As the mission stated, there were extremists hanging around the proposed coordinates. The Joule Team was gearing up to enter battle. The extremists did see the ZAFT vessels, proceeding to launch missiles towards them. The vessels countered with their guns to blow the missiles up before reaching them. This prompted both sides to release their mobile armors.
DINN RAVENS clashing against GOUFs and ZAKUs. The void of space with the background of twinkling stars were showered with different colors of ammunition, clouds of explosions, and thrusters. The ongoing battle seemed to be at an impasse. Each side unable to win over the other.
As Yzak in his GOUF, fired off a round at the nearest enemy, all of the communication were taken over by the extremists, stopping him from continuing further.
"What the?" Dearka saw his screen of filled with a man from the extremist side.
"The Joule Team from ZAFT," he started. "We do not want to be your enemy." This halted the fighting on both sides. "You are the last remanent of the Le Creuset Team. We may have quarreled but we did not know if it was truly the Joule Team we were up against. We wanted to make sure it was really you."
Yzak and Dearka weren't too keen on what they were hearing.
The extremist continued on. "As the last remanent, we extend a hand towards you. Join us. We will continue on the path of greatness. We will move forward into a better world, a better universe."
"A better universe?" Dearka mumbled. Did this mean they were going to go after Mars Colony as well?
"What is it about being the remanent of the Le Creuset Team have to do with any of you?" Yzak asked. He was reluctant on them being truthful. This could be a ruse to distract them.
"Ah," the extremist was happy he took the bait. "We respect the late Commander. He believed he didn't belong, as some of the rest of are made to believe, but we belong here just like the others. As you are his last remaining team members, we want to extend a hand to you first."
"And what if we don't agree with you?" Yzak asked next. He believed to know where this was going.
"You don't have to agree with us," the extremist beckoned. "Just have to be on our side. Right now, is the time to offer you salvation and a path to glory."
"And if we refuse?" Yzak wanted to hear the answer.
The extremist frowned. "Then it is unfortunate. If you do not join us, then we will have to end the Joule Team. If you cannot come to our side, you will be in our path, and nothing will stop us from achieving our goal. We will give you time to think over it. The next time we meet, I hope you will see the reality and join the side that is right."
The DINN RAVENS took off, retreating back to their vessel that was leaving.
Yzak pondered those words for a moment before calling a retreat himself. The two vessels were in standby incase the extremists came back again. He searched through current comments and details of similar missions happening to see if others were facing the same dilemma.
Meanwhile a small shuttle from ZAFT was being flown away from PLANTs towards Mendel Colony. From the outwards in, it looked like two ZAFT pilots in red pilot suits, but it was actually Selena and Mikhail. Mikhail was in the second seat while Selena was piloting. Mikhail usually pilots but Selena insisted this time.
The small shuttle was being watched as it headed into Mendel Colony. As it started to descend, it was shot at by a small missile. Selena evaded the missile as best she should. It clipped the tail, causing the small shuttle to fish tail. Another missile was launched. She evaded it but started to lose control on keeping it steady. Two more missiles. She evaded both by speeding up her descent to the ground. As she was reaching the ground, trying to put down her landing gear, another missile from another direction destroyed one of the wings. The small shuttle nose dived and Selena pulled the driving lever upwards, allowing the small shuttle to move across the ground evenly. A missile was aimed at them again as they were sliding across the ground. There was no use on evading it. It hit the other wing, sending the small shuttle into the air. The small shuttle came back down, rolling across the ground, crashing into a pillar. The small shuttle was no longer pilotable.
"My lady," Mikhail coughed out. He had been pinned by the wall and the small shuttle. He had blood coming from his forehead. He felt so weak. There were spots on him that felt numb while others were seething with pain. He knew he broke some ribs. He tried to move his arms. One arm was broken as well. The same with his legs. He could move one but not the other. He felt at a loss as he was powerless to do anything. "My lady." He could barely make out the body in front of him as his eyesight started to blur.
Selena wasn't as hurt as him but she did open her eyes to see that she was pushed forward, more forward than usual. She felt a slight stab near her collarbone. A piece of rebar was sticking through it. Selena felt it with her other hand.
"I'm alright," she spoke loud enough for Mikhail to hear. She unclipped herself from the chair. She grabbed onto the rebar, pushing herself off of it, falling onto the controls of the cockpit. She rolled around to see Mikhail pinned. "That's inconvenient. You're alive?" She called out to him. He lifted his head enough to show her a bloody grin while giving her a thumbs up. She gave him a faint smile. "Good." He let his head rest back down. He started to get light headed. Selena took off her helmet. She felt her body hurting in certain places but this was no time for that. She looked around the area to see if they had caught up to them. "Tell him you've done your duty. He needs to reward you handsomely for all the things you have endured being assigned to me."
Mikhail could hear her. "No," his voice now to a whisper. He knew what she was going to do next. "No." He breathed out.
"They'll come for you, but not unless things are finished up here," Selena kicked open the broken shuttle window. "I won't let you suffer for long." She looked back up to him with a sincere smile. "Until then."
Mikhail tried to reach for her with little strength he had. "Don't go." He breathed out. Darkness started to fade in. He couldn't stay awake much longer. He saw the blurred figure of her launching herself through the window. He heard her hitting the ground. He felt guilty as he gave way to sleep.
Selena stood up from hitting the ground. Blood dripping out of her shoulder. She gazed around again to see where the rest were at.
Ping!
Metal hitting metal. Selena glanced to see a dart with a red tail was sticking out of the small shuttle.
"Really?" Selena raised an eyebrow. "That's all you could muster. Cowards."
Selena started to walk away when a dart grazed her arm. She didn't even glance down at it. She continued walking to the back end of the shuttle. She tried to open storage door. It wouldn't open. She breathed out, gathered strength to rip the door open. As she did, a dart hit into the back of her shoulder, where the rebar had just gone through. Selena grabbed the dart, taking it out of her and threw it on the ground. She reached inside the storage to pull out a long-range sniper rifle. She breathed in and let it out. Her eyes switching to the endless grey void. She had entered SEED Mode. "Let's see how many I can take down."
She turned around, reading the rifle in one motion. She only needed to look through the scope for a few seconds to find her target. She lowered her heart rate, paused her body movement, and gently pulled the trigger. BAM! Target hit.
Ping! Another dart grazed past her. Rifle was moved, same thing happened again. Target hit. This was continuous until she was out of ammo. As she had just shot the last round, she could hear footsteps running towards her. Selena flipped the rifle so she could hold the muzzle side and swung the butt like a bat, hitting the man who tried to surprise attack her. The guy went flying backwards. More running footsteps. She heard more metal hitting metal. She swung around hitting those coming in close. There was only so much she could use with the rifle. She let it drop and started to use hand to hand combat. She kicked her way out as some of the men had electric batons. Others had tranquilizer hand guns. She had gotten it with a few of them. The darts had blue and gold tails. She would grab them out of her body. Some of them she would use as a weapon, stabbing it into the eyes or chest. Others she would drop them to the ground, her foot stomping them into the ground with one quick motion.
Some of the men had gotten back up as she sent them to the ground. One guy was trying to get up behind her. She lifted one leg up, leaned over. The leg in the air came back to grip his neck between her thigh and calf. He started to lose air as she grabbed an electric baton out of another's hand. She put it on full capacity, hurting the men coming towards her. Another man started to come near her. She let go of the guy with her leg to kick the other way. Her leg snapped back onto the guy's neck, squeezing tighter. His hands clawing at her leg, trying to make her loosen her hold. She felt him fall limp. Selena released her leg, kicking another man to the ground. More darts started to accumulate on her body. She kept pulling them out when she had the chance.
A net was shot out to entangle her. Selena slid past it, allowing some of the men around her be captured instead. As it got the men, the net started to shock them. She heard their cries. She wanted to glance at them but needed to continue fighting. Selena flipped backwards as a man with a regular baton came at her. She ended the flip as another had a baton around the front, trying to choke her down. Selena lurched forward, the guy following suit. She ducked down, letting the man fall into the guy before her. She raised up while another hit her in the head with a baton. Blood started to gush out from where he hit. Selena grabbed the guy's arm. She maneuvered herself to latch around him with her whole body. Twisting his arm, breaking it in the process as the two fell to the ground. He yelled out in pain.
Selena stood up. She spit blood out that was coming into her mouth. The men around her were all on the ground. She glanced around to see where the next attack was going to come from. She heard the launching of another net. Selena tumbled out of the way only to be caught by two other men. Her legs were cuffed with metal, binding them together. She flipped up away from them, landing with her legs together. A jolt of electricity made her collapse on the ground. She could see figures gathering around her. Selena used her bound legs to trip the men onto the ground, where she rolled over to them, punching them in the face. She felt the continuous stings of the darts hitting into her back.
She turned to see a few men aiming the tranquilizer hand guns at her. Her arms were pulled out to be bound by similar metal as her legs. She grabbed onto the guy who had just bound them. She folded her body in half, letting the full weight of her bound legs into him, knocking him out. Selena rolled away. She could hear the darts whizzing past her. She pushed herself up but a net came over her. Electricity jolting her from moving any further. She let herself rest as the others came closer slowly. Still cautious that she had some fight left in her. She let them come in closer. She grabbed one of the darts closest to her and stabbed it in one of the guy's legs as the electricity was shocking her. Selena finally let herself rest from all of the fighting, closing her eyes, letting the powerful drugs of tranquilization succumb over her.
The men tested her once more to make sure she was unconscious before putting her in a metal pod. This was similar to the one she was in but it had metal all around. They took off the net, picked up her, and placed her in the metal pod with white cushions.
The rest of the crew started to clean things up. They left Mikhail there, assuming he was dead.
As Selena went unconscious the person sleeping in the hospital room inside the mansion in the Kingdom of Scandinavia had woken up. The person blinked awake. They could see the white ceilings. The person moved their head to see a small screen with numbers on it. They blinked a few more times to see that it was the current date with time along with the date and time they fell into an unconscious state along with how many years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds they had been asleep.
"Ugh!" The person scorned. "Don't tell me." The person moved their head back over. They waited there for a few minutes. "Ugh! Damn her!" The person started to see if their limbs could move. Each finger and toe moved according to command. The person glanced back over to the table with the timer. They noticed the unconscious state had been paused. They grimaced. They saw a remote. The person mustered up strength to reach for it. It took them awhile before they could. After getting the remote, they pushed the button to lift the bed up into a sitting position.
As the bed moved up, the person took in their surroundings. They were in a hospital room designed by Anita. The person saw there was a mirror. As they were full view of the mirror, they could see themselves. Long pink locks, grey eyes, and a hospital gown. The person blinked at the sight of themselves. They looked up to see writing in red lipstick with kiss marks all over.
The person read it out loud. "Welcome back, brother. I have missed you." He looked at his reflection again. There was a kiss mark right where his cheek was at. He started to laugh. "Oh, dearest sister. What sort of things have you gotten yourself into now?"
"Welcome back, Prince Sven," a voice rang out to him. His happiness turned sour. He didn't need to look where the voice was coming from. "It has been a long time since you have visited The Room."
"I bet it has been," he glowered.
"Please follow us as we can update you," the voice beckoned.
Sven looked over to the edge of the bed, there was a wheelchair ready for him with a note that read Enjoy catching up! Sven rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. Can't even have a moments peace while coming back from a near death experience."
He started to undo his IV's. He made sure to shut off the machines so they wouldn't beep before pulling out the catheter. He knew Anita would get mad at him if he ripped them out, causing himself several hematomas. Sven gathered strength to climb out of bed into the wheelchair. He sat in it for a few moments before mustering strength again to wheel him to the dreadful Room.
The Room only allowed certain people in. The door opened for those that looked the part. Sven wheeled himself in. The door shut behind him as he pulled himself to the center. A laser scan covered him from head to toe.
"Welcome Prince Sven-" It started to greet.
"Yeah, yeah," Sven waved. "Get on with it." He was happy to be conscious again but not happy to be fulfilling his duties. He listened to the long and dreadful greeting of his full name and his title. It continued on about how long he had been out.
"We will update you starting from the time you last visited until you had woken up," the voice explained. "We also will help with your physical training to get you back to peak condition."
"Oh, delightful," he frowned.
"This way," a door opened up. Sven let out a sigh before wheeling himself through it.
At Orb, Andrew was on a video call with Athrun and Kira.
"Hold on, didn't I tell you to not make an enemy of the Princess," Andrew pinched the bone between his eyes, trying to calm himself down. He tried so hard not to make an enemy of Princess Selena. Now that Kira had, he didn't know how this was going to play out.
Kira just finished his story about how Selena had threatened them at Lacus' mansion. He also had brought a computer generate video of the chess game her and Lacus were playing. Lacus has yet to say anything but Kira doesn't want to push it. He asked Athrun for his thoughts. Athrun believed that Selena had some information about what was going on with the situation at hand. Since she is playing opposite of Lacus, that could only mean that Lacus was her enemy. Athrun then decided they should ask Andrew for his thoughts on the chess game as he is a formidable tactician.
"Selena threatened both Kira and Lacus!" Athrun reminded him. "She can no longer be neutral. She even said to Kira to come unrestrained. She is asking for a fight."
Andrew's head started to hurt worse. "But that's not the Princess!"
"That was the Princess," Athrun stood his ground. "What do you think the game means and how do you think it will turn out? If we can figure this out, we might be able to overturn the game."
"Over turn the game?" Andrew had watched the video. It wasn't a regular chess game. "We're going to lose if Selena is our opponent. Trust me, but I can see what I can do. Meanwhile, if she has become an enemy don't play into her hand. Run away. Avoid her. That's your best bet on-just avoid her. You hear me." The two nodded in agreement.
Andrew ended the video chat. He was trying to wrap his head around everything. Was he wrong then? Did he miss the signs that led up to this point? Andrew got up from his chair to make himself a cup of coffee. He needed to relax a bit.
Athrun and Kira were still on the video call with one another.
"I'll send this to someone else, if you don't mind?" Athrun asked.
"Who do you have in mind?" Kira was curious.
"He's an avid chess player," Athrun smiled. "We can trust him. I won't say any of the details like we did with Andrew. We may get a more unbiased answer if we just ask him what he thinks of the game and what could lead to an outcome."
"Okay, I trust you," Kira nodded. The two ended their call.
On the Voltaire, Yzak was in his office when he got a video call from Athrun. Athrun explained to him about a confidential mission from Terminal. Yzak accepted. Athrun continued to explain about a chess game that was being played between Lacus and unknown enemy. The unknown enemy told Lacus they were losing and came to tell them in person that they checked the king with their queen. Lacus moved the piece for the king to be safe again. They needed to know what moves could they do next and how to win the game.
Yzak agreed to look it over when he had the free time. Athrun thanked him for it before signing off. As Yzak was about to look over the video, he had gotten a command from headquarters to head off towards Mendel Colony for a skirmish that had taken place, possible extremists at foul play. Yzak accepted the mission. He went off to let relay orders.