PHASE 04

Shere turned around. Nigel already had is flashlight aimed at the Mobile Suit floating above the door through which they had just entered. The MS carrier frame, which should've held the Suit in place, had been damaged. As a result, it had broken off the cargo crane.
And thus the white and grey coloured Suit was now floating around amid the remains of it's carrier frame.
"Not bad." Nigel spoke, putting his right hand against his hip.
"The left leg seems to be damaged, as is the shield. Probably caused by the carrier frame's collapse. But that can be repaired." Shere said as he moved towards it. Pushing himself in the MS's direction, he floated towards the cockpit. "All the weaponry is equipped, for some reason. I'll go see if the new OS has been installed. Nigel, go check out the data disks over there."
Shere placed a hand and a foot against the Suit's chest to stabilise himself. "Hm, I wonder if the battery upgrade has been-"
"Hold it." Nigel said calmly.
"Huh?" Shere replied as his hand reached the opening switch.
"Don't move a muscle... Natural!"
Nigel yelled the last word over the intercom. From his eye's corner, Shere could see Nigel was holding a gun with both hands. Obviously, it was aimed right at him.
"Why the hell did we include firearms in our equipment, anyway?" Shere thought.

Stuffing his deck of cards in his pocket, Rick asked if Mia wasn't joking.
"I'm dead serious. A ZAFT Nazca carrier is heading our way." She pointed at the radar to show from what direction they were coming. "They haven't detected us yet because of the colony's remains floating around and our radar jammer. Although I don't exactly get how the radar jammer works..." she said, as she glanced at the radar jamming device, which had the label 'Actaeon Industries'. "Anyway, they'll find us if we keep sitting here much longer!"
"Umm, aren't we in a civilian spaceship? We're undercover, right?"
"And what exactly would a civilian ZAFT vessel be doing in Orb territory? Not to mention what those ZAFT people are doing here..." Mia said as she readjusted the blackglasses on top of her head. Stroking a hair from her face, she continued. "But we don't have time for this kind of talk! Contact commander Shere at once!"
Rick quickly returned to his chair. "Deactivating the Radio Jammer!" he said as he pressed some buttons with one hand, while putting his headset in place with the other. "Calling 1, 2, 3! Shere, are you there?"

"Shere are you there?" both Shere and Nigel head from their intercoms.
Nigel, deactivating his long-range reply channel, said "Don't even try to answer that call, or I'll shoot."
"Amigo, you've got to return immediately! ZAFT is coming this way! Shere, wait, Commander, it looks like they want to enter the research facility! I don't know for how long this line can be maintained, but..."
The signal was cut off due to radio disturbance.
Shere thought about the possibility of replying to Rick, and whether or not he would be able to dodge the Coordinator's shot.
But before he could decide, Nigel screamed "Be silent, Natural!", and pulled the trigger.

"Commander! Do you read? Shere!" Rick yelled through the intercom. "He's not replying..."
"I already noticed that." Mia said while her fingers flew across the keyboard.
"Adjusting the ship's orbit. Wing-based boosters stand-by. Hauling in the anchor cable..."
"Hauling in the rocket anchor! Are we gonna leave them behind?"
"Of course not. I'm just moving closer to the colony. That might buy us some time..."
"We can't wait here too long, should I launch in a Moebius to get them?"
"Are you mad? Letting them think that we're EA is the last thing we want! Get the return flares ready!"
"All right. Return signal flares stand-by. But why..."
"Fire them at an 45 degree angle from the ship's front, along the colony's side. We'll distract them with this."
With sweat on his forehead, Rick readjusted the signal flares. "Checking, at a 45 degree angle form the ship's front, right alongside the colony's surface."
"Confirmed."
"Here goes..."

- in the ZAFT Nazca carrier -
CIC: "Sir, there are signal flares coming from-"
Commander: "What the..."
Another CIC person: "The reconnaissance unit has detected a civilian vessel alongside Heliopolis!"
Commander: "On screen!"
The large screen in the middle of the bridge flashed, and showed the Silverwind vessel firing return flares.
Commander: "Return flares! Do they have troops in there! Send out the GINNs now!"