Disclaimer: I do not own either Gundam, talk to Bandai for the rights, because I don't have them.
Brief Summary: Now in North Africa and successfully linking up with the Desert Dawn, the Archangel begins its most ominous fight yet, a climatic battle with the Desert Tiger, but who is the new force in the shadows and why are they attacking the Archangel AND ZAFT?
"Kira's Last Act"
Chapter 4: "The Re-Appearance of a Mighty Hero"
Andrew Waltfeld, the infamous Desert Tiger of ZAFT looked at the report. Unknown ships most definitely not affiliated with anyone he could think off had been spotted flying around near Tassil and all his outposts. He did not like that, especially when he had found an Earth Forces officer calmly sipping coffee in his study when he had entered it earlier. The officer was a captain in rank, but he had a very annoying habit of using sir. He was obliviously used to being lower ranked, but what he had told him had been proving vital.
Flashback
"So what do I have in my den? A rather brave soul, may I inquire..." Andy was interrupted.
"There have been annoying flies in your area, I suggest high alert and I am not referring to the Archangel and Desert Dawn, sir. This foe is far more dangerous than the positron cannons that ship carriers, sir. Send a detachment to keep an eye on Tassil; it may save your life in the future, and as for the ship… Fight it if you want, your orders wouldn't be able to permit otherwise, but there have been unusual disturbances, sir. I believe you know what I mean, though how he survived is beyond me, it was a square and direct hit on the cockpit, no one and I mean no one could ever survive that, sir."
"What's your name captain?" Andy asked.
"Captain John C. Arkens, AF Army, sir. I know, Alliance Force must be running through your head, but that is not the case, sir. I despise the Alliance for good reason, or do I have to give nearly a quarter of million reasons why, sir," Captain Arkens said.
Shock and surprise was written all over Andy's face. Others had entered with him, but they hadn't said a thing, now they were shocked into a very temporary silence. A Natural decreeing that the attack on Junius 7 had been wrong was standing before them, condemning the Alliance.
"The Archangel believes itself to be here to combat you, sir, but in reality, we were using as a hunk of meat to draw the enemy, the real enemy out of hiding, sir. It worked too well, for something else also came out and now there's a problem, sir."
"What do you mean 'real enemy,'" Da Costa asked, having found his voice.
"Don't trust the radicals and most certainly do not trust anyone who likes black robes a little too much, sir," was all that Arkens said, before he disappeared when a drape from an open window had hidden him from view.
Everyone ran over to the window to see him jump over an 8 meter high concert wall topped with razor sharp barb wire. He jumped a full 10 meters up and over the wall. ZAFT soldiers on patrol had spotted him and just stood there gawking at what had just been done. Not even Coordinators could hope to manage that!
End Flashback
Andy just didn't like it, but his orders were clear, attack and sink the Legged-Ship. Though he knew something was a foul, one could actually feel it. Something evil was out there in the desert and it wasn't local. That was scaring him, he decided to press his luck a little, but had yielded to Capt. Arkens advice.
Archangel, Alex Dino's quarters, Starboard side
Alex just laid back and was in deep thought he was thinking about a certain blonde female roughly his same age, or at least age group. She had tripped as he had just exited his quarters. She appeared to have been crying before she fell into him. He thought that most likely that her legs had just given out and he'd just happened to walk out and catch her. Well, they both actually fell to the ground. She was most definitely not herself, Alex surmised. There had been plenty of proof, like the fact that she was sleeping next to him, in his bed, their clothes scattered around the side of his bed on the floor. He hopped that she wouldn't scream and call him a pervert.
'So, I accidentally saw her showering, no crime there, besides, she was using the men's shower, not the women's,' Alex thought.
That's when the klaxons and alarms began to sing their 'oh sweet tune' to the blonde's annoyance. Alex tried to get out of bed, but Cagalli Yula, just held him tighter, preventing him from leaving.
'This is going to take some time,' Alex thought.
The Bridge
"Where's Ensign Dino?" asked Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Natarle Badgiruel.
"Crewman 2nd Class Allster is on her way to see if he's in his room," reported C2 Miriallia Haw.
"Flay here, found Ensign Dino in his room and states that he's not feeling very well. His door is locked and the override won't work," C2 Allster reported over the intercom.
"I had both of the overrides to their rooms removed to prevent any problems as they slept," Captain (Acting) Murrue Ramius informed her CIC staff.
"But why Captain? They can take care of themselves, they are Coordinators," LT (JG) Badgiruel protested.
"You try fighting off some of the crew half awake then," the Captain snapped back.
"I forget, please forgive me ma'am," LT (JG) Badgiruel apologized, forgetting that some members of the crew still were disgruntled over the two Coordinators aboard ship.
"Forget it, we tend to forget that some hatreds die hard, well, at least the crew knows what happens if they murder those two, we die shortly thereafter," Ramius was not in the best of moods.
"Captain, the enemy is a new type of – correction – are new types of fighters and bombers, odd, these designs don't seem to be ZAFT and they seem a little less than what ZAFT would make in their right minds," Petty Officer 1st Class Jackie Tonomura reported.
"I'm tracking a group of fast moving fighters moving to link up with the group heading our way!" C2 Kuzzey Buskirk reported.
"The two groups are starting to dogfight!" PO1 Tonomura reported.
Lesseps, Banadiya
"Are you certain that a dogfight has broken out?" Andy asked Da Costa.
"Yes, very strange too, neither side has friendly or enemy IFF codes," Martian Da Costa said.
"Who are they?" Andy asked.
Archangel Bridge
"The battle's over, the first group was completely annihilated and the second group came though intact," PO1 Tonomura reported.
"Only 8 minutes have passed from sensor contact to end of the dogfight," PO1 Romeo Pal reported.
"Launch Skygrasper 1 for recon of the battle site," Captain (Acting) Ramius ordered.
"Roger! Skygrasper 1, launch!" C2 Haw yelled into her headset.
"Skygrasper 1, Launching!" Lt. Commander Mu La Flaga reported.
"Skygrasper 1 has launched," C2 Haw reported.
Several days passed after the air battle, by the time that LTCM La Flaga arrived on site, the battle wreckage was long gone. Of course there were the craters from crashed aircraft and broken glass from where high powered energy weapons impacted in the sand, but no debris of even the smallest size. No one knew how the wreckage had been cleared so quickly or who actually attacked, but one thing was known, the Desert Tiger had established a watch post near Tassil and monitored both land AND air traffic. It was decided that the Desert Tiger had sensed unknown danger, but what was the danger, no one, not even the Desert Dawn fighters, knew, but the war continued.
Approaching Tanabiya Industrial District, Abandoned
Two of the massive land warships of Andy Waltfeld's Team Waltfeld were closing distance with the mighty Archangel of the 8th Lunar Fleet. The Desert Dawn fighters were arrayed in a skirmish line in front of the massive white battleship. The two mobile suits X303 Aegis and X207 Blitz flew out to meet the threat, head on. Then Skygrasper 1 was launched to clear the airspace of enemy air support.
To the surprise of the Desert Dawn fighters and the crew of the Archangel, Waltfeld had deployed his tanks and armored cars to combat the Desert Dawn fighters, as well as jet fighters to tie up LTCM La Flaga. The resulting battle placed warship against warship, mobile suit versus mobile suit, ground pounders fighting other ground pounders, a text book battle of tradition going back hundreds of years, but that ended with the flight of Skygrasper 2, it quickly dealt with ZAFT's Agiles, then helped clear the skies of enemy fighters, that's when battle took on a new twist.
Bridge of the Lesseps
"The Legged-Ship is firing!"
"Evade!"
"Sir! Report! Someone just started to torch Tassil!"
"WHAT?"
"But he is indeed back, he is indeed back."
Archangel
"Captain! What are the chances of a second glitch?" called C2 Buskirk.
"None, why?" Captain Ramius inquired.
"I got a second hit on the…" a BuCUE missile interrupts with a near miss on the bridge.
"Damn! What's happening?" Captain Ramius barked out.
While down in the CIC, C2 Sai Argyle felt something land on his white uniform. He brought two figures to check it out and immediately looked around wildly, finding the source. In a heartbeat he was at Kuzzey's side.
"Captain! Kuzzey's hurt bad and so is Petty Officer Pal!" he yelled.
Murrue snapped her head around so fast, she was dizzy for a few seconds. LT (JG). Badgiruel was already there summoning stretcher bearers and replacements, for the latter there were none. Sai immediately took over Petty Officer 1st Class Romero Pal's post, as Kuzzey's post was brunt toast.
"Shells incoming!" cried PO1 Jackie Tonomura.
A bright light flashed across the sky intercepting and destroying the Lesseps' cannon fire. Everyone began to trace the firing point and there standing in all its glory was the Blue Frame. It was using a Launcher Striker Pack that had obliviously been modified fore the Blue Frame and the crew could only think of one man crazy enough and with enough intelligence to pull that kind of stunt off, Lowe Gear, Red Frame's pilot and sure enough, Red Frame appeared, but attacked something in the sky.
The Battle of Tanabiya
Four blue objects fell from the sky. They used to be just two objects that were until they meant the Gerbera Straight. Two strange looking craft, obliviously, they used to be bombers and where there are two, there are usually more with fighter protection and sure enough, they came screaming onto the battlefield attacking everyone that wasn't one of their own.
The Lesseps, Petrie, Henry Carter, and the Archangel threw up one hell of an anti-air blanket, but the enemy still got through the gaps in the AA defenses and soon the Petrie was a burning hulk of wreckage as survivors scrambled away from the burning ship, only to be strafed at, but the Skygraspers and the RPG toting Desert Dawn fighters put an end to that plan quickly.
The Rocket Propelled Grenades failed to bring down a single strafing fighter, but they were a danger enough that the fighters decided to leave the ground attacking to the bombers, especially sense two of their elements had been wiped out by the Skygraspers. That's when a new mobile suit entered the battlefield. It moved about, slashing hacking away at ZuHOOTs and BuCUEs. It then pinned the Aegis to the ground, then slashed up the Blitz when it tried to support it. Then it jumped as beams of hot energy streaked by, just narrowing avoiding hitting the Aegis.
X102 Duel and X103 Buster were not about to allow some unknown aggressor take out the Aegis, that was their prey. They felt insulted that this unknown mobile suit tried to kill Athrun Zala before their eyes.
"Looks like the great Athrun Zala needed his butt saved big time," Yzak Joule taunted over the radio.
"He messed Tad up real bad, I don't know what his condition is, plus its Alex Dino, you white haired momma's boy," Athrun Zala answered back.
"WHAT WAS THAT ZALA!" Yzak hissed back.
"Tad, Tad, you mean Nicol! That bastard is going to pay!" Dearka Elsmen roared, no one and he mean's no one hurts his friends and gets away with it. Nicol was a traitor to ZAFT, but to the PLANTs, Elsmen could not see it that way, and he had a soft spot for the timid kid.
Before the trio could due any revenging, they first had to survive this unknown black mobile suit, and I stress black (new shade) with crimson markings had just attacked Andy's LaGOWE. Smoke began to billow from some major damage and just as it was about to explode, a shadow appeared and rescued Andy and Aisha.
Everyone turned to track the new comer, as green lasers and yellow tracers and beams stitched their way high in the sky, but then, red lasers began to join the fray and three of the blue fighters went screaming to Earth as fiery fireballs. Then several blue bombers found yellow tracers stitching a path in between them and they new that meant at least four solid shells behind the tracers. All nine bombers hurled to Earth as smoking fireballs.
Da Costa tried to track who had done that sudden shooting, saving the Lesseps. He thought it might have been the Red and/or Blue Frames, but those two were on the other side of the battlefield holding off some kind of four legged tanks about a quarter more the height of mobile suits. All other units that used the Igelstellung 75mm CIWS were off fighting other opponents or fending off air attack as in the case of the Archangel. Then that's when the black and crimson, evil looking mobile suit went flying towards the Archangel, but a heroically painted mobile suit jumped in the way and fended off the black suit with the frozen violet flame of a beam saber and that's when everyone got the IFF signal… GAT-X105 Strike had reappeared, battle ready, as the pilot spoke.
"I won't let the Dark Side destroy the hope and light of my people!" the pilot yelled.
The reply over an open communications channel shocked everyone.
"You are undeniably the most stubborn of all the Jedi Knights, KIRA YAMATO!" the Sith Apprentice yelled.
Next Chapter
"I will kill you Kira Yamato and set this world ablaze with hate!" Darth Mirth yelled at the young Jedi Knight.
"No, it shall be you who dies this day and the light shall be may ally," Kira responded, jumping the Strike high into the sky and placing the Sun to his back and in the eyes of his enemy.
"AHHH! I can't see! Coward!" the Sith yelled.
"Because of your evil ways, you cannot stand in the brilliance of the light!" Kira shouted, bringing his beam saber in a downward slashing arc that cut the Malice in two.
"Brother! I have failed to avenge you, but my daughter shall avenge us!" was all the Sith said before his mobile suit exploded in a blinding light, little knowing that his daughter stood next to his hated enemy.