Chapter 13: Battle of Prometheus
A/N: Yeah, sorry it took soooooo looong to update! I've been busy with Uni assessements but they are over for now. Spo here's Chapter 13. And yes, this fic will actually be finishing soon so don't forget to read and review!
Welcome to wellduh..., heller, jordan- hope you enjoy the rest of the fic
Thanks asga, Lodislord and chaosdragon again for your reviews.
The Equatorial Alliance troops moved in towards Kaohsiung base, the last of the neutral nations left, with Scandinavia and Orb both being taken over the Earth Alliance and ZAFT now declaring the Earth an enemy, it was left to the Equatorial Alliance to secure a mass driver to let the Archangel launch into space. They knew that Blue Cosmos agents had moved into place during the past few weeks, ready to stage a coup. Orb Intelligence had leaked that bit of information in hopes of stopping the war. The Archangel was nearby and only needed to be contacted when the rebellion against ZAFT started, they would go in and crush both ZAFT and Blue Cosmos. It was almost the last chance of stopping the war.
On Kaohsiung base alarms sounded as the Blue Cosmos plan was put into action, many of the hangars containing ZAFT mobile suits were destroyed by the strategically placed bombs. Equatorial Alliance observers looked on and the General flicked his communicator and set it to contact the Archangel. He pressed the one-time use communicator, which sent a coded message to the Archangel requesting its assistance on the recommendation of Morgenraete. The woman who had given him this communicator had stressed that it should be destroyed as soon as it was used. He dropped it onto the ground and put his boot to the communicator.
Onboard the Archangel, Milliaria and Dearka who were on the bridge together while she was on duty broke out of a kiss as the communications board beeped with a message from Erica. Milliaria flicked on the ship's comm. system and issued a condition red alert, it was the mission that Colonel Kisaka had told them about, to get into space and bring peace hopefully, by toppling the corrupt leadership of PLANT and stopping the EA army from committing genocide again. Orb would take care of itself once the war was over, Cagalli would be welcomed back and the Seyrans would be deposed. It was known that Jibril of Blue Cosmos had taken a shuttle to space from Panama base recently. As the crew took their position, Milliaria kissed Dearka for good luck as he went to join the other pilots in the ready-room. "Ascend to the surface," Murrue ordered, as the pilot brought the Archangel up, bursting through the surface of the ocean and then flying towards the given coordinates nearby, as it sped through the sky.
Meanwhile, Earth Alliance troops, unaware of the imminent approach of the Archangel and the Equatorial Alliance troops battled with the remaining ZAFT troops in possession at Kaohsiung. Daggers and GINNs engaged each other in combat as Earth Alliance mobile armour engaged ZAFT mobile armour. The General of the Equatorial Alliance continued to watch from his position as ZAFT and Earth Alliance troops continued to destroy each other in battle, he awaited the arrival of the Archangel before launching the assault.
Meanwhile, the battle at Prometheus raged as the Minerva's pilots continued to engage the Earth Alliance mobile suits. Yzak and Shiho broke off in tandem as they worked as a wingpair engaging the enemy Windams and Murasames. Shinn and Stellar attacked the Chaos which had detached its weapons pods which were keeping Stellar occupied while Shinn attacked the Chaos with its anti-ship sword. Lunamaria and Rey faced off against the Abyss as they had done many times, performing complex manoeuvres which kept the Abyss off balance.
Shinn drew the Destiny's anti ship sword as he clashed with the Chaos which had drawn its own beam saber in response, the two Gundams collided in a titanic battle, as the pilots pushed themselves past pain barriers, their sabres clashing together in a spectacular light show. Shinn pushed hard, needing to get through to the Exodus Cannon before it fired again. He pushed the Destiny harder, trying to weave away from the Chaos and to get through. He watched as Stellar joined the attack, her beam sabre swinging downwards at the Chaos as Shinn pushed with the Destiny, the Chaos had to fire its jets to propel itself away from Stellar's attack. The pods launched off Chaos' back and began to shoot at the Gaia.
Lunamaria fired her rifle at the oncoming Abyss, the red and white beam easily dodged by it, as returned fire with its own cannons. Lunamaria spun her Zaku around in a manoeuvre which avoided the Abyss's fire and gave her a superior position behind some spinning debris to fire again. Meanwhile, Rey's white Zaku fired its missiles at the Abyss in a rain of explosions as it hit…the phase shift armour which blocked most of the damage, but it did manage to put the Abyss on the back-foot for the moment and rey took advantage, firing again, scoring another hit with his beam rifle, this time actually doing significant damage to the Abyss's left arm. The Abyss returned fire, at Lunamaria, as it hit the piece of debris she was hiding behind, she spun her Zaku into a tight spin, falling away from the now exploding debris which fanned out in a pattern of superheated metal.
Yzak's Slash Zaku Phantom cut through an Earth Alliance Windam as he and Shiho led part of the ZAFT forces towards the Exodus Cannon. Another Windam rose to battle him, it fired at his suit the beam coming close to hitting as he dodged to the right. The ZAFT forces fired their beam rifles at the enemy Windams. The battle raged on as Zakus and Goufs blew up left and right, under the sustained fire of Earth Alliance Windams and Daggers. ZAFT forces returned fire as the Exodus cannon began to charge for another shot. Panicked orders to hurry came over the comm. systems of ZAFT pilots telling them to press the attack. However, EA forces were holding firm.
The Equatorial Alliance general watched as the Archangel flew overhead and signalled the beginning of what he hoped would be the end of the war. Onboard the Archangel the pilots prepared to launched out of the Archangel's hangar bay. Now with twice the number of pilot's the Archangel was primed for combat.
"Kira Yamato, Freedom, launching," the upgraded Freedom launched into the sky, a herald of future peace.
"Athrun Zala, Saviour, away," The red Saviour launched out of the hangar joining the Freedom in the sky as they sped towards the battle.
"Cagalli Yula Attha, Strike Rouge, launching," the red and white Strike Rouge launched from the hangar.
"Andrew Waltfield, Murasame, let's go," the golden Murasame rose in jet-form into the sky.
"Mu La Flaga, Endymion, going out," the new Gundam rose to join the others, its brilliant colour glinting in the sunlight.
"Dearka Elthman, Assassin, away," the sleek black Assassin rose into the sky, leaving its mirage colloid off for this assault, with its two rifles separated.
With all the Gundams launched, the Archangel itself prepared for battle, "Igellstung ready, Gottfried ready to fire," Lacus said to Murrue as the Archangel approached firing range, "Acquire target one," Murrue ordered, "fire on my mark." The Archangel approached the Kaohsiung base where ZAFT and Earth Alliance forces fought.
The Archangel's flight of Gundams blazed through the opposing military force. Onboard the Endymion Mu felt nostalgic as he flew to protect the one he loved again. The last time he had flown out he hadn't come back for a long while; he vowed to himself that it would never happen again. The Endymion charged in, carefully of course, as it launched its mobile weapons pods, firing its beam rifle at the distracted enemies. He brought the Endymion into an inverted manoeuvre to dodge incoming fire as his weapons pods continued to rain fire on the enemies.
Dearka's Assassin Gundam fired at the enemy with both its rifles. A rain of beams descended on the enemy mobile armour, as the Assassin flew past the main ground battle, he saw the Murasame and the Saviour in jet mode flash by criss-crossing in an elaborate pattern, bombarding the ZAFT and Earth Alliance troops on the ground, the explosions producing a festoon of light. The golden Murasame looped around in a tight loop for another pass, while the red Saviour unfolded into its mobile-suit mode, firing its beam rifle at the Earth Alliance Navy. Strike Rouge and Freedom charged with protecting and leading the Equatorial Alliance troops moved slowly, the army advancing as they mopped up the rest of the enemy forces from both sides. Equatorial Alliance engineers moved into the base, quickly capturing the mass driver and preparing to launch the Archangel into space.
Back at Prometheus the assault on the Exodus Cannon proceeded. ZAFT forces hurtled towards Prometheus, trying to destroy the cannon before it could fire again. GINNs and Daggers engaged in a deadly dance, the intensity of the beam rifles matched by the intensity of the explosions. More and more orphans continued to be made at Prometheus. The capital ships did not fare much better, the remaining ZAFT Nazca-class cruisers were under heavy sustained attack by the Girty Lue and Earth Alliance Archangel-class battleships. ZAFT Zakus and Goufs continued to battle Earth Alliance Windams. Slowly but surely, the ZAFT forces began to overwhelm the Earth Alliance, quicker than new troops could be launched from Earth.
Dullindal, having found out that the Archangel had launched into space issued a all-hands recall to space, all ZAFT mobile suit forces began to launch into space from all ZAFT bases on Earth, leaving behind only mobile armour to defend ZAFT assets on Earth. It was time to send a fleet to intercept the Archangel as it headed towards Mendel.
Destiny continued to battle Chaos. Destiny whirled around boosting away from Chaos as it changed from close combat to ranged combat, Shinn fired the Destiny's beam rifle at Chaos which transformed into jet mode, dodging the rifle beam as it fired back. The two Gundams continued the ranged dance, as they weaved around and fired, beam rifle beams spraying out left and right, at each other and at other enemies as well. Shinn felt the urgency of pressing the attack weigh on his mind, as updates from the ZAFT command sensor stations continued to filter through, updating the status of the enemy's Exodus Cannon.
Gaia drifted forward, as Stellar tried to deal with the two mobile weapons pods launched by Chaos, she brought the Gaia into a reverse-throttle hop throwing off the targeting of the weapons pods for a second, and then she throttled forward all full speed, drawing the Gaia's beam sabre as she centred on one of the weapons pods. The beam sabre sliced through the weapons pod, shearing it in half, it exploded sending fragments out which did no particular damage, as the Gaia passed through avoiding the return fire of the second weapons pod which had centred on her again. One to go and then that Cannon…Shinn and I will destroy it to make it safe. Stellar had matured a lot since she had started seeing Shinn, she wasn't as scared anymore. Centring on the second weapons pod off the Chaos Stellar drew her beam rifle and fired, once again engaged in combat.
Lunamaria and Rey continued to battle the Abyss. The Abyss opened its guns and fired again, its damaged left arm trailing a bit as the last cannon failed to fire, the other 5 guns fired, however, singeing on the two Zakus, decreasing their manoeuvrability slightly. They continued to twist in space while battling each other to the death. The Abyss opened its full array of guns again, as it fired at Lunamaria and Rey. Lunamaria spun her red Zaku towards the Abyss, a desperate tactic as she bought her long-range rifle ramming into the Abyss at point-blank range and fired, the explosion tore away half of the Abyss' right arm, leaving it unable to fight, but Lunamaria was caught in the backwash of the explosion, her rifle broken beyond repair and her Zaku damaged, limping back towards the Minerva. "Rey, go ahead, take down the Exodus Cannon," she said as her Zaku limped out of the battlefield. Similarly, the Abyss withdrew its right arm destroyed, its left-arm trailing behind half-broken. Lunamaria was happy, she had improved her skill over the last year and she knew the Earth Alliance command would be unhappy because she had disabled the Abyss for only moderate damage to her mobile suit.
The attack on the Exodus cannon continued, as the ZAFT mobile suits forces lead by Yzak and Shiho punched through the defensive screen of the Earth Alliance Windams and Daggers, only to be confronted with Earth Alliance Gerzu-Gehs which promptly shielded the area around the Exodus cannon. The ZAFT mobile suit troops drew their close combat weapons as they prepared to attack the Gerzu-Gehs guarding the Exodus Cannon with its shields. The Tannhauser cannons couldn't break through and the neutron stampeders were all gone. It was up to the mobile suit pilots to destroy it. He saw Rey's Blaze Zaku Phantom join his sortie against the Gerzu-Gehs by taking out the enemy Windams and Daggers which had set up a defensive screen. Rey fired his beam rifle at a Dagger destroying it and then he whirled around to destroy it again, a thought crossing his mind, where is that Earth Alliance commander, I saw the Chaos and the Abyss, their commander must be near by. But I can't seem to recognise him, unless…but that doesn't make any sense. He shrugged that thought away, he had to concentrate on the battle now, speculating about the enemy commander's whereabouts could come later and without their commander, they were a lot less effective.
The Archangel blazed through the atmosphere, its first return to space since the battle of Jachin Due. The crew felt a bit of nostalgia as they blasted through the clouds into the upper atmosphere. Last time they had launched into space it was to stop the war and now they had to do it all over again. The Archangel punched through the clouds as the blackness of space loomed up ahead.
Lunamaria docked inside the Minerva sitting at the back of the battlefield as the Minerva tried to defeat all the Earth Alliance Windams and Daggers that actually strayed that far out, most of the enemy suits were concentrating on stopping the ZAFT attack led by Commander Jule. Lunamaria jumped out of the cockpit onto the deck as the mechanics set about fixing her Zaku, and equipping it with the close-combat gear, she needed that to go head to head with the Alliance Gerzu-Gehs which possessed energy shields which blocked beam attacks.
The battle continued as Lunamaria launched again, her Zaku armed with a shield and a beam rifle which could be exchanged for an axe stored inside the shield. She rushed back towards the main battle to help the attack on the Exodus Cannon. Meanwhile, inside the Exodus Cannon's main station, Jibril sat calmly, the Gerzu-Gehs stopped any sort of bombardment by ZAFT capital ships and the Windams and Daggers were using cover provided by the Gerzu-Gehs to stop the ZAFT troops. Even though ZAFT troops had gained some ground, they were not going to be there in time to prevent the second firing, aimed right at PLANT headquarters.
Shinn and Stellar fought with increasing desperation as even they could not break through the wall of Earth Alliance mobile suits. Every time he got close to fighting a Gerzu-Geh, those annoying Daggers and Windams would pop up and scatter fire at him, forcing him back, it would be too slow. "One minute remaining to Exodus recharge completion," the now panicked ZAFT command voice came over the comm. system of the Destiny. Shinn pressed even harder but his hurried state led him to overlook any other strategy but to weave and press forward. Similarly, Stellar in the Gaia knew that if the Exodus Cannon fired again, people would die. Even though she had lost a lot of her fear of dying, she knew that other people would die, especially Shinn who would fight to the bitter end and most likely get caught in the beam and be disintegrated.
Shinn panicked as the seconds ticked down towards firing time, it's going to fire again if I don't do anything about it. I can't let innocent people be hurt again. Anger and frustration built up in him and welled to unbreakable limits, and then he felt a sudden calm rush over him, as his pupils dilated and he entered Seed Mode. Suddenly, his body functioned like a machine, making complex calculations within milliseconds, responding to the enemy fire as he weaved in closer and closer.
Stellar saw Destiny suddenly, dive down towards the Exodus Cannon spiralling downwards, doing next to impossible manoeuvres, as it dodged enemy fire and bought its anti-ship sword up, ready to behead the Gerzu-Gehs. Shinn, I have to follow him, in any way I can, I won't let him die, my rock, my saviour, my lover. She felt a strange sensation wash over her, as a pink-purple seed appeared in front of her, her eyes becoming blank, as the Gaia suddenly dived downwards following the Destiny.
Lunamaria saw the Destiny and the Gaia weave downwards towards the Exodus Cannon expertly avoiding the fire of the enemy mobile suits, she knew that Shinn and Stellar weren't normally that good, she realised that Shinn had done something special again, only ten seconds left she saw on the timer, as Destiny's anti-ship sword swung downwards, decapitating the Gerzu-Geh…causing shield coverage to flicker once and then disappear, she saw the Destiny charge towards the Exodus Cannon, Gaia following through the hole as Destiny charged towards the cannon, she saw the timer tick down, five…four…three…the Destiny was fired upon, but the Gaia blocked the shots returning fire, as ZAFT mobile suits poured through the hole to destroy the enemy shield units from the inside, where they were unprotected, she flew towards the now widening gap in shield coverage…two…the Destiny was almost there, time was almost up, the Destiny began to thrust its anti-ship sword forwards…one…the focusing lasers began to focus on the central aperture, aimed at PLANT headquarters, the Destiny's sword hitting below the firing mechanism, overloading the Exodus Cannon as firing mechanism rocked on its base, it fell and pointed down, and then it exploded a terrific explosion which blew all the mobile suits within the vicinity back…the Destiny and the Gaia held each other charging away at maximum speed propelled by the destruction of the Exodus Cannon, which had fired its half-finished focused beam downwards, drilling a hole into the surface of the moon. Luckily, it had not been at full power or the moon would have been blown into billions of tiny superheated fragments, instead only a small hole was drilled into the surface.
The ZAFT forces regathered away from the battle as they heard the withdrawal order given by the Chairman. The Earth Alliance forces, without a leader were in disarray, but then a coded message came from Blue Cosmos…or rather from LOGOS, which ordered the Earth Alliance to regroup and be prepared for another assault on its enemies. The Archangel reached space safely, and was now headed towards Heliopolis 2 where they would start the plan to topple Chairman Dullindal.
What do the "White Knights" of the Archangel have in stall for Dullindal...read the next chapter to find out.
