are a pair of 30mm Vulcan Guns. While their small caliber of 30mm makes them useless against the armor of enemy Mobile Suits, they have a much higher ammunition capacity as a trade-off. These weapons are best suited against missiles and precision targeting of enemy sensors.

4 x Wired Gunbarrel – The Moebius Zero HMT is equipped with four Wired Gunbarrels, each equipped with a single Short Linear Gun. They are usually mounted on the Mobile Armor's main body, but can be detached and controlled through wires to attack an enemy from multiple directions, or for attacking multiple enemy units at once. Although the wired gunbarrels' short linear guns can only deal moderate damage to a Mobile Suit, they still allow the Moebius Zero HMT to hold the enemy machine in place and finish it with the more powerful Electromagnetic Launcher. The gunbarrels can function as additional boosters when attached to the Mobile Armor, granting it higher speed and mobility than the Moebius Boosted Type. They can also double as additional power packs as each one is equipped with a single energy battery, which can either be used to power the short linear guns or transfer power to the main unit should the primary battery start to run low; however, as the connecting wires are only thick enough to transfer commands from the main unit to the gunbarrels, they can only transfer power to the main unit when docked. The true limiting factor of the gunbarrels is that only pilots with high spatial awareness can use them.

• 4 x Short Linear Gun – Mounted in each of the four Wired Gunbarrels is a single Short Linear Gun. As their name suggests, these weapons are shortened versions of the same linear guns used by the regular TS-MA2 Moebius, and while their shortened length translates to less power per shot, their cyclic rate is effectively doubled. To make up for the reduced power, these guns are primarily loaded with HE ammunition to damage and disorient enemy units.

Electromagnetic Launcher – The Electromagnetic Launcher (EML) is the primary weapon of the Moebius Zero HMT and is much more powerful than the previous model's standard Linear Gun. Each shot fired by this railgun-based weapon has a velocity greater than Mach 5, allowing the fired rounds to penetrate through even the heaviest of ship-mounted armor with a single shot. The tradeoff for this amount of firepower, however, is a vastly reduced rate of fire and a drastic increase in power consumption per shot. To help offset the increase in power consumption, there is a single hardpoint on the bottom of the EML that can mount an external energy battery.

Special Equipment and Features:

Mobile ARMOUR (All Range Maneuverability Offence Utility Reinforcement) Multipackage System

• Advanced Targeting and Weapons Guidance System

• Chaff, Flare, & Smoke Dispenser

• Emergency VTOL Capability Substitute Subsystem

• Hyper Impulse Mobility Thruster (H.I.M.T) System

• Tactical Maneuvering Thrusters (T.M.T)

• Select IFF Comms and Sensor System Jamming

Optional Equipment:

Beam Cannon – A Beam Cannon can be installed onto the body of the Moebius Zero HMT in place of the EML. This beam cannon has greater firepower than the beam rifle used by the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam, allowing it to destroy a Mobile Suit with a single well-placed shot; however, the beam cannon also has a power consumption that roughly equals that of the EML, which is partially offset by the addition of a hardpoint for an external energy battery on the bottom of the weapon towards the rear. The model of beam cannon that can be equipped to the Moebius Zero HMT is different from the one that can be equipped to the Moebius Boosted Type.

TS-MA2B Moebius Boosted Type

Model number: TS-MA2B

Namesake: Möbius strip

Unit type: Mass Production Space Mobile Armor

Developed into: YMAF-X6BD Zamza-Zah

Variants: none

Manufacturer: Earth Alliance

Operators: Earth Alliance

Known Pilots:

Armaments:

2 x 40mm Vulcan Gun – The Moebius Boosted Type has a pair of built-in 40mm Vulcan Guns as its only fixed armament. These Vulcans are small caliber armaments that are useful for restricting the movement of enemy units and intercepting missiles, and are capable of ripping apart the armor of a GINN should a sustained burst connect.

4 x Hardpoint – Mounted underneath the hull between the main body and the engine pods are four hardpoints that can be equipped with various weapons, with two on each side. They are primarily equipped with various types of missiles, but can also mount a pair of Linear Guns, a Beam Cannon, or additional ammunition and battery packs for the Electromagnetic Launcher.

• 4 x 4-rail Missile Rack – Each of the four hardpoints can be equipped with a 4-rail Missile Rack, which can be loaded with various missiles to deal with the mission at hand.

◾MiG-29M "Fulcrum-E" Guided Multipurpose Missile

◾MiG-35 "Fulcrum-F" Multi-guidance Homing Missile (e.g. Heat-seeking, IFF tag scan, IR, laser-guidance)

•4 x MiG-25 "Foxbat" Anti-Ship Thermobaric Missile

Special Equipment and Features:

Mobile ARMOUR (All Range Maneuverability Offence Utility Reinforcement) Multipackage System

• Advanced Targeting and Weapons Guidance System

• Chaff, Flare, & Smoke Dispenser

• Emergency VTOL Capability Substitute Subsystem

• Hyper Impulse Mobility Thruster (H.I.M.T) System

• Tactical Maneuvering Thrusters (T.M.T)

• Select IFF Comms and Sensor System Jamming

Optional Equipment:

2 x Linear Gun – A pair of Linear Guns can be mounted on the four hardpoints in place of missiles. These linear guns are the same model used by the standard TS-MA2 Moebius and are fire-linked.

Beam Cannon – A Beam Cannon can be installed onto the body of the Moebius Boosted Type in place of the EML. This beam cannon has greater firepower than the beam rifle used by the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam, allowing it to destroy a Mobile Suit with a single well-placed shot; however, the beam cannon also has a power consumption that roughly equals that of the EML, which is partially offset by the addition of a hardpoint for an external energy battery at the rear of the weapon. The model of beam cannon that can be equipped to the Moebius Boosted Type is different from the one that can be equipped to the Moebius Zero HMT.

Mk5 Nuclear Missile – Amongst the optional weapon that can be mounted to the Moebius is a nuclear missile, but this is at the expense of carrying other weapons. When loaded with the nuclear missile, the Moebius is essentially a mobile missile platform for the weapon of mass destruction.

MAW-79B Mistral Boosted Type Drone

Model number: MAW-79B

Namesake: Mistral

Unit type: Mass Production Support Space Mobile Drone

Developed from: MAW-01 Mistral

Developed into:

MAW-79C Mistral Command Type Drone Drone

MAW-79K Mistral Killer Type Drone

MAW-79M Minelayer Mistral Minelayer Type Drone

MAW-79ML Mistral Missile Launcher Type Drone

MAW-79U Mistral Underwater Type Drone

MAW-133 Mistral Type 133 Drone

Variants:

MAW-79F Mistral Firing Type Drone

MAW-79G Mistral Works Type

Manufacturer: Anaheim Electronics

Operators: Orb Union, Earth Alliance, Blue Cosmos Terrorists

Known Pilots:

Power-plant: 1 x Ultracompact Energy Battery, located in main body

Armor: Titanium Alloy (early models); Titanium Alloy/Ceramic Composite (later models)

Armaments:

2 x 40mm Vulcan Gun – The base section of the Mistral Boosted Type Drone has a pair of 40mm Vulcan Guns mounted on the sides of its hull. These Vulcans are small caliber armaments that are useful for restricting the movement of enemy units and intercepting missiles, and are capable of ripping apart the armor of a GINN should a sustained burst connect.

180mm Recoilless Cannon – Mounted on top of the main body unit of the Mistral Boosted Type Drone is a single 180mm Recoilless Cannon as its primary armament. The rounds fired from this cannon are powerful enough to destroy the armor of most mass-production Mobile Suits with a single well-placed shot.

4 x Concentrated Blowtorch - Hidden inside the claws of the Mistral Boosted Type's grappling arms are four powerful concentrated blowtorches, with one per claw. They are the Mistral Boosted Type Drone's only melee weapon against enemy MS units. As the grappling arms grab the MS, the powerful concentrated blowtorches can quickly melt through armor and sever the limbs or part of the MS body the Mistral's arms have grabbed onto. The blowtorch can also be used to kill an MS unit if one of the arms have grabbed hold of the cockpit area and burn through armor and the pilot and cockpit in full. The blowtorches are also effective against ship grade armor.

Special Equipment and Features:

Boosters Acceleration Linear Lateral (BALL) System – A series of small boosters that gives the MAW-79B Mistral Boosted Type multi-dimensional maneuvering and agility and enhanced mobility in space. With the BALL System, the Mistral Boosted Type does not suffer the awkward inflexible movement and maneuvers in space compare to the MAW-01 Mistral. The directional thrusters mounted on all Mistral Boosted Types units were "directed" solid fuel explosives, the detonation giving an impulse through the thrusters to change the direction of the Mistral. This configuration gave the Mistral unit good reaction speed and reasonable maneuverability on each thrust but very limited use of the system compared to the liquid fueled directional thrusters on MS units.