-Gyndana, August 3, C.E. 71, 0900.
The Earth Alliance 6th Orbital Fleet had set itself in a spread formation on the near side of Gyndana, the one closet to the sun at this point. An armada of twenty ships, with hostile intentions, encompassing the surrounding airspace like a giant claw, collapsing on top of its victim. Small dots appeared to be separating from the larger ships. Mobile suits and mobile armors, their pilots strapped in and ready for action. Their opponents: three mobile suits.
Kira exhaled painfully as he cautiously moved the Freedom towards the fleet. His visor was closed and fogged up with his heavy breath, which caused him to wipe it off with a swipe of his hand. He keyed his targeting console in front of him and red squares surrounded targets in his vicinity. "What's the plan, Mwu?" Kira radioed.
"Shoot anything that shoots at you!" was the response Mwu sent back from the Strike, traveling behind and to port while Athrun and the Justice were behind and to starboard.
"Seems simple enough," Kira commented, mostly to himself.
"I got Strike Daggers approaching from two o'clock!" Athrun called. "Mobile armors from eleven o'clock."
"You two take care of the mobile suits, I'll get the mobile armors," Mwu ordered. "Just make sure none of them get close enough to do any damage to the colony!"
"Roger, that," Kira responded, pushing the Freedom toward the incoming Strike Daggers. The smaller mobile suits opened fire on he and Athrun with their rifles, but the agile Freedom and Justice easily dodged the shots. Kira withdrew one of his beam sabers and hacked at a Dagger, cutting off an arm and executing a somersault kick to knock it away. Athrun used both of his beam sabers to slice up another mobile suit, and decapitated another when he tossed a beam boomerang at it. Kira fired his CIWS at two more Strike Daggers, damaging, but not eliminating them. He then turned up the heat and fired his Balaena cannons and crippled both mobile suits. Still more coming...? Kira thought uneasily, seeing more of the mobile suits approaching.
Mwu separated himself from the Freedom and Justice and headed towards an advancing group of mobile armors. He fired his cannon and machine guns mounted on the Strike's shoulders and blew through one of the small craft, sending it spiraling away in a ball of flame. Not bad... Mwu thought, still getting used to the Strike's controls. A Moebieus got in close and launched a volley of missiles at him, but Mwu dodged it, firing back with his Vulcan Igelstellungs and destroying the enemy craft. His board chimed with more enemy signals. He brought the Agni cannon up into firing position and waited until the targeting computer beeped with a lock and fired it. Red energy streaked towards its targets, obliterating the mobile armors before they even fired a shot. Before Mwu could congratulate himself, the Strike shook from hits taken from the rifle of a Strike Dagger. Mwu held on tight and thought to himself, I knew this wasn't going to be easy...
On board the Regress, Rear Admiral McCarthy watched the battle from a safe distance, deep within the formation of his ships. The three mobile suits had separated and were now laying waste to his advance forces of Strike Daggers and Moebieus'. While he'd seen the abilities of the X-105 Strike in combat briefings, he'd never had a chance to see the X-09A Justice and X-10A Freedom in actual combat. He was amazed at their amazing flight abilities and superior firepower compared to his mobile forces.
"Our first divisions are reporting heavy losses, Admiral," the ship's radar operated reported.
"Send three more divisions and two ships to back them up," McCarthy ordered. "We can't afford to underestimate their forces now."
"Admiral," the ship's Captain remarked. "Aren't we being a little too easy on them. I mean, it's only three mobile suits."
"But, Captain. If these three mobile suits are here, that means the Archangel can't be too far away." McCarthy saw the Justice take out another Strike Dagger with its beam sabers. "Amazing, aren't they."
"Yes, sir. Once again it demonstrates the incredible capabilities of the Coordinators." The Captain scratched his head. "Would you like a few ships to break formation and keep an eye out for the Archangel, Admiral?"
"Dispatch the Halberton and the Amagon to opposite points on axis to the colony. The rest of our forces will remain in formation and hold off the mobile suits. We have to buy as much time as we can." McCarthy frowned. I just hope the idiots in Special Forces got it right this time.
-Archangel, 0910.
At the docks, the car carrying John, Frank, Natarle, Cagalli, and Kisaka roared through the gates and into the berth where the Archangel was moored, or locked down more or less. Kisaka brought the car to a halt and the quintet raced up the stairs on the side of the ship and into the outer most corridor. John turned to the others and said, "We're gonna need to launch everything we've got on board while we still can. Frank, you come with me and we'll the mobile weaponry airborne. You three head to the bridge and see if you can bust that lock."
"Yes, sir," Natarle responded. "Don't take any unnecessary risks out there. This ship can't afford to lose fighters like you now."
"We'll be careful. Come on, Frank." John kicked off the deck and floated as quickly as he could towards the hangar complex, Frank in tow.
"Come on you two," Natarle ordered, leading the way towards the bridge. "If what I've heard is right, the lock's need an access code to break the original command given to them. It'll have to be someone higher up in the Orb chain of command."
"Don't worry. Mine should be high enough," Cagalli returned, taking the lead. "I hope..."
Inside the hangar, the crews were hustling to get the equipment loaded onto the Zero and bombers. Murdoch floated beside Stevy, on his way towards the bomber he and Niada would pilot. "How many missiles did you get us?" Stevy asked.
"You'll each have four each. That's as much as we can afford to lose right now," Murdoch answered. "They're all heat-seakers so you'll have to be careful where you aim them." Gesturing to the plane, he added, "You sure these things are designed to fly in space?"
"I read the manual and it said they were," Stevy responded, securing his flight suit. "On the ground they act like regular planes and attack with bombs. But up here, they fight like mobile armors and use missiles. That's how we'll launch them from the catapult, just like the Zero."
"Alright then. Give 'em hell!" Murdoch shouted, moving away from the plane as Stevy climbed aboard.
Mwu brought the Strike in close and fired the Agni twice, destroying two mobile armors and crippling a third. "Talk about a crash course in mobile suit piloting..." Mwu commented to himself, blasting another mobile armor. A Strike Dagger caught him with a shot from its rifle and Mwu jumped up to avoid any more damage. Adjusting the Agni's position from the left to the right arm, Mwu back-flipped the Strike and fired, destroying the enemy mobile suit. He regained control of the Strike and brought the Agni back into position against the mobile suit's left arm. Taking aim at a duo of mobile armors, Mwu annihilated them with fire from his Vulcan guns and cursed having to take so many lives.
"Aaaghh!" Kira shouted, slicing the arm off of another Strike Dagger with his beam saber, and crippling it with CIWS fire. Athrun smashed into another Dagger, sending it directly into the path of the Strike's Agni. More were still coming however. "Damn, how can they be so persistent?" Athrun asked to himself.
Kira was having much of the same thoughts. Strange...this seems too easy all of a sudden. Are these the only forces they're sending out to fight us? His train of thought broke when a Dagger made an attack run at him, but Kira fired his beam rifle and destroyed the mobile suit's weapons, sending it flying away with a swift kick to its head. "Athrun, are there any more forces being sent against us?"
"Not from where I sit," Athrun radioed back. "All they're sending out is these mobile armors and Strike Daggers. I'dve thought they'd send out everything they had once they saw us."
"Yeah, me too." Kira turned the Freedom quickly to starboard to avoid a missile blast and fired back with his Balaena cannons. "Right now, we've got no choice though. We've got to get these guys away from the colony before they get the chance to damage it."
"Where are we supposed to take 'em?" Athrun asked, mostly to himself. Then he pointed out, "The Earth Alliance has their ships spread out so there's no safe place to go. And with all these mobile craft, we're not gonna be able to stop 'em all with just three mobile suits."
"I know, we've got to get the Archangel into the fight somehow," Kira commented, twisting away from more missile fire and heading back towards the fight.
-Archangel, 0915.
"What's their battle strength?" Murrue asked, referring to the enemy fleet.
"We can't get any readings from inside here," Chandra answered calmly. "The walls are too thick."
"The only info we have right now ma'am is the data that's being relayed back to us from the mobile suits," Miriallia added.
"Where are they, now?" Murrue ordered.
"They're busy with the Strike Daggers and mobile armors, Captain," Neumann answered.
"According to Commander la Flaga, the enemy fleet is spread out along the perimeter of the colony to prevent anything from leaving the surrounding airspace," Miriallia reported.
Just then, the door to the bridge opened and three figures walked in. Neumann turned his head to see who it was and was shocked by what he saw. "M-miss Cagalli?" Murrue stuttered.
"Where's a computer outlet. I've got to enter my access code and break these locks." The blonde-haired girl rushed over to the vacant console behind Murrue and activated the screen.
She typed in several commands and a metallic voice responded, "Recognition code accepted. Please state command."
"Command five-seven-two, delta three-four-four," Cagalli responded. "Beta, plus six."
Come on, work... Neumann thought impatiently. The metallic voice finally spoke. "Command code request denied."
"What?!" Cagalli shouted. "What do you mean denied?!"
"You don't have the same status as Governor Riklia," Kisaka broke in, trying to calm the girl down. Turning to Murrue, he added, "Only someone with Governor Riklia's command status can break the locks, apparently."
"What about you, Colonel Kisaka?" Natarle suggested.
"Are you joking?" Kisaka answered. "There's no way my code will work. The only ones in the Orb chain of command with status higher than Riklia are those on the Ruling Council or those who work directly for the Ruling Council."
Neumann thought he heard someone grunt and he turned to his right to fix his gaze on Joseph, the person he'd thought had made the sound. Joseph just looked like he usually did, staring at almost nothing, as if nothing else existed besides him. Neumann exhaled painfully and went back to monitoring his station.
"What'll we do now, Captain?" Cagalli asked, finally calming down. "Unless we do something, this colony and all the innocent people inside of it will be destroyed!"
"I know..." Murrue answered quietly, for she had no idea what to do now.
Natarle settled into her chair in the CIC just in time to hear, "Hey! What's going on up there?" That was Frank's voice coming from the hangar.
"We're still trying to break the locks, Commander Barkhesh," Miriallia responded.
"You can launch stuff still, right?" Miriallia nodded. "Then open the hatch and let met go out."
"I thought the Zero wasn't ready for action yet, Commander?" Natarle broke in standing behind Miriallia's chair.
"Murdoch told me the firing mechanisms at seventy-five percent. I'll worry about the rest later. Just let me get out there now! Mwu and the kids can't beat them by themselves!"
Natarle turned to Murrue and said, "Well, Captain?"
"By all means," Murrue answered. "Get them all airborne."
"You have clearance for takeoff Commander Barkhesh," Miriallia said.
"What about Colonel Namora and the bombers?" Natarle asked.
"They'll be right behind me," Frank responded. "Just feed me the targeting info and I'll do the rest."
Inside the hangar, John, clad in a blue and white flight suit that was a little cramped, climbed up the access ramp to his bomber. He floated through the corridors of the plane, seeing his crew making final flight preparations, which made him feel proud. He entered the cockpit of the plane and found Mike already starting up the systems. "Morning, sir," Mike welcomed.
"Morning, Mike," John answered, settling into the pilot's chair and slipping on his helmet. "What's the status?"
"Everything's in the green. We got four heat-seeker missiles underneath us and a hell of a lot of ammo to fight back with."
"What about the other two?" John asked.
"Lieutenant Barrington's plane is good to go and so is Donnie and Jake's. Commander Barkhesh is heading out now."
No sooner had those words left Mike's mouth when the loud speaker sang out, "Moebieus Zero, Barkhesh, to the linear catapult. K-Bomber's, report to loading platforms."
"That's us," John said, powering up the rest of the systems inside the cockpit. "You ever flown in space combat before Mike?"
"No sir. First time for this too."
"Nervous?" John asked.
Mike looked over and smiled, "What do you think? Of course I'm nervous!"
"Me too," John added quietly. "So let's just get this over with and get the hell out of here!"
John and Mike slowly moved the massive plane carefully through the confines of the hangar. The plane's wheels barely touched the deck so John had to use gracious control with the stick to keep her going straight. They finally reached the loading platform and retracted the wheels of the plane into the fuselage. Because this was space, the bombers would launch just as the Zero was doing now; from a platform that would catapult them into the airless space. John felt the latches on the platform secure themselves to the bomber's underbelly and begin moving it toward the catapult.
Through his headset, John heard Frank yell out, "Moebieus Zero. Barkhesh, launching!" The Zero jumped off of the platform she sat on and soared out through the open hatch toward the fight.
"K-Bomber one. Namora and Lloyd. Stand by."
The platform moved the massive plane in a straight line towards the catapult and John felt the plane shudder with a thump as it attached itself to the catapult. He could see the blackness of space in front of his view from the cockpit and could barely make out laser fire and missiles streaking past the small opening in the dock. John took a deep breath and sealed the visor on his helmet, Mike doing the same.
"You are cleared for launch, Colonel."
"Namora, heading out!" The status board went all green and John fired the engines, sending the bomber soaring out of the hangar and into the docking berth. The plane gained altitude as it exited the colony's interior and headed towards open space.
"Shit!" John yelled, rolling the plane to starboard to avoid a barrage of missiles that came streaking at them. "Kurk! Jamie! Get those damn guns on 'em!" John ordered. "Hold on Mike, we gotta pull out of this mess." Both men pulled on their control sticks and turned the plane back towards the colony, waiting for the other two bombers to join them.
"Stevy and Niada are out," Mike reported, seeing the second plane racing up to join them in formation to their port side. "Here comes, Donnie and Jake." The third plane took up position to the starboard side of the formation and held position there.
"Stevy! I want you to take your plane and stick close to the colony and stop anybody from getting near it!" John ordered. "Donnie, Jake. You guys are with us! We're going to back up Mwu and the others."
"Roger, that," Stevy radioed, turning his plane back towards the colony. The other two continued on towards the battle, most of their guns already blazing.
Back on board the Archangel, the bridge crew was still attempting to free their trapped ship. "Mr. Affione," Murrue questioned, turning to the bearded man who sat at one of the CIC's consoles. "Any luck?"
"'Fraid not. The thing's hard-wired into the system. I can't override it and I've already tried everything I know." He leaned back into the seat of his chair and sighed. "What the hell is that bastard thinking," he muttered to no one in particular.
Dammit, Murrue thought to herself. We'll never get out of here and end up getting annihilated like the rest of the colony. Mwu, please be careful. I know you'll make it through this. All of us will, somehow...
"Captain." Natarle's voice broke Murrue's thought and she turned to her first mate. "Permission to use the Valiant's to break the locks?"
"What?" Murrue gasped.
"There's no other choice right now. It's really the only option we have left," Natarle pointed out.
"Permission denied," Murrue answered. "We're more likely to damage the colony ourselves if we use the guns in here."
"But, Captain-."
"Find another way!" Murrue ordered. "One that doesn't involve destroying anything."
"But that's impossible right now," Cagalli broke in. "No one on board this ship or in this entire colony has a clearance code that override's Riklia's. So unless we do use the weapons, we'll end up stuck in here and be deep-fried at the end of all this."
"No. I will not allow it," Murrue responded.
"But, but..." Cagalli stuttered, trying to sway the Captain's opinion, but she knew that was pointless.
Just then, Neumann heard that same grunt he had heard before. This time, he knew it was Joseph and he turned just in time to see the other man activate his computer console. Neumann watched as the helmsman activated the keys on the console and raced through different zones on the console's data board. Finally, Neumann was shocked to see the console stop in the Gyndana central computer system. "What the? How the hell did you-?" Neumann's outburst brought everyone's attention focused their way. They were just in time to here Joseph speak into the console.
"Recognition code, two-three-four-nine-seven, alpha six-two-A. Josef Crue."
"Recognition code accepted." The combined force of everyone on the bridge gasped. "Please enter command code," the voice continued.
"Command code five-seven-two, delta three-four-four. Beta plus-six."
"Command code accepted." The sound of a great hiss filled the docking berth and Neumann saw the steel locks which had been holding the ship in place begin to recede back into the walls of the facility. With a shocked expression on his face, he turned to face Joseph, or Josef, or whatever his name was. Murrue and the others did much of the same.
Joseph turned his head just enough for Cagalli and Kisaka to get a good enough view of his face. Murrue heard Cagalli gasp slightly and Kisaka hum in understanding. "Uh...Mr...Crew...?" she said uneasily.
"Can we go now?" Joseph asked, turning back towards the open space at the end of the berth.
"Uh...yes..." Murrue answered uneasily. Then more confidently, she added, "Fire up engines! Activate all weapons and radio transmitters! We've got to break out and protect the colony people! I know we can do it!"
"Activate Igelstellungs and Valiant," Natarle ordered. "Load Korinthos into aft missile tubes. Ready Gottfrieds and Lohengrin."
"We have main engine start," Neumann reported. "Gamma control, plus seven and proceeding normally."
"All ship's radio transmitters are responding normally, ma'am," Miriallia reported.
"Weapons systems are ready," Pal added.
"Archangel, launch!" Murrue shouted, and the great ship finally began to move.
-Regress, 0930.
"Amagon reports no activity in her vicinity, Admiral," the communications officer reported.
"What about the Halberton"?" McCarthy asked solemnly.
"Still waiting sir. Wait, it's coming in now." The officer listened to the message and then reported excitedly, "Admiral, Halberton reports that the Archangel is leaving the colony on the far side."
"Can you get visual?" McCarthy asked, standing up from his chair. It took a little while, but finally the viewscreen brought forth a shot of the white and red ship leaving the docking berth on the far side of Gyndana. McCarthy smiled. "Order all ships in the vicinity to engage the ship. They are ordered, not to destroy it."
"Why not, sir?" the Captain asked.
"Our orders from high command are to only destroy it as a last resort, Captain," McCarthy reminded him. "We'll lure the ship away from the colony and then we'll see what opportunities present themselves then."
"Yes, sir," the Captain responded.
"Start up the engines and move us in closer, but not close enough," McCarthy ordered, taking a seat once again. It's time we finished this, 'legged' ship.
-Archangel, 0932.
"We have visual confirmation on the enemy fleet, ma'am," Tonomura reported. "Fleet consists of twenty ships. Twelve 130-class ships, five 250-class ships, two Jani-class, and one Agamemnon-class."
"Signal confirms the Agamemnon-class to be the Regress, ma'am," Chandra added.
"Admiral McCarthy," Murrue confirmed. "Send the data to Commander la Flaga and the others. Make sure they know what they're up against."
The data scrolled across Mwu's data screen in front of him. "That's a lot of ships," Mwu commented dryly. He fired the Agni cannon three more times, annihilating a Strike Dagger that was making a run against the Archangel. Another Dagger turned to engage him and Mwu ducked to avoid laser fire, only to see bursts of lasers target the Dagger and send it into evasive maneuvers. Mwu looked to see the Zero soar by to starboard.
"I'll take care of him Mwu. You get the other ones," Frank transmitted.
"Roger, that," Mwu sent back. Frank approached the mobile suit from its starboard side and waited until he was within range to release the gun barrels. His targeting computer signified a lock and he sent out all four of the barrels, setting them to rapid-fire. He moved the top barrel to attack from above, but its shots went too high, which was exactly what Frank wanted. As the Dagger turned to avoid the top barrel's fire, it put itself right into the path of the port gun-barrel which struck it square in the side. Another shot from the starboard barrel severed the mobile suit's right arm, leaving it defenseless. Frank watched the Dagger soar away and let it go, not wanting to kill it just yet. "I'll worry about that later," he commented to himself.
Athrun piloted the Justice towards the enemy fleet. He zeroed in on a 130-class warship that was sitting by itself, but putting up a good fight. Missiles soared from its canisters, but Athrun dodged them with incredible skill. Athrun released a beam boomerang which cut through one of the small ship's guns and blowing it up. He fired his CIWS at the ship, destroying more gun emplacements and then put the Justice in position behind the ship. Athrun threw a switch and switched the Justice into its HiMAT mode and pulled out the beam cannon mounted over the mobile suit's shoulders and fired it at the ship's engines, detonating them in a bright flash of orange and yellow flames. The ship effectively cripped, Athrun piloted the Justice back towards the mass of Strike Daggers and mobile armors that continued to press their relentless attacks.
A force of five Strike Daggers surrounded the Freedom and fired their rifles simultaneously at Kira, hitting him twice. The Freedom's phase shift armor held up and Kira was fine, though his pride was hurt at being taken by surprise so easily. The Daggers closed in for one more shot, but never got the chance when a seed exploded before Kira's eyes. Pushing the thrusters to their limits, Kira soared above the mobile suits and dove down towards them, both beam sabers drawn. Executing several flips and quick maneuvers, Kira cut the heads and legs off of every Dagger that had attacked him in the quintet, crippling them. "Take that!" Kira shouted, looking for more targets.
Archangel turned to starboard and headed away from the colony, and trying to avoid fire from approaching ships as well. "Fire Korinthos!" Natarle ordered. "Valient and Helldarts, fire!" Missiles roared out of the aft tubes and the Valient guns activated, incinerating a trio of mobile amors heading towards the ship.
"Arnie, switch over," Joseph commanded. "I'm gonna need a second pair of hands to help me steer this fat lady."
"Why?" Neumann asked.
"Have you ever steered a ship against a fleet this big, before?" Joseph asked sarcastically.
"Good point," Neumann responded, pulling out his own steering controls and activating it.
"Roll twenty degrees to starboard!" Murrue ordered. "Give the mobile units back up. Make sure they don't get near the colony!"
"Make sure we get out alive also," Natarle added, which annoyed Murrue a bit.
"Aim Gottfrieds!" Murrue ordered. "Target the enemy ships nearest to us!"
"Gottfried's fire!" Natarle shouted, and the ship's main guns fired, causing approaching ships to go evasive, but remaining undamaged.
Mwu brought the Strike through a volley of missile and laser fire and approached a 130-class ship that was heading towards the colony. Keying his radio, he asked, "John, do I have permission to destroy it?"
"Do whatever you have to in order to ensure that the colony is safe!" John ordered.
Mwu activated his targeting computer and zoned in on the ship's mid-section. He brought the Agni into firing position and when the computer chimed in a lock, he fired it. The red flash of energy struck the vulnerable ship in the side and blew a huge hole through it. Mwu watched as the ship drifted for a bit and then exploded in a ball of flame, pieces of debris and other materials flying everywhere. "One down, nineteen to go," he transmitted.
The two bombers fighting the enemy fleet soared quickly through enemy formations, dicing them up with fire from nose, tail, and ball-turret guns. "Prepare to fire missile," John ordered. Mike took careful aim at the target, a group of Strike Daggers that was just sitting idle.
"Target lock!" Mike reported. "I'm feeding it over to Donnie and Jake now."
"Kurk, fire the missile!" John ordered. The bomber shuddered as the heavy missile released itself from the starboard wing and blazed towards the targets. John saw the missile from the other plane follow it straight towards the targets. One missile struck a Dagger straight in the mid-section, obliterating it and severely damaging another. The rest of the mobile suits were annihilated when the second missile exploded in the middle of their formation, sending shrapnel flying in all directions. "What's the position of the enemy fleet?" John asked.
"Point four-three-seven, Colonel," his navigator responded from behind him. "They really haven't moved all that much. They're keeping their distance from the colony."
"What the hell are they doing?" John asked to no one in particular. A group of mobile armors came at his plane and Mike's attempted answer was drowned out by his cry when John barrel-rolled the massive plane to avoid missile strikes.
The Gottfrieds fired twin lances of green light and obliterated a Strike Dagger. "We have incoming Strike Daggers, ma'am," Chandra reported. "They're approaching from below and coming in fast!"
"Mr. Crew!" Murrue ordered. "Ensign Neumann. Put the Archangel into a barrel-roll."
"Yes, ma'am," Joseph and Neumann responded together.
"Hold on everyone!" Murrue ordered, fastening her restraint belt around her waist.
"Here we go!" Joseph reported, twisting the steering controls in two directions. The rear engines switched their energies downward and the great ship began to roll to port. Murrue held tightly to her chair to keep from floating off of it. Joseph and Neumann grasped their controls firmly and grimaced as the ship turned ninety degrees on its side.
"Switch Korinthos for Anti-air shrapnel warheads!" Natarle ordered.
"Fire anti-beam depth-charges!" Murrue commanded.
Depth charges released from their launch tubes and detonated around the ship, absorbing beam shots from the Strike Daggers and leaving the ship undamaged. The ship completed its roll and was completely upside down. "Fire Anti-air shrapnel warheads!" Natarle shouted. Missiles soared towards their targets and the warheads activated, sending numerous bolts toward Strike Daggers and sliced through them with relative ease. Joseph and Neumann reversed the roll and brought the Archangel back into an upright position, just in time to catch a mobile armor with Igelstellung fire. Just then, the ship rocked from an impact on the rear quadrant.
"What the hell happened?" Murrue ordered.
"Strike Dagger got in close and hit us!" Collin reported, from his interim position in the CIC. "Damage is only ten-percent but the anti-beam depth charge tubes are down."
"Damn," Natarle swore.
Kira saw this from the Freedom's cockpit and raced towards the ship. Catching the Strike Dagger in his targeting computer, he fired all of his guns at close range, annihilating the mobile suits limbs and head, leaving it just a shell of its former self. "Archangel, are you alright?" he transmitted.
"We're fine, Kira," Miriallia reassured him. "We just took a light hit."
"Good," Kira answered thankfully, breathing a sigh of relief.
Athrun screamed as he charged at a 250-class warship. Switching to HiMAT mode, he fired his beam cannon and blew a large hole in the ship, but not so large that it destroyed it. Frank brought the Zero in close behind Athrun and dislodged his gun-barrels, setting them for single fire, which limited the number of shots they could launch, but also gave them greater force. Firing the starboard and port barrels, he destroyed two gun emplacements on the starboard side of the ship while Athrun destroyed a third with his beam saber. The 250-class returned fire brilliantly and caught the bottom gun barrel of the Zero with laser fire. "Damn," Frank swore quickly, releasing the barrel before it exploded.
"Commander, you alright?" Athrun asked, moving up to cover Frank as he retreated.
"I'm fine. I just lost a barrel, but I'm O.K."
"I'll cover you," Athrun responded. "Head towards that swarm of mobile armors and we'll take 'em out!"
"Right in front of you, kid!" Frank responded, firing the engines at their maximum and heading towards the fight. "Let's kick some ass!" he shouted enthusiastically.
Mwu fired the Agni at several Strike Daggers and managed to take out one. Before he could celebrate however, his diagnostic board beeped with harsh results. The Strike's power had fallen dangerously low and he was in danger of losing the effects of his phase shift armor, which would leave him a sitting duck. Damn it, I used the Agni too much, Mwu realized. I've gotta keep myself alive until I get back to the Archangel. With that, Mwu turned the Strike back towards the ship, heading for the only safety he knew that still existed.
-Regress, 0945.
McCarthy watched with a neutral expression on his face. He'd seen the Justice and the mobile armor hit the 250-class straight in the side. And now he saw the two prototype bombers that had been stolen from New York by Namora and his men, release a pair of missiles at the ship, causing explosions along its port side. Several more explosions followed, the final one engulfing the ship in flames. More of his men had just died.
"Amago's not responding, sir," the communications officer reported.
"Tyree has been knocked out," another officer added.
"Yes, I can see that," McCarthy responded sternly, silencing both of the men. Then, turning to face the ship's Captain, he asked, "Any word from Richards and his team yet?"
"Not yet, sir." The Captain looked as confused as everyone else was right now. "We haven't heard anything from him since last night when he called in."
"What the hell could be taking his sorry hide?" McCarthy said, clenching his fist. "I've lost three of my ships in a battle that wasn't even supposed to take place. And knowing that coward, he's probably gotten his sorry ass out of there already and just wants to make it look dramatic when everything goes up in flames."
"Valkeryie squadron has been wiped out!" an officer reported.
"Damn it," McCarthy swore. That was the fifth mobile armor squadron that had been sacrificed in the last twenty minutes. If any more of his men were lost, he'd just order a retreat and get his force out of there while he still could. It wasn't worth all this sacrifice as far as he was concerned, though he knew Azrael and Sutherland would reprimand him for calling a retreat. While McCarthy was a supporter of the anti-Coordinator movement, he wasn't a maniac like Sutherland and Azrael were and kept his priorities straight. Right now, getting his men out alive was more important to him than some stupid morale values.
"Sir, we have incoming transmission. It's encoded with a transmitter key meant especially for you."
McCarthy smiled. "Bring it up." The officer complied and a few seconds later, Sergeant Richards' pretty-boy face appeared on the viewscreen.
"Everything is in position Admiral," Richards said smartly. "We just await your command."
"Have you gotten your team out of the colony safely?" McCarthy asked.
"Yes, sir," Richards answered. "Team one is aboard a captured transport craft while Team two has successfully managed to escape aboard another ship."
"You sure you mined it correctly?" McCarthy questioned, looking straight into Richards' eyes.
"No doubt about it, sir." Richards smiled at the end of the pronouncement.
"Then get it done," McCarthy responded. "Make sure it's done right, though." Richards nodded and the view faded. "Message all ships and mobile craft!" McCarthy ordered. "Tell them to move behind the designated line if they want to live!"
The nose gun of the bomber annihilated a mobile armor as it launched its missile which damaged the tail of the trailing bomber. "Donnie! Jake! You alright?" John transmitted.
"Damage sustained to tail quadrant," Donnie radioed back. "Damage to rudder is fifty-percent, Colonel."
"Get the hell out of here then! Head back towards the Archangel and stay there." John saw the trailing plane turn off and head in the opposite direction from them. From where he sat inside the cockpit, John could see several enemy ships make a sudden 180 degree turn and turn away from Gyndana. That surprised him, as had much of the fleet's battle strategies so far. Not once had any of the ship's come close enough to the colony to even hope of damaging it and all that seemed to be left for him and the others to fight were Strike Daggers and mobile armors. It didn't make sense at all.
Keying in the radio, John sent a message to the Archangel. "Enemy ships have turned away from the colony. Also seems as though mobile craft attack has ceased. Request explanation from your vantage point."
"Did he say they were turning away from the colony?" Natarle asked incredulously.
"That's what it said, ma'am," Miriallia reported.
"They haven't even tried to attack the colony yet," John's voice responded through the field of static. "I don't understand how or why."
"John, wait." That was Frank's voice. "Remember when we were outside the Governor's office and that guy fired on us when we tried to get into the car?"
"Yeah, what about it?" John sent back.
"That guy was Richards!"
"Jack Richards?" John sent back.
"Who else?" Frank said. "And if he was inside the colony, and the ship's haven't even tried to attack it..."
"All forces!" John shouted. "Begin moving away from the colony immediately!"
"What?!" Kira responded.
"How can that be?" Athrun added.
"What's going on out there John?" Mwu answered.
"Archangel!" They recognized the voice as that of Stevy Barrington. "Something's happening to the colony!"
From his vantage point inside the Freedom's cockpit, Kira saw the horrible event unfold. First, small dots of bright colors blossomed on the internal shaft of Gyndana, and then they spread to encompass the entire structure itself. They were explosions, and they had annihilated the support shaft to the point that it had completely disintegrated. Kira cried out when he saw the colony begin to break apart. Slabs of metal and pieces of debris came apart and the outer structure of Gyndana separated, collapsing into itself, just as Heliopolis had done seven months earlier. Kira thought he could make out the small forms of people being sucked out into the swirling vortex of the air being stripped away from the colony. Since there had been no evacuation order given, Kira had the horrible knowledge that no one inside the colony of Gyndana had survived. The colony broke apart until it was just a fragment of its former self, drifting lifelessly in space, another casualty of the war between Naturals and Coordinators, that didn't deserve to die one bit.
Kira choked on air harshly as he saw the scene unfold. Athrun's mouth was left aghast and Mwu scowled to himself. Frank clenched his fist and banged it against the hull of the Zero. John and Mike didn't say anything from the cockpit of the bomber, but John could feel the tears forming in his eyes. Murrue felt like crying herself, as she held tightly to herself and watched the horrible act commence. Natarle shut her eyes and swore to herself. Everyone else had the same expression on their faces. One of complete, and utter failure.
As Kira choked on more air, his diagnostic board beeped with intensity until Kira finally realized that something wasn't right. He turned his head up just in time to see a barrage of missiles coming straight towards him. And there was no time to destroy them! "Aaaghhh!" Kira shouted, and braced himself for the impact that was sure to come.