Declaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed.

Phase 2 Episode 1

IN PLANT

On the ZAFT Yakin Doe base Near PLANT, hundreds of military mobile units scrambled to board various ships. Gears churned and sparks flew.

"Transport Gondwana, please begin loading." Theloud speakersbuzzed. Many Zaku warriors and mobile armors awaited on the several launch pads, awaiting orders to load into a transport ship headed for the moon, Ptolemaeus base.

Military intelligence had confirmed, two days ago, of a massing of EA military personnel and equipment at the Earth Alliance Carpentaria base. A possible Earth planned attack on the ZAFT stronghold on moon, a strategically vital location, was anticipated. Many ZAFT troops are now beginning their 2-day space journey to the base.

Even though the Ptolemaeus base is armed with advanced defense systems such as Magnetic Acceletator Cannons that orbit the planet and strong military back-up, the Earth Alliance is not to be underestimated; if the EA was advantageous at anything, it's their sheer numbers and ability to quickly overwhelm any fortress.

"Athrun Zala on Commander-Type Blaze Zaku, please board the Bismarck."

"Understood, boarding Blaze Zaku." A blue haired boy said as he sat in the cockpit of his Mobile Suit, a grim expression over his face.He powered up his unit. A blue, different, and menacing Zaku hummed mechanically as it was powered up. Its "eyes" lit up to an amber color and the unit stood up from its previously kneeling position while sparks flew from its many geared joints. It took several steps and entered the ZAFT first fleet's flagship, the Bismarck. The gate closed behind him after he entered and locked.

"The Nazca and Aegis fleets have been launched, flagship, please launch." The bridge of the Bismarck was noisy and busy as they prepared to launch the massive, 2500-meter space battleship.

"Arthur, make final launch preparations." The tall, lean captain of the Bismarck said to his co-captain as he sat comfortably in his elevated captain seat. A series of energy and weapons status flashed in front of him and he made various adjustments.

"Yes sir." Arthur, the second in command on the Bismarck said and went over to the radio, he picked up the speaker and spoke into it. "Bismarck is preparing to launch, all personnel please evacuate from the launch area."

Hajime Saitou, the commander/captain of the Bismarck, spoke. "Bismarck launch in 30 seconds, initiate launch procedures." He commanded and sat back.

"Beginning final weapons and system checkups." The operator said. "Ship boosters at 20 percent, 24 seconds to launch." This was the first launch of the Bismarck since its debut as the ZAFT's first super-carrier, at this moment, the Bismarck was the largest battleship/carrier ever built, and it is the pride of PLANT and ZAFT. "Booster at 40 percentpower, 10 seconds to launch. Releasing stabilization mechanisms." A low rumbling was heard in the bridge as the battleship's mighty engine roared. "6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 launch sequence initiated!"

Everyone in the bridge was suddenly forced back as thehugeship suddenly accelerated an an unbelievable rate.

"I didn't know this ship could accelerate at this rate!" Arthur said, turning around to face Saitouwith amazement.

"The Bismarck is the pride of ZAFT, there is much more which even I don't understand about this ship." Saitou said as a smirk graced his lips. "The Earth Alliance will be the first force that our superior power is tested against."

"Our victory is assured with the Bismarck, the Earth Alliance couldn't possibly think of taking thePtolemaeusbase now that we are headed there." Arthur's eyes were full of ambition now and traces of tears were in his eyes.

"Don't be too proud and get yourself lost in patrioticism," a malicious glint entered Saitou's narrowing eyes. "If you underestimate your enemy, then you will only die on the battlefield. And if you underestimate the destructive power of the EA, then your death is assured." Arthur went silent and turned his face instead to look out of the huge windows on the bridge. The military facilities on the Yakin Doe base were becoming smaller and smaller rapidly as they sped away from it. Around the mighty flagship were literally hundreds of ships of different classes and typesspread out throughout a large area in space, forming a formidable armada. All the transport ships carrying the Mobile suits were placed near the center around the Bismarck while menacing Nazca, Aegis and other escort and battleships surrounded them.

Soon, the Yakin Doe had disappeared to the sight against a backdrop of the endless darkness of space and everything began to calm down.

"Change the alert condition to green. The ship is now stabilized and no threat is near." Saitou said, he yawned and got up from his control seat. "I will go rest now. Arthur will take over during my leave. If anything should happen, call me." With that, Saitou Hajime turned and exited the bridge.

Hajime Saitou is a menacing man; he is not effective in times of peace. That is, when there is war and conflict, he is the one whose actions will change the course of the war. Graduating from ZAFT military academy at the age of 18, he had worked his rank up to captain within 6 months. And now, at the age of 21, Saitou had become the captain of the ZAFT's largest supercarrier. As he walked in the corridors towards his room, Saitou's lips thinned into a wolfish smirk that was seen by no one.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

In the hanger of the flagship, the cockpit of the Blaze Zaku opened and from it emerged Athrun. He descended to the floor holding onto a cord from the cockpit. The boy took off his pilot helmet and flicked the neck of his space suit open. Then he stood for a moment and sighed in relaxation, something of a luxury during these chaotic times.

"Athrun." At the sound of his name,he turned and saw his teammate, Makoto Shishio walking towards him in a similar fashion with his helmet tucked under his arm.

"Hi Shishio," Athrun said, brushing a hand through his thick, blue hair,"How's your Zaku warrior doing? I heard they added upgrades to your unit."

"Good as usual, its much more practical than your Blaze Zaku anyways," Shishio said arrogantly and turned his head to look at the blue, custom Zaku for Athrun. "But don't be surprised when your commander-type Zaku is suddenly handed over to me some day. I'm going to make my power known to both the Earth Alliance and ZAFT." Athrun smiled, this was typical of Shishio to be so stuck up even to his team captain.

"Let's go meet Nicol and the team in the living quarters, they should already be there." Athrun said and began walking towards the doors leading away from the hanger. Shishio lingered a little longer then decided to follow.

Athrun and Shishio were both silent as they walked down the long corridor towards their briefing room. They usually had nothing to say to each other other than things relating to their units or the war; Shishio wasn't a talkative person, and he was power hungry, making him a difficult person to get along with.As they approached their briefing room, the doors slid open automatically, both stepped into the room and found their other three teammates already assembled there.

"Athrun!" A green haired boy dressed in red uniform stood up and called over to them as they entered. The other two nodded in acknowledgement.

"Hi Nicol," Athrun raised a hand in greeting, "Hi Yzak and Dearka," he said to the twopilots beside Nicol.

"Yo," the blonde called Dearka waved.

"Good evening Athrun," The pilot with the white hair named Yzak said formally. Athrun took a seat beside Nicol and Shishio assumed a seat next to him. They were the only people in the room as this was a special room dedicated to the elite division of the ZAFT M.S. unit.

"Didn't you bring your Zaku?" Athrun asked after seeing Nicol being the only one in the room not wearing his pilot suit but in his uniform.

"I did, but I boarded my Zaku pretty early so I decided to change into my uniform, that pilot suit is very uncomfortable." Nicol replied, smiling brightly.

"Nicol, your energy gets on my nerves sometimes," Shishio said from beside Athrun with his serious face pasted on, as always, "I can't believe you are a red1 (refer to author's notes)." Nicol laughed good-naturedly.

"Sorry if that bothers you Shishio, I just don't want to always be serious, I find it tiring sometimes."

"Whatever." Shishio brushed it off and began reading a magazine inserted in front of him. After a few minutes spent in relative silence, the sliding door to the briefing room opened and in walked a tall man in a white ZAFT uniform. He had a full head of long, blonde hair, though a silver mask hid his face. From his height and posture, he looked like he was in his mid 20's. The five M.S. pilots in the room stood up at once and saluted the man.

"Good evening captain Le Kluze." Athrun said as the leader of the five pilots.

"Good evening team," the man named Le Kluze walked up to the front of the room and flipped open his notepad, "sit down," he said casually and the boys did as he told. "I'm going to brief you with a very important mission, so listen carefully." Le Kluze said and waited till he had everyone's attention. "PLANT intelligence has acquired information that the Earth Alliance is beginning the development of a special type of prototype M.S. that is potentially much more powerful than our mobile suits, the Zakus and Ginns. The information for this project is so secret that even our best spies are unable to acquire much more information than that the thing exists. We have our own trump cards, but they are still not near operational stages yet." Kluze paused and flipped a page in his notepad, "these new types of mobile suits will likely be used on the assault on our Ptolemaeus lunar base. So if one, or possibly, more than one appears, your mission is to either destroy it or bring it back." Kluze finished and closed his notepad, "any questions?"

Shishio was the first one to stand up, "are their any information on just how powerful this new mobile suit is?"

"No, as I said, our spies were only able to prove the existence of this new unit. Not much more information of it was acquired."

"Captain Le Kluze, is there any appearance difference of this unit from conventional EAMSs that might help us identify one when we see it?" Athrun asked.

"Yes, intelligence from PLANT says that this type of unit has a distinct V-shaped mechanism on its forehead that possibly acts as a radar."

Just then, the lights in the room began flashing red and the battle alarm went off.

"What the!" Yzak said, bewildered, "are we being attacked?" As he said that, the large screen behind Le Kluze lit up and from it appeared the face of Captain Saitou sitting in the bridge. Le Kluze and the Kluze team stood up and saluted.

"Good evening Captain Saitou, are we under attack?" Kluze asked with a slight smirk gracing his lips.

"Kluze, I want you to get your pilots into their Mobile suits and stand by for action any time." Saitou paused as an operator on the bridge handed him a piece of paper. Saitou skimmed over it and lifted his face to the monitor again, "this information from PLANT just confirmed the launch of two Earth fleets towards our Ptolemaeus lunar Base thirty minutes ago, and our timing was off." Saitou rubbed his temples in annoyance, "they have launched two flagships along with the fleet, their approximate flight time will be about 6 hours until they commence attack, so that buys us some time. Prepare for battle in your Mobile suits." With that, Saitou's face disappeared and the monitar shut off abruptly.

"Okay," Kluze turned from the monitor to his team, "standby in your Zakus and prepare to launch."

"Yes sir," the five young pilots said and exited the room quickly. Raw Le Kluze, the captain of the Kluze team, smiled darkly, "So, Hiko Seijurou, you have finally taken the first step to war have you? This shall be interesting."

To Be Continued

Author's notes: Major battle next chapter along with the introduction of the leaders of both PLANT and Earth Alliance, you have already met one of them. After the battle, the story will move out of its introductory phase and move into the main storyline!

1 Shishio referred to Nicol as "red", which was actually referring to the color of Nicol's uniform. IN the ZAFT military, a red uniform signifies the rank of "Elite M.S. pilots." Apparently, Shishio was expecting all elites to be serious as he is.