On Earth, the Minerva was making its way towards South America from Africa. They did not want to get too close as the beam could still be active. They had received word on the retrieval of Chief Orb Representative and Orb Captain. Their mission was now to further investigate the beam that came from the Earth Alliance territory as it could be a threat to the colonies and the Moon.
At the bridge, Arthur was relaying information to Declan about how close they were coming to the territory. They were at Level 2 battle stations. Shinn and Lunamaria were waiting near their suits, ready to launch when commanded.
"There seems to be no movements as of yet," a ZAFT soldier with a headset relayed.
In a hidden dock near the coastline, Donovan was at the bridge of his newly built vessel. He wore a darker red uniform that went to just above his thighs with dark gold boots that went up to his knees. At his waist was a black belt with a gold buckle. On his chest was an embroidered golden bird splayed out with wings on both sides. The doublet buttoned in the middle. The edges were all lined with gold. The epaulettes on his shoulders were gold pieces with a splayed wing tooled that came down on his shoulders while the top piece was tooled like it was a herring bone. There was a piece attached to the epaulettes that came off his shoulders to clasp a gold cape behind him. The length hit the back of his knees. He had different styles of capes to fit his demeanor.
Donovan was listening to the men underneath of him as they relay how close the Minerva was coming in. The crew around him wore lighter shades of red with black and gold detailing. They didn't have the golden bird embroidered on their chest but they did have a smaller one on the left side of the chest in gold. That was the symbol, a golden bird. It didn't matter if it was an eagle, hawk or a falcon. It had to be a bird, predatory, and it had to be golden. The crew members did not wear capes. Their epaulettes were simple. Their rank was similar to that of a regular military.
"They're still proceeding on course, sir," one explained to him.
"Good," Donovan nodded. "Let's proceed on our end. I'll be at my mobile armor."
"Yes Sir!" The crew saluted him.
Donovan headed off to the bay where his ZGMF-X3000Q Providence ZAKU with its shiny red exterior had been waiting. He was eager to test it out. Next to it was the silverly white counterpart. Both were daunting standing side by side. He headed into the cockpit without switching into a pilot suit. He clasped himself in while listening to the bridge give off orders on preparing to undock.
Part of the earth opened slowly sliding out to reveal a metal dock. When the two sides were fully open, a vessel of red, gold, white, and black coloring slowly moved out. When it was fully out of the dock and away, the earth that opened up, slid back together, hiding the dock it came from. The vessel kept heading towards the coast line unto open waters.
On the Minerva, they were drawing close to the edges that started the territory out in the water. They stopped a thousand meters away.
"Sir, there is a disturbance coming from the portside," a ZAFT bridge soldier spoke. "It seems to be a vessel but no indication if it is from Earth Alliance. It is still on the coast but headed towards our direction."
"Have the mobile suits ready to launch when I give the signal," Declan ordered. The bridge crew relayed orders.
Radar warnings started to flash. "Incoming missiles!"
"Shoot them down! Launch mobile suits!" Declan ordered.
"Shinn Asuka, Destiny, launch!"
"Lunamaria Hawk, Impulse, launch!"
The two headed out to brace for impact. Lunamaria soared around as the Impulse was in fighter plane to get a better look at the enemy that was firing upon them. Shinn stayed close to the Minerva.
Lunamaria kept going higher, she flew closer in. "I am not spotting anything yet." She relayed back to the combat side of the bridge. "Wait, there!" She gasped in surprise. "You're not going to believe this." Her screen was shown back to the bridge.
"An Archangel!" Arthur blurted out.
"It's not the same Archangel that is part of the Three Ship Alliance," Declan forewarned. "But another of its class. Don't let it go to your heads." He could feel the tension from his crew. They still haven't recovered from the last battle they fought with the Archangel. "The captain of that vessel isn't the formidable Captain Murrue Ramias but we shouldn't underestimate it either. Tell our pilot to come back to prepare for battle."
The bridge commanded her to come back. Lunamaria flew back to transform the fighter plane into the mobile suit version. There she was waiting with Shinn for the next orders.
The Archangel class vessel came out to the open waters, keeping in its territory. Missiles were further launched from vessel at the Minerva. The Minerva countered them, sending their own missiles. The Archangel vessel fired the Gottfrieds next. The Minerva moved to evade.
At the Kingdom, Anita had been attending to her garden when a yellow light started to flash in the room. She dropped her tools, running as fast as she could to get a door which led down to Selena's secret work space. She got there in time to see Selena heading towards it. The yellow flashing lights stopped as she got closer.
"What's happening?" Anita called out. Selena paused as the door opened. She turned to Anita. Anita could see she was in full SEED Mode. "Where are you going?"
"Time is drawing near," Selena was monotone. "I need to finish them." She turned back around, heading into the room. The door closed behind her.
Anita heard a few other people running to the area. She could see it was Ezalia and Luka. The two were out of breath trying to make it on time.
"You just missed her," Anita saw their disappointed faces.
"She headed to her Svartalfheim, didn't she?" Luka panted.
"Yes," Anita nodded. "She's finishing up." The three headed over to the side of the door Selena had entered. Anita tapped on the wall for a screen to come into view. There were bars with different percentages next to them. All of them close to being at one hundred percent. "What brought it on?"
"An Archangel class vessel has been spotted off the coastline of the United States of South America," Ezalia informed. "It's currently battling the Minerva. No insignia indicating its Earth Alliance. Only a splayed, golden bird. Some believe eagle while others say hawk or falcon." The three headed over to another room to catch up on the details of what is happening.
Orb and ZAFT were getting the same details as them.
At Orb, Murrue jumped out of her chair when she heard the news. Mu was trying to calm her down as she put on her shoes. She had been in sweats and a t-shirt.
"Now, now," Mu was blocking the door. "You're supposed to be resting. Our Archangel is still safely hidden away in its own dock. Same vessel but we don't know much about it yet."
"It's not Earth Alliance?" Murrue put on a sweater. She was going to see what was happening.
Just then a knock upon the door making the two pause for a moment. The door opened to reveal Andrew. "Surprise to see me? I know what you two are doing, so I decided to come here instead. This is why we live close together, remember? For emergencies." He moved past them to their television. "Thankfully, we can route into different servers thanks to Terminal and see just exactly what we're dealing with."
The two followed behind him. He moved the laptop that was under his arm out onto the stand nearby. He connected a cable to both of them before typing away. Mu got Murrue to sit back down on a chair.
"Ah, here we go," Andrew clicked a few more buttons. On the wide television screen, real time footage of the battle between the vessels were showing. There were also smaller images on the side showing each individual vessel.
"That's an Archangel alright," Mu let out a whistle. "Coloring is a bit off for Earth Alliance."
"Red body, white accents are the same," Murrue was describing it out loud. "Gold lining accents and black for the minor accents."
"Not a color scheme for the Princess either," Mu added.
Andrew came over to them. "She would not have an Archangel." The two raised their eyebrows at him. "It's a great vessel but not the Princess' style. Besides she wouldn't go after ZAFT, that would be going against her second home."
"Oh, but she can use her second home as she pleases though," Mu countered.
"Whoever is commanding that Archangel isn't backing down," Murrue went back to watching the fight.
At the Orb command center, Athrun was busy gathering intel while Cagalli was at home. She was still in a daze from what had happened.
After she came back to him, she cried in his arms. Athrun commanded her to take full rest and seek treatment. Him and the others could handle whatever is going on. She needed to take some time off. Cagalli would stare mostly out into the open scenery, read books, or sleep. Athrun would sit next to her in silence. He didn't know how to respond or help her in that situation. It wasn't like when the two of them were stuck on an island together. This was something more traumatic. The two did agree to go to therapy together. When Murrue had given her report of what had happened to both of them, she mentioned Canard Pars, who had been captured too and was still captive. An investigation was started. This new vessel could lead them back to where all three were held at.
At ZAFT, the intel was relayed to the Supreme Council while they were in a meeting. The focus shifted to the battle at hand. Their screens were displaying the fight. Even those in ZAFT were watching the fight from space.
Back at the battlefront, a missile blowing up near them made the Minerva rumble. Declan commanded the mobile units to attack the other vessel.
"They sent their mobile suits against us, finally," Donovan watched on his screen. "Then I guess it's my turn." He started to move his machine. "Don't worry about me, continue the battle." The captain nodded to him. "Ra, Providence ZAKU launch!" The red ZAKU flew out from the red Archangel.
On the bridge of the Minerva, a bridge soldier relayed the images. "We have ZGMF-X3000Q Providence ZAKU headed in our direction. Gaining speed fast!"
"That's not Earth Alliance," some of them whispered. "That's ZAFT. Who exactly are we fighting?"
"ZAFT mobile suit but Earth Alliance vessel?" Others were confused. "What is going on?"
Shinn saw the mobile suit headed their way. He moved the Destiny to meet it halfway. "Cover the Minerva." He ordered Lunamaria. "I'm going to take it down." He was ready to redeem himself from getting hit by dragoons.
"Be careful!" Lunamaria nodded.
Ra saw that a ZAFT mobile suit was approaching. "Only sending one? Well, that would be too easy." He released the ten dragoon pods.
"I'm not falling for that this time!" Shinn drew out the Arondight beam sword while the other hand had the Solidus Fulgor beam shield.
"Seems like you had prior experience with the Dragoon System," Ra smirked. "Then come, test it out!" The Providence ZAKU was accelerated with the ten pods flying off to gather around the Destiny. Ra drew the beam sword. Although, it was equipped with a beam tomahawk, Ra wanted a beam sword as well.
Shinn had his beam sword ready to swing when the dragoon pods emitted two to three beams depending on pod. These pods were angled to emit the beams to ensnare. Beams hit the limbs that were reaching out.
Shinn drew back as his vessel shuddered by the force of the beams. Ra kept coming closer, not stopping with the beams still spraying about. They only stopped when Ra's beam collided with the shied by sheer luck as Shinn moved it just in time. Shinn had to keep backing up and defending himself from the onslaught of attacks by the Providence ZAKU.
"Shinn!" Lunamaria called out. She was still blocking and shooting down missiles coming her way.
"I got it!" Shinn flew away to the side. He needed to regain his composure but the attacks were still coming. He brought his shield and sword back but the power on his suit was lowering quickly. The dragoons kept firing.
"Still coming back for more," Ra was enjoying himself. "Come, I need to use this machine to the fullest!"
The two charged towards another. Clashing beam against beam.
"I've got you now!" Shinn was gritting his teeth while keeping pressure on the enemy.
"You think that I fight fair?" Ra joked. He brought back his dragoon pods to the area. Ra put more pressure on the beam, kicked the Destiny, allowing him to fly back far enough, while the dragoon pods fired at the Destiny once again.
Power levels were draining. The Destiny could not hold up much longer. Shinn braced himself for another impact from the Providence ZAKU. It came clashing into him, the beam sword cutting off the legs as he tried to fly upwards.
Lunamaria could no longer sit back. She was flying over to them when they had clashed again. She watched as the legs were cut off in one swing. "Are you asking for a death wish?" She grabbed onto him before the beam sword could cut through his shield.
"Drive them back," Ra commanded. "We shall run behind them, covering their footsteps. Drive them into the ocean."
The Archangel vessel moved forward, continuing their attack on the Minerva. Declan ordered a retreat as he was about to lose his most talented pilot. Shinn saw that the Providence ZAKU was hovering in midair. The cockpit slightly opened. His camera could see a man with long, light blond hair. He wore a gold mask. He was smirking. He gave the ZAFT salute before the cockpit closed again. Shinn started to gasp out for air.
Who was that? Shinn thought to himself. Memories of Rey flashed in his mind. It couldn't be? Could it? But Rey died along Gilbert and Talia. And that's not Mu. Who is that person? He started to go into shock as if it was Rey then it wouldn't be a surprise if he did go after him. They didn't leave on the best of terms.
Lunamaria brought the two back on board. The hanger doors tightly sealed as vessel made its way under water. The vessel shook still as missiles were still being aimed at it. The Minerva finally was deep enough to head back to safety without getting hit.
The red Archangel allowed the Providence ZAKU back in as it finally retreated. Ra was pleased how both of them worked. Now all he had to do was finish his plan before enacting it fully.
Mu, Murrue, and Andrew were still staring at the screens.
"The red ZAKU was going so fast, it reminded me of a red comet," Mu mused. "Shooting across the sky. Just a red blur almost. Whoever was piloting it, seemed to have a faster machine than most ZAKUs I've seen or dealt with."
"Persistent attacking too," Murrue added on. "Both seemed to go for a straight forward attack but the tactics used were basically to drive the vessel away. Their attack power could have easily taken down the Minerva and its mobile suits."
"This could be just a test run," Mu shrugged his shoulders. "This is the first time we have ever heard or seen these two together. I wonder what it has in store for the rest of us."
The two noticed Andrew was still silent. He was going over the battle in his mind again. He opened his eye to see the two were staring at him intently. "Huh? Oh. Just thinking about the tacticians I have come across who use the same as this one."
"Any come to mind?" Murrue was hopeful. Andrew shook his head.
Over at the Kingdom, Luka, Anita, and Ezalia were taking a tea break when the computer tablet next to them beeped. Anita picked it up. One percentage bar was filled to a hundred. She clicked on the bar, dropping down more progress bars that were starting out at zero.
"It's completed," Anita murmured. The other two looked over to her. "Whatever Selena had made is completed and is now onto testing." She clicked on a few more buttons. "It's in the secret royal hanger according to the seismic readings. She must have built another vessel. That's the only thing big enough to give these readings."
"Not a mobile suit?" Ezalia put her cup down.
"No," Anita shook her head. She tapped buttons to get back to the new progress bars. "This is testing all functions and seals. It won't take more than forty-eight hours to check. The next progress bars are about equipping the vessel. Notifications of pending vessel assignments have been distributed to soldiers, the Konungr's crew had first priority.
On the coastline of the Kingdom, a shipped had just docked. The woman with her son who had fled from the United States of South America finally arrived. She followed others as they headed to customs. She didn't know what was going to happen next. She was a bit worried. Cameras in the building had recognized her facial features. A customs worker came over to her.
"Come with me, right this way, Miss," they led her off to another area. "We will get you situated." She followed them into a small office area. The person sat behind a desk while she sat in one of the chairs with her son sleeping in her arms. "Name?"
She shook her head. "I'm sorry."
"That's okay," the person smiled. "Did you flee?"
"Yes," she nodded her head. She clutched her son tighter.
"Okay," the person started to type away. "We have safe housing for you while we get you situation here in the Kingdom. We understand that you may have origins that could be detrimental for your safety. We want to make sure that we fit all your needs." Two pieces of paper were printed off. The worked plucked both papers. "Here is your housing information for you and your child. Another worker will come in and escort you to your new home along with helping you out on the basics that you need. Don't hesitate to ask for our help."
The woman was surprised. That's all it took? She clutched her son as she stood up, taking the papers in hand. The other worker did come to them in a timely manner too. She was led to a suburban area with houses that all looked the same. The worker showed her around the house, explained to her how everything worked, and showed them the keys to the place. She set her son down on a kid's bed. She kissed his head. She couldn't believe this is what was waiting for her, a new life. Tears started to stream down her eyes.
The tablet flashed in Anita's hand. She clicked the notification. A message containing a picture of a woman with blue hair, and a pair of orange stripes on either side of the bangs with red writing underneath the picture that scribed deceased. The message next to it, was came to port XXXXX, name was not given, felt as if person did not know who they were, person was carrying a child, male. Person has been given house no. XXXXX.
Anita let out a breath. "Aisha is alive." She looked over to Ezalia and Luka, who also shared a stunned expression. "And with a child."