Nicol observed the simulation of the Artemis' Lightwave Defense being projected. Meanwhile, Rau, his commander kept his silence, to let the information sink in. He then glanced to his sides to see the expression on Yzak, Miguel and Dearka before turning his attention at the other screens showing other ship captains and pilots to see their respective expressions. It seemed that most of them were incredulous, to say the least.

"Wait," Dearka said. "If the whole thing doesn't allow anything coming in and out, doesn't that mean they can't attack us when the shield is engaged?"

"Indeed," Rau replied.

"That sounds stupid," Dearka said bluntly.

Nicol found himself agreeing with Dearka, something he didn't normally do; the only person he agreed with even less was Yzak. But to have established a presence at an unstrategic location, and had it protected by a state of the art and expensive technology; he found it suspect as well.

"That's the reason why we've been ignoring it all this while. To engage the fortress, we have to attack with enough firepower to overwhelm the barrier. While we don't know the threshold, previous attacks showed that it is high enough,"

"But to do that, we have to use a lot of energy and munitions, leaving us vulnerable to a counterattack," Yzak, arms crossed, remarked. "I don't like that odds,"

That's why a direct attack is disadvantageous for us," Rau replied, "The second option is we maintain a siege but we're not sure whether we can outlast it. The fortress can just activate the part of the shield facing us to save energy and surrounding it with our force would require a lot of ships and supporting logistics. I wouldn't recommend it."

"Couldn't we leave it alone?" Nicol asked.

"No, Archangel is probably at the station, with the two prototypes. As you recall, our order is to destroy them,"

"What if they're not there?" Miguel asked.

"As long we can't confirm it, we have to assume that it's there. Also, even if we ignore Artemis and instead search for Silverwind, we're leaving our backs open against an attack from it." Rau said. "That being said, we have a chance to defeat it," he said while nodding toward Nicol. "This is where your unit will play a very major role,"

"Blitz?"

"Correct,"

An hour later, Nicol watched from the pilots' waiting room as Blitz landed onboard the Vesalius. He wasn't comfortable having Miguel piloting 'his' mobile suit but didn't have a say in the matter since it was the decision of his commanding officer. Rau wanted Blitz to be present during the initial attack because the man deemed that Artemis knew ZAFT possessed three of the five prototypes. Therefore, by having Blitz participate in the attack, it was hoped that their opponents could be tricked into letting their guard down. However, Rau also wanted Nicol to be well-rested for his mission which was why Miguel was ordered to pilot Blitz for the diversionary attack.

The door of the cockpit opened and Miguel got out. At least he didn't stay inside it any longer than necessary. The technicians quickly got to the mobile suit to carry out maintenance works required to prepare it for the upcoming mission.

Nicol shifted his attention back at the screen showing the ongoing battle between his force and the Earth Alliance defenders. No, it wasn't a battle; it's just ZAFT unilaterally pummelling Artemis's shield with everything it got but from what he could see, it was to no avail.

The attack continued for quite some time before Rau signalled for retreat. However, that was when Nicol's mission started. Fully armed and recharged, Blitz was launched after the task force had moved far enough from Artemis. Due to the stealth system engaged, Blitz had to reduce its speed to prevent unnatural dissipation of the Mirage Colloid. Still, the progress was slower than he was comfortable with as Blitz had an estimated operating time of just 80 minutes before the particles dissipated enough for it to lose its stealth.

However, that long flight gave him time to have a quiet introspection by himself. He thought about his mother, who was very against him joining ZAFT, compared to his father who gave the permission, albeit reluctantly. It was not that he want to fight, but after hearing about what happened to Junius Seven, Nicol deemed that it was the right thing to do, since he would be fighting to defend PLANTs.

His line of thinking then strayed to his friends, Rusty and Athrun; one was confirmed to be dead, while the other was declared as missing and presumed to be dead. When Nicol joined the 'Redcoats', he quickly found himself out of place since he didn't share what he felt was an extreme view of Naturals that Yzak and Dearka. Nicol was prepared to shoot to kill, but he still held the belief that Naturals are as human as Coordinators, something that they didn't share. Fortunately, Rusty and Athrun shared the same view, and they become friends.

Without the two, he felt isolated and alone. Yzak and Dearka made disparaging remarks about Athrun and Rusty, with Yzak once commenting that perhaps the two ended like that because they were too scared to fight properly. Miguel, while less confrontational with Nicol, had shown that he held similar views to the other two. Ever since Miguel was defeated, he had become more intense in his declaration of disdain of Naturals.

Nicol sighed. Perhaps after the war ended, he could have his concert one day and dedicate it to his friends and all of those who had lost their lives.

The computer beeped, telling him that Blitz had arrived at the next waypoint. Nicol expression hardened. It was time to carry out his mission as his mobile suit was within striking distance of Artemis. As expected, it had deactivated its light defense.

He made his way steadily to the fortress, noting that some Agamemnon-class and Drake-class ships were just outside of the Umbrella of Artemis's identified perimeter, no doubt on high alert due to the earlier attack. But he was sure that once they detect the ZAFT force approaching, they would scurry back into Artemis. What cowards.

Nicol caught himself. Since when he was entitled to label other people as cowards? Just a few hours prior Yzak and Dearka commented that he was best suited for the mission as he was just a coward. While Miguel had defended him against their clear provocation, which he appreciated, it was the truth that he didn't like their labelling him as such.

He would prove them wrong by succeeding. First, he would slip through the gap he had identified located between five ships. At then he would locate the Lightwave Barrier emitters and destroy them, disabling Artemis' so-called invincible defence.

Nicol swallowed his saliva as he got within range of two Agamemnon-class and a Drake-class. His instinct was to press the button to activate the Phase Shift armor but doing so would deactivate Blitz's stealth system. He took a deep breath silently, as if not wanting the enemy to hear him even in the silence of space.

Blitz fired its ion thrusters to make some vector correction to put it right in the middle of the three ships. The mobile suit moved closer and closer until it was right next to the bow of the first Agamemnon-class but the ship didn't react. Nevertheless, Nicol kept his attention to the ship as Blitz kept moving.

The first ship was cleared and he was halfway past the second Agamemnon.

No reaction and he was passing beside the smaller Drake-class.

No problem encountered. Blitz kept moving until it cleared the cordon. As he had predicted, they didn't react to his presence. Nicol let out a sigh of relief. He had cleared the first challenge. Now, onto the next one.

A missile hit Blitz back, damaging it. Even though Nicol was taken by surprise, he quickly engaged the Phase Shift system just in time to block a barrage of missiles launched at him. While he managed to weather them, one of the Agamemnon-class aimed and destroyed Blitz' legs using its Gottfried beam cannons. Before he could turn his attention toward him, another missile hit Blitz, this time originating from a squadron of Moebius mobile armors approaching him at high speed.

Even as he tried to defend himself, Nicol's mind was reeling from the fact that he was trapped. Missiles after missiles were raining upon Blitz. When he tried to move away, the ships would fire beam cannons at him, forcing him to continue blocking or retreating.

The harassment continued for quite some time until it finally abated. Despite his attempt to dodge and block, Blitz energy level had dropped to slightly more than half. But before he could consider his next step, the Radar Warning Receiver unit beeped and he quickly evaded a flurry of beam shots. He searched for his assailant. A single white mobile suit with a strange back attachment was aiming its rifle, no, beam machine gun, at him.

"Another Alliance prototype?" he uttered in alarm.

Nicol evaded a series of shots while checking the radar. All surrounding ships had moved away from the area, presenting him with a chance to escape. He quickly engaged the Mirage Colloid system while sidestepping to confuse his enemies. The enemy prototype didn't seem able to determine his location, which meant that the stealth system was working effectively.

Blitz missile warning system beeped as the nearby ships fired some missiles but since none were aimed at his vector, he didn't move. They exploded around him harmlessly, showering something like confetti. He had suspected that it was some kind of mine but when they touched Blitz, nothing happened. If that's the case, why did they do such a thing?

Before Nicol could think further, he had to change his focus. The enemy prototype which was oblivious to his presence before turned toward him and fired again, forcing the redcoat pilot to disengage the stealth system once again.

It seemed that the only way for him to escape is to defeat his adversary. He fired the 50mm High-energy Beam Rifle mounted on Blitz Trikeros Offensive Shield System and was shocked to see that the other mobile suit blocked it with a triangle lightwave barrier on its left arm. It seemed that the Eurasians had managed to build a portable version of the Armure Lumiere. Suddenly his escape had become all more important as he had to notify ZAFT about the new development.

But his opponent wasn't going to let him do just that.

Nicol fired off Blitz's kinetic penetrators but they were also blocked, this time by a barrier on the prototype's right arm. Even after they detonated, it remained unscathed. However, he could see the barrier had faded for a few seconds. There, he saw his chance. As long as he pressed his attacks, he would get through. Blitz pulled activated the long beam saber on Trikeros, intending to engage his opponent in close-quarter combat.

Realizing his intent, his opponent also closed the distance, trying to prevent him from taking advantage of the Blitz's long saber reach. The pilot was an experienced one, from what he could see. Nicol swung the beam saber, and the enemy quickly blocked it using the barrier on its left arm. The clash caused sparks flew and to his puzzlement, his opponent quickly retreated. What he didn't expect was that the beam saber also left an impact on the barrier which flickered.

He must push forward. Nicol knew that he could win the fight. He fired Gleipnir which opened in midflight into a grappling claw to grab onto the other mobile suit's leg and yanked it toward Blitz where he renewed the assault on the barrier a few times.

After weathering the attacks, the enemy mobile suit kicked Blitz away and took out what seemed to be a beam knife from the other leg to cut off the cable connecting the Gleipnir. The shield on the left hand blinked a few times and faded. Finally, the chance he was waiting for had come! Blitz manoeuvred into the position to slash at the vulnerable side.

Nicol was shocked when the attack was blocked by a barrier; the same barrier he believed to be down. Before he could react, his opponent use the barrier to parry his beam sabre, causing him to lose bearing momentarily. Then, using the beam knife it was holding, the enemy mobile suit stabbed Blitz right arm, severing control to the said appendage.

"As expected from that double-dealer; the information is very good," Gerard said as he watched the event unfold.

"I guess that's an improvement coming from you," Jeremy replied.

"It is a compliment. What, you want me to call her 'la Princesse traîtresse'?" Gérard was telling the truth as he was impressed with the information the NAGI collaborator provided. That didn't detract from the reality that NAGI was playing the role of a knowledge broker to get what it wanted from the Eurasians Federation higher-ups. "Just a single mention was enough to come up with an appropriate countermeasure,"

"I agree."

It was just a statement that Blitz could emit a strong magnetic field for as yet to be defined characteristic. However, the statement was there for a reason. When ZAFT launched the attack on Artemis, Blitz sortied but it didn't use the aforementioned ability and instead displayed that it had Phase Shift armor similar to Duel and Buster. Therefore, Gerard and Jeremy concluded that the ability was neither related to physical combat nor electronic warfare.

Based on the information that he received, Jeremy postulated that Blitz probably had a stealth system based on Mirage Colloid that the Atlantic Federation was rumored to be developing. While the exact composition of the Mirage Colloid was unknown, what was known was that it wasn't a solid compound; either it existed as liquid or gas. Therefore, it was decided to lay a trap by scattering a cloud of small pieces of radar deflecting materials all over the area Blitz was expected to enter.

As expected, some pieces of materials got stuck on Blitz's Mirage Colloid field when it got in contact with them, rendering it detectable by Artemis' sensors. But instead of engaging it immediately, they waited until Blitz got behind their ships, predicting that the massive relief the pilot would have felt having cleared them would cause him to be vulnerable to psychological mind games. The timing of the attack was intended to shock the pilot and judging from Blitz's sluggish reaction to attacks launched at it, the tactic was successful.

But instead of taking advantage to capture Blitz immediately, Gerard had overruled Jeremy when the former decided to test Hyperion, Eurasian Federation's own prototype, against Blitz.

"Playing with the barriers to make them seemed damaged, thus making the enemy too confident of himself," Gerard remarked as he continued watching the screen. "That Canard is a grade-A asshole,"

"To think that he was a good person before he came under your command, what a waste," Jeremy riposted.

"That's all his. You can't say him trying to get onboard Archangel to pick a fight is my doing," Gerard said, recalling that the said person was trying to do so when he saw a picture of the teenager that claimed to be Strike's pilot. "Then again, maybe he picked that up from you,"

"Me? Perish the thought! I'm a paragon of virtue,"

"Right… Since you're the one who came up with this mission," Gerard said before raising his eyebrows at the sight of Hyperion slashing Blitz's damaged right arm, removing the shield. "Oh, Hyperion's performance is better than expected. Sure, Canard's talented but he couldn't do it with a land mower."

"I'm sure they called it Moebius,"

"Your words, not mine," Gerard said. "I was actually referring to the grass cutting machine,"

"Blitz's color is changing to grey," someone announced.

That was the moment they were waiting for. For it to lose enough power that its defensive armor will be deactivated.

Jeremy quickly let out the order, "Recall Canard. Target our guns on Blitz's remaining appendages. Fire at will." He then turned toward his commander, "We have to be sure it's running out of power or just baiting."

It took a few more seconds before they managed to hit the mobile suit's left shoulder, destroying it.

"Launch the Cigognes Squadron!" Jeremy said. "Other units to maintain engaging Blitz from a safe distance,"

A Moebius strayed in front of Blitz and was destroyed by the latter's CIWS.

"Target the main camera! Tell other pilots to stick to the plan or I will throw the book at them so hard that even their grandchildren will come out with bumps on their heads!" Jeremy growled. "I told them to keep their distance and engage but no, there's always an idiot fashioning himself as a hero,"

Gerard shrugged but didn't say anything. While they can't avoid losses, especially when trying to catch the enemy alive, it should have been kept to a minimum.

The tactic of overwhelming their adversary with sheer numbers was successful as they finally destroyed all of its appendages and rendered it incapacitated. Jeremy turned toward Gerard. "If you will do the honors?"

"Cigognes Squadron, commence capture operation,"

After receiving the order, the squadron moved in. Eight of them towed a large metal net and caught the lone mobile suit in the middle of the net. They then moved to close the net around the mobile suit and entangle it before detaching the net. In their place, another 16 Moebius launched their wire anchors at the tangle and began dragging it into Artemis.

"Who would have guessed that the SOP we have for dragging away unexploded munitions and space garbage can be used to capture a lone ZAFT mobile suit?" Gerard said in amusement.

"Like a group of ants taking down a mighty wasp," Jeremy remarked.

ZAFT ships are reentering sensor range," someone announced.

"They're too late," Gerard said while grinning. "Quickly! We must bring our prey into the nest before they get close," he commanded, deciding to eschew giving a normal command to refer to Jeremy's earlier comment. "Tell others to enter the nest as well!"

"Well, my queen ant, I'll have to get going," Jeremy said while turning toward the door just as the captured prototype was brought into Artemis. "We'll be very busy,"

"Proceed," Gerard said. "Don't forget to issue the order to surrender,"

It was as Jeremy had predicted. The fact that Blitz has yet to self-destruct meant that ZAFT didn't get around installing the module. It probably didn't have the time to do so seeing that it rushed to get the three prototypes back to the battlefield. Gerard wasn't complaining; one's mistake was another's opportunity.

"Activate Artemis Umbrella once they get into firing range," he issued the command as ZAFT began deploying its mobile suit.

As his orange-colored custom GINN fired its MMI-M8A3 76mm heavy assault machine gun uselessly at the lightwave barrier covering Artemis, Miguel lamented in annoyance, "Hey, they have three now, and we have two left. Why don't we just return the remainders and call it a day?"

"Shut up, Green skin," Yzak retorted, not subtly pointing out that Miguel was a normal pilot as opposed to Yzak and Dearka who belonged to the elite group.

"Oh yeah, at least I'm not a red shirt," Miguel insulted back.

"What that's supposed to mean?" Dearka asked.

As expected, Yzak and Dearka didn't catch his reference, which was to be expected. Not many people know about the classic film series he used to watch about a spaceship on an exploration all over the universe. Inaccuracies aside, what he noticed about the movies was that while most of the main characters wore different color uniforms, nameless crew members wore uniforms. Because they would be killed off during battles to increase drama and tension, the term 'Red Shirt,' was used to disparagingly refer to unimportant people whose purpose was to be killed off.

It was in bad taste to let loose his frustration on fellow team members but seeing the two members deal with Nicol's defeat and subsequent capture like it was nothing, irked him. While he disagreed with Athrun and Nicol's opinion in regards to the current war, he respected their stance.

Those other two was another story altogether as they consider of themselves above everyone else. Even if Miguel was looking down on Natural pilots, he didn't lord that over them; not much anyway. But Yzak and Dearka were totally drunk on the influence their parents wielded.

Commander Creuset reigning control of them was the evidence of the man's charisma. But despite respecting the man, Miguel couldn't help wondering that something was a bit off with him. While it was just a cursory check brought about by a random bout of curiosity, Commander Creuset's history turned out almost a blank. All Miguel knew was that Rau was a refugee. From where, who accepted his asylum request, why he was running; no information was available. In comparison, Miguel could search about Yzak's favourite food, Dearka's first crush and even the late Rusty's bad music taste.

To have someone like that rise to the current position was questionable at best, suspicious at worst. It was as if someone powerful was backing Rau.

Three orbs of light caught his attention. He looked at his GINN's munition indicator. He was so absorbed in his thought that he didn't realize that he had expended almost three-quarters of his munitions while he had just half the energy left. Any longer and he would make himself vulnerable if the enemy attacked. Miguel clicked his tongue and returned to the ship. Someone will answer for this disaster and he knew that it wouldn't be him.

Once again, Artemis was under attack by ZAFT forces. However, as much as the latter wanted to punish the fortress for what had just happened, Gerard had gone through countless times to know that based on the current enemy strength, it would eventually leave. At that time, he could command a counter-attack, but he wouldn't do so, just like other forces before it.

While Gerard had heard accusations, especially coming from the Atlantic Federation, that he was waging his version of the Phoney War, it wasn't the case. His predecessor had made it clear that Artemis, which was built even before the war, wasn't intended to serve as a forward base for Earth Alliance; it wasn't designed to do so. In Gerard's personal opinion, Artemis was a big lighthouse in the sky. Its prominent presence was intended to provide pressure to ZAFT and Atlantic Federation while providing security in the area to non-combatants.

The cynical part of him wondered why ZAFT sent out a single mobile suit? Of course, only Blitz had the stealth system, but why risk what could be argued as a priceless mobile suit? Even if Blitz succeeded in its mission of disabling Artemis, it could end up getting destroyed in the process.

Was this the so-called individual discretion among ZAFT pilots? Maybe the pilot volunteered to do the mission because he wanted the medal, what was it, Order of Nebulae? Or was this the so-called invincible feeling young and cocky pilots feel despite the real danger to their lives?

There was a reason for Alliance's soldiers to work in teams most of the time; it was to allow them to achieve the objectives while minimising risks. ZAFT fielded Coordinator pilots who are geniuses bordering superhumans. While Atlantic Federation may hesitate, Eurasian had no problem doing the same. When both sides met, all factors being the same, the one working as a team would emerge on top.

Then again, there was another possibility that the pilot was following the command. Perhaps the ZAFT force hoping that Artemis would drop its guard just because ZAFT had attacked and retreated just like countless times before? Didn't ZAFT consider that the Eurasian force guarding the fortress wouldn't simply go from full-scale alert to the nominal level just like that despite the former retreating?

Should that be true, the extent of ZAFT's self-conceit was quite incredible, in his opinion. While ZAFT had the technological and skilled manpower pacing Alliance's numerical number, eventually, the former would be attrited of its skilled personnel while the latter catch up with its own mobile suit deployment.

If he didn't know better, it was as if ZAFT is shooting itself in the back. But what would self-sabotaging serve?

There was a growling sound and Gerard looked down. All the thinking made him hungry. "Keep me informed," he commanded as he began moving toward the cafeteria. He reminded himself to instruct for the steak to be served for dinner. Alcohol could be rationed out later after he was very sure that ZAFT was no longer in the area.

Hopefully, Jeremy managed to get the pilot out alive. From what they found out from Archangel, the pilot of Aegis was the heir to Patrick Zala. Maybe the one piloting Blitz was somebody important as well. If that was the case, he could trade the live pilot or at least the dead body as an overture, preferably to someone like Clyne.

Those like Clyne were easier to convince that ZAFT had screwed by trying to attack Artemis even though it had already been broadcasted that Archangel and prototypes were not there. But Gerard wasn't one to complain since ZAFT had delivered Blitz to his doorstep. Eventually, Atlantic Federation would find out and may want it back. By then, the mobile suit would have been taken apart panels by panels, screw by screw, and its secrets made known to the Eurasian.

Those kinds of strategies had served Artemis well so far.

1

A/N

1. Phoney War refers to an eight-month period at the start of World War II where despite war proclamation by UK and France on Germany, only limited military operation was carried out.

2. Because Mirage Colloid is colloidal, not solid, debris could get stuck to it. Imagine throwing some Disco Dust to a person who is wet. Even after shaking away the excess, there would be a lot of them left on the person. That's what happened to Blitz and another reason why it couldn't engage its stealth feature indefinitely, apart from the loss of the said colloid and high energy consumption.

3. Yes, Artemis is a 'light house'. In real life, the so-called 'useless' military bases served this role (apart from their primary roles). They have their uses, although the value of their utility is subjective.

4. Next update in December.