Disclaimer: Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny does not belong to me.
Phase 27: The Strategy
Orb Union
Erica Simmon was being shoved into a shuttle. She protested against it but was being ignored since she was a prisoner on board.
"Where are you taking me to?" Erica demanded as soon as the old man entered the shuttle. He sat down in the opposite and stared at her.
"Do you know how does the perfect world looks like?" The old man asked her.
"Master, I don't think there is a need to explain to her." A female's voice was heard. It was awfully familiar to Erica. It didn't take her long to realize that her twin sister was in the cahoots with the head of URANUS.
"Long time no see, oneesama!" Angela Simmon sat down beside her. "Oneesama haven't been eating well."
"Angela, why?" Erica was shocked over this matter.
"For the sake of the perfect world." Angela merely answered.
"Miss Simmon, the baby is brought on board as instructed." A man kneeled down in front of her shocking Erica.
"Jaa, Oneesama, I have something to do, please excuse me." Angela smiled at the fuming Erica. She turned to the old man.
"Derrick-sama, I shall proceed with the preparation of the awakening." Angela bowed and left.
"Derrick.." Erica glared at the old man. She realized the true identity of the person in opposite her.
"The baby… do you mean?"
"Yes, that's what it is." The old man, Derrick answered straightaway. Erica stumped on her seat.
"This cannot be. The baby can't be alive." She mumbled in despair.
Archangel
Serene was recovering from her injury with Joe and Rey by her side, telling her bedtime story. Everyone was relieved especially Kazuki although he didn't show it. He blamed himself for being too naïve.
"Kazu-kun?" Joe called out to him as he was rushing to the hangar to help in the repair work of the Archangel. He studied at him from top to toe. Nodding his head, he smiled.
"Kazu-kun is recovering too." Joe made fun of Kazuki. Kazuki pouted initially but relented. He gave a sigh.
"I decided that that I couldn't stay in despondence as I know what I have to do." Kazuki explained. He was usually strong and he couldn't break since the rest of his friends were relying on him.
"Kazu-kun."
"Nani?"
"Cry if you want to." Joe looked at him sadly. "Don't lie to me since I can almost read your mind."
"As expected from know-it-all newtype." Kazuki gave a little laugh.
"Kazu-kun." Serene appeared behind with Rey.
"We are all behind you." Serene started. "It's ok to rely on us since everyone is in this together, right Rey?" Rey merely nodded his head. He wasn't sure if he could be relied on. Tears flowed down Kazuki's cheek as soon as he relaxed with their words of condolences. Kazuki would tell them about the truth behind URANUS.
Minerva
Shinn and Lunamaria looked Lacus up in her room. Upon seeing Lacus playing with a bouncing Haro as though nothing else bothered her, Shinn got flared up.
"How long are you going to coop in here? We will be going on a battle soon." Shinn said in a harsh tone upon looking at Lacus' despondence state.
"Haven't you got over it?" Shinn demanded. Lacus just ignored his statement and kept playing with her haro.
"Shinn…" Lunamaria pulled him to one side. Shinn took a deep breathe and stood on. "Her emotion is rather unstable. I don't know what we are going to do." Shinn buried his face in his palm.
"We may not be able to return safely once we are out on a battle. Please be prepared, Lacus-sama. If that's the end you wish for, so be it." With that Shinn stormed off the room. He was determined to win the battle due to the engine in his machine. Many would die if he lost. To protect them, he had to win.
Lunamaria watched Shinn left. She turned to Lacus who was already full of tears.
"I'm sorry." Lacus choked out.
"It's ok. I should apologize for Shinn who had been so rude." Lunamaria lent her her shoulder to weep on.
Wiping of her tears, Lacus said, "Shinn-san is right. I can't be hiding in here forever. I'll see them. I wish to see them." Lunamaria nodded and smiled.
"Sure, I'll take you to them." Lunamaria knew she would finally see the crews of the Archangel and faced whatever she was avoiding.
Minerva
The three parties gathered in the briefing room of the Minerva since it was much more spacious. Meyrin was finally able to see her sister. She smiled at her feeling contented. Cagalli patted on her shoulder and led her in.
Kazuki took on the role of the leader of this operation. His pals, Serene, Rey and Joe did not desert him despite after the revealing of the truth. They had learnt about the weapon of destruction and the cause of the isolation between the world.
Joe had analyzed the data Lunamaria had stolen from the URANUS. Even though it was a decoy used to attack Minerva, Joe smelt something fishy in the data disk and he decided to look into it for the slightest chance of a clue being saved in the disk.
"With the remaining of the data we recovered, we can only rely on our memory to rewrite everything." Joe concluded with their report of survival.
The crews of the both ships stayed silent including Yzak who was fidgeting about. Dearka shook his head. Yzak couldn't stay silent for the most of the time.
With everything settled, Kazuki began his intensive strategic meeting with all the bridge crews of both ships.
The map of the inner section of the Panama base was shown. Everyone was stunned at the details of the maps. Dearka was grinning recalling how Yzak and the other crews had tried to read a printed map to get to their destination. Shinn was feeling embarrassed at Lunamaria grinned at him for his idiotic ness in map reading. He sighed in defeat.
"The Euphoria is right in the middle of the base. It's the control station which controls the whole of the base as well as the causing of disruption over the world." Rey described on the screen.
"Right now, all we can do is to break though the area outside which I believe there'll be heavy resistance. Without any communication link, I hope you all can cooperate. Try to read each other mind." Rey instructed although he knew it was going to be hard.
"There are only three entrances which will form a triangle as you see it, all of tem will lead to the structure of Euphoria. Our strategy is simple, again we'll use decoy strategy to draw the enemy troop away while those of higher ability will sneak in and destroy the Euphoria." He continued. Shinn looked at him recalling how he planned to use Lunamaria as a decoy in one of the battle in Dullindal's reign. It was a success. Rey looked at Shinn and turned away.
"Athrun, you'll be the commander of the battle. Lead the troop to your area, Entrance C, the back door of the base. Akatsuki will support you. Let them think that we'll attack from the back." Rey read through the plan Kazuki had done up. "Shinn will lead another group to the entrance B where Lunamaria will sneak in and destroy the Euphoria control station as well as the structure."
"The main obstacle will be the Asterisk and the Zeus you guys had encountered before. They'll probably station at the entrance A and B. Entrance C will be where the Archangel assembles. This will be the same spot where Athrun will lure the Asterisk to."
"Asterisk? You want Athrun to fight his friend?" Cagalli demanded. Rey ignored her comment and continued, "Shinn, fight the Zeus at entrance B."
"I can't wait." Shinn clenched his fist.
"Lunamaria, use the blaster pack as before. They'll be surprised that we'll be using the same old plan."
"Yes."
"This is going to be a tough fight despite the strategies I had come up with. Without communication, everyone will be on your own. I wish for the success of the operation. I expect that everyone will be able to assemble here after the mission." Kazuki said although he knew that might be his wishful thinking after considering the risk involved.
"We can't give up!" Athrun spoke up. "We'll have lost the battle without fighting if we know that we'll lose." Everyone looked at Athrun and nodded agreeing with him.
"Everyone, good luck in your endeavor! The operation is commenced as soon as the preparation is completed." Rey announced.
A/N: End of strategic meeting. It had been a while since I last updated. Blame it on my lack of inspiration and writer's block to let my plot move where I wanted it to. Stay tune for my next chapter. Please R&R!
