Well here we go for another round. Hope you guys are enjoying the story. Please leave reviews. Even just a "great story" or "love to read more" or I'll even accept "this story is shit" reviews keep my drive going no matter how simple or hateful they can be plus criticism is always enjoyed to help make the fic better.

I own nothing in terms of the gundam seed characters or the base model parts of the EX-caliber gundam though its personal design and name are mine. Thank Bandai though for the basics. Also thank nemesis astrea once again for letting me use his basic plot point of the ZERO system.

Blades of dreams

Silence had reigned over the bridge for the past five minutes. Murrue could already feel the headache coming on. Not only had Kira returned Ms. Clyne to pilot of the aegis….but now Noah and his suit have disappeared. She was rubbing her temple as she sat in the captain's chair. Kira was just coming back in with the strike, soldiers heading down to escort him to her office for an impromptu "court martial" which she just KNEW the vice foreign minister would insist on putting his two cents into if his comments about Noah being imprisoned were any sign.

Finally natarle spoke up. "Captain…what should we do about the EX-caliber's escape?" she asked. She remembered him stating he had both the E.A. and ZAFT as enemies. Even if he had made that deal with lieutenant Ramius he still clearly outmatched Kira in skill by…well she prayed he never decided to attack them. Should he decide to return to his group's principles and ideals he could slaughter them without a second thought. She wasn't a fool. She knew that the vice foreign minister's ideas about this ship and the originally intended mobile suit compliment were pipe dreams. The phase shift armor may hold against his blade but even with them knowing about his left arm…that suit clearly held many mysteries and may have even stronger capabilities.

Murrue looked back to natarle, then around her bridge. Everyone looked to her like they had just been singled out by the entire ZAFT fleet which had all their guns trained on them. Especially Kira's friends. They looked terrified. Their ship was nothing to laugh at but even so with what Noah had done to the Vesalius in such a short time….with only Kira and LT commander la flaga to defend them and ZAFT constantly on their tail…Noah had multiple choices on how to destroy them. But he had yet to face any of the prototypes so it was still unclear how his blade may react to phase shift armor and even more so if he got tangled in with the other four prototypes whether they could handle his machine and skills or if he may succumb to their advanced armaments. After all, 2 ginns wasn't the same as facing even one of the prototypes as many GINN pilots had discovered with Kira.

So…she took a deep breath and put on a look of determination. "We won't worry about that now. Noah left radar range and has been since we increased our speed to put some space between us and the other ZAFT vessel. I think it's safe to say we won't be seeing him again. If we do we assume he's hostile. Understood?" she commanded to the bridge which got a chorus of yes ma'am. she sighed though and floated out of her seat along with natarle. "Ensign Neumann you have the bridge till we return. "She stated as they both left.

"Yes ma'am" he responded as he focused on making sure they were headed in the correct direction.

Blades of dreams

Noah groaned as he looked over all available data on the simulation so far…which there was very little. Somehow what was meant to be the simulation's diagnostic recordings had become a combat record, mission recordings and mobile suit diagnostics the moment he had rammed the GiNN. He kind of wished he had a physical console to slam his head into multiple times due to how annoying this was becoming. He had to admit though…this had some good things come out of it so far.

First of all he got to actually see his gunpla…no his gundam in 1:1 scale. No one else could say that.

Second he hadn't thought of it till just before he stopped in the middle of space…HE WAS IN SPACE! IN A GUNDAM! He had opened his cockpit after double checking his flight suit was closed up and got out of his seat and floated out onto the small platform the hatch made and looked around.

He had to admit it was beautiful. The sight of seeds earth, the stars…it was all so much to take in. He had quickly gotten back in his suit though as since this was his new reality he assumed he had a limited air supply in his flight suit and his gundam. Meaning he had tests to perform.

Now he was trying to figure out how this had happened. Of course he now had gone into the coding of his GP base and created a program where he could make notes for the purpose of potentially replicating this experience...after all he already knew when this ended he'd likely be getting a job in orb and saying screw it to ending the simulation. Get a job, buy a small apartment….THEN go home to reality. Because unless he could find a way back sooner…sooner or later he'd become attached to these people, he'd even forget whenever he was out of the EX-caliber that this was originally a simulation, and it was an animated reality...not actual REALITY. So why not try and make his own little alternate dimension home? I mean who wouldn't? Though again he'd have preferred it be in a different series…but in seed at least his machine would reign supreme…as far as he knew. So far his only combat had been against ginns…and that was also due to the element of surprise.

Though still if this was proof of anything this was proof of the string theory and almost any multi-dimensional theories.

So he began trying to pinpoint how he actually got here. The fact he had exited the ship and opened the cockpit to space was proof enough HE WAS HERE. No longer back in his little home turned lab with Luke waiting outside. That made him frown. Luke was likely worried. He had been here for nearly 24 hours. He hoped Luke didn't try to use the machine. He wasn't a long time fighter like he was so he could never replicate everything he did. He'd likely get killed by the Vesalius and then Noah would probably be blamed for his murder and…

He shook his head. He was not gonna spiral about this. This was a good thing. He smirked as he wondered how many coordinator girls he could charm if he managed to get on ZAFTs good side and get into the plants.

Again he shook his head. "Time to get serious. Ok…without the 00[T]'s GN sword bits I'm screwed trying that route…what if I put out so many GN particles it overloaded the plavsky particles with trans-am? I mean it's a crazy and stupid theory given people use trans-am in gunpla battles but…then again I'm having to use myself as a sound board while in a gundam series slowly running out of air in my cockpit. Yeah…I think anything crazy is possible now."

Noah began to use what he could access of the zero system to know where the archangel should be by now so he could intercept them and any potential attacks. "I guess…by now yzak will be convincing the rest of team council princess' to attack the archangel and get some super cred with the higher ups by sinking it. It wouldn't hurt to use the trans-am to get back there if this doesn't work." Said Noah as he got ready to test the trans-am system by flexing his fingers and hands to get ready to grip the controls.

"Once again…one small step for man…one giant stupid step for inventors! TRANS-AM!" he shouted before using his control orbs to approve the system's use. From there he could hear the GN drive behind him begin to spin up faster and prayed this got him home. The last thing he needed was to get attached to fictional characters…dear lord he'd be insane in reality.

With that he pushed the accelerator and maneuvered along the path the ZERO system gave him. If he ever got out of here he was going to the 00 universe during season 2 and giving Ian Vashti a giant hug…he was loving this and he was the only person he could think of to thank for it in that universe….oh and to punch Lyle…Neil was better…and give Feldt a hug…it always seemed in season 2 she needed one…

Blades of dreams

Just as Noah predicted, Yzak had his fellow team members gathered around the hollow table. Yzak had just finished explaining his plan to attack and sink the legged ship to which Nicol was concerned. He knew yzak was a hothead but this plan…it had damn near suicide written all over it.

"Yeah we can catch the other alliance vessel and the legged ship but we'd only have ten minutes till we are within firing range of the lunar fleet." he said. The green haired coordinator then remembered the other factor. "There's also alpha one….we don't know it's full capabilities and while it left the legged ship it could still have somehow gone ahead to the lunar fleet to inform them of the situation. It could end up meeting up with them again." said Nicol, reminding his teammates of the recent addition to their list of targets. The fact it ran away confused everyone but most were still on edge. After all, if the blitz could cloak under mirage colloid particles, who's to say that machine couldn't use that odd engine to stay cloaked longer nearby?

Dearka smirked and stated, "You mean a FULL ten minutes." The buster's blonde pilot glanced back at the map. "And while its true alpha one mayvery well be nearby, what difference does it make? It's a close quarter's suit. As far as we know it doesn't have any ranged weapons and we all do. If not Nicol you just cloak up and hit him from behind with a lancer dart while I or yzak distract him. There he's dealt with. And that's just one way we could eliminate him. If athrun were here maybe he could handle him and let us take a crack at the strike for once." he said as he was also thinking of how the buster would fare against the mystery suit.

Yzak chuckled. "I suggest the cowards keep their mouths shut. Alpha one got lucky hitting those two ginns and attacking the Vesalius. It has to be piloted by a natural. They`ll slip up soon enough." He said before glancing at Nicol and continued, "Now are there only ten minutes or a FULL ten minutes? It's all in how you look at it. Besides if we have a window to hit the legged ship without alpha one there I say we take it. The other alliance vessel has begun to pull ahead, likely to link up with the fleet for supplies before going to a shipyard on the moon." He said as he once again looked at the tactical map.

Dearka nodded. "I couldn't agree more. That machine may be an easy target given the obvious damage it's already taken plus its specialization but that doesn't mean it won't simply force us to take more time while potentially sacrificing itself if it does come back. Either way we either take out the legged ship or we take out alpha one. Win win either way." He stated which got a smile out of yzak.

"Besides, a surprise attack isn't decided on how much time you take. It's decided on what you do with the element of surprise." he stated though he got a slight chill down his spine when he stated that. Like he had just jinxed something. He ignored it though

Nicol realized he was fighting a losing battle but decided to try to be the voice of reason one more time. "I'm aware of that but there's also…" sadly he was interrupted by the teams hothead.

"Look I hear the Vesalius is turning right around to help launch an attack on the lunar fleet as soon as it hands Ms. Clyne to the lacoony team. I say by then we should have the legged ship sunk and alpha one destroyed or captured by then. Agreed?" he asked, looking at the buster's pilot first.

The tan coordinator naturally agreed.

Nicol however was concerned by yzaks cocky attitude. "Fine…" he stated and with that they pushed off to head for the bridge door to go prepare for this sneak attack.

Blades of dreams

Murrue groaned as she listened to the vice foreign minister. Suffice to say what had happened was not going over well with him. Though his attitude towards Noah's "defection" as he was calling it was concerning. More so to the fact he STILL wanted the EX-caliber. Like Kira would have a snowballs chance in hell shooting down that machine not to mention capturing it. ZAFT may fool themselves with thoughts of capturing it with just it's one sword as it's only weapons and shield shown as of yet once they learned it also had that left arm…it may not seem like much but knowing Noah could make it look like it was trashed only concerned her with what all that machine might be hiding. She didn't exactly think of him as a god or that his machine was unbeatable, no, everything and everyone had their breaking point, but the fact it did all the damage it did with just one blade made that shield all the more dangerous if it had anything hidden up its sleeve.

"and to think if you had just kept him locked up or demanded he hand over that…that key thing he'd still be on this ship and we could force him to hand over the data on that machine. But noooo….you had to be nice and let him keep it…let him have free reign of this ship…this whole ship is a military secret! Do you understand just what you`ve done!?"

Just what Murrue expected of a politician. The moment their plans blow up in their face they shove the blame on someone else's actions or blow smoke to keep eyes off them. She sighed and as he finally finished his rant stated, "Yes vice foreign minister. Had I not listened to you and kept him locked up or restricted his access on this ship or even taken his "G-base" he would still be onboard and we could get his machines secrets." she droned as she watched him calm as she accepted the blame was all on her.

What happened next made her thank ZAFT for their tenacity. Right as Mr. Allster was about to continue, likely something to pat his own back with or to degrade her or blame her for something else her personal computer dinged with a message from the bridge. She tapped it before he could say anything. "What's the problem ensign badgiruel?" she asked as she stood up and fixed her uniform.

"Captain , we have the stolen prototypes inbound. We need you up here ASAP. We are also about to launch the strike and moebius zero. "Stated the ensign.

Murrue nodded. "Yes launch both of them with the strike in aile configuration. I`ll be on the bridge momentarily." She then closed the channel and headed towards her door. "I apologize vice foreign minister but I'm needed on the bridge. I`d be more than happy to continue later. "She said before leaving, mentally noting to NOT continue that conversation later.

Blades of dreams

Kira was inwardly regretting ever deciding to pilot this mobile suit. He had just been informed of his opponents. The Blitz, the buster and the duel. He hated fighting. He hated it. But at the same time if he didn't there was a strong chance his friends and he would be dead. And with Noah gone now he and Mu were the only combatants on board.

As he heard miriallia tell him once again he was being equipped with the aile pack he thought back to that mystery pilot. Where did he go? What was he doing? Did his suit really have enough power to fly…well anywhere? He had left in the middle of space. Finally his thoughts were broken by miriallia saying he was clear to launch. "Kira yamato, strike, heading out!" he called out before being pushed back in his seat while the catapult launched him from the ship. The moment he was away he activated the aile packs flight system as well as the phase shift armor the strike possessed.

Kira heard the captain state they only had to hold out for a few minutes. It brought him some relief till he watched the three prototypes fly back to back in a circle before breaking to reveal the Laurasia class behind them firing its main cannons from under the vessel.

He watched the LT commander engage the buster, its gun barrel pods hitting it in the chest with no effect. The physical bullets it fired would have no effect on its phase shift armor. Meanwhile he watched the blitz flying beside the duel break off to head for the archangel. The Lt Commander tried to break off to get it but the buster beat him to the punch, barely missing the nimble mobile armor.

A moment later he began trading fire with the duel. He hoped by some miracle Noah showed up and on their side. If not then he needed to finish this, fast!

Blades of dreams

Natarle listened closely to the sounds of the bridge. Reports being called out for damage, enemy positions, updates on the strikes fight…then she heard the blitz was in the valiant rail guns firing range. "Fire!" she yelled to her CIC crew. She could heard the rail gun fire off several rounds before getting a report that the blitz had activated its mirage colloid system and gone off radar. "Damn…now we have to wait and see what it does next." She thought.

If there was one machine out of all the prototypes she hated zaft having, it was the blitz. A stealth unit and in a time like this it became an annoying fly. Usually it and the aegis would tag team the strike while the buster and the duel traded blows with the mobeius zero or did attack runs on the ship. This time there were three of them…one for each of their targets.

She got the command from the captain to use anti-beam depth charges and anti-air missiles. She had the perfect strategy for those with the blitz. "Fire anti beam depth charges! Load stern launchers with anti-air warheads!" she called out. And just in time. Not a moment later she could feel the anti-beam charges go off, meaning the blitz had fired.

"Calculate the blitz's position from its shot's angle!" she commanded and waited to hear back from targeting.

A moment later she got the confirmation that they had its approximate position. "Fire anti-air warheads!" she yelled and a moment later heard the missile tubes launch. "That should give him a reason to stay back." She thought. The missiles weren't much more than missile versions of shotguns full of superheated birdshot but it would do the trick to most machines. But the blitz had phase shift armor….she hoped it hit hard enough to actually scare off the blitz.

Blades of dreams

Nicol grunted as he switched from his mirage colloid back to his phase shift armor just in time to have it take the brunt of the anti-air warheads. "That's right you built this machine. You would know its weakness'. "he stated as he re-cloaked and moved in to try another attack run. Sadly just as he flew in the legged ships anti-air system lit up the space around it like a Christmas tree. "Curse you legged ship…."he stated as he had to reactivate the phase shift armor and bring up his trikeros weapons system as a shield.

He was about to try and fly out of it and find a new attack avenue but then the Laurasia class vessel they launched from began trading fire once again with the legged ship as it turned to try and face them while still heading to the lunar fleets position. With their focus on the ship he took his chance and flew to the ship, landing on a wing and beginning to fire lasers from the rifle built into his trikeros shield at a spot that the Laurasia class vessel had hit a couple times. "Come on…break you stupid shit!" he shouted as he fire another shot.

He took a moment to glance at his monitor to see how yzak was handling the strike in their sword duel and noticed the strike suddenly change its fighting style, as if it had gone berserk. It was deftly dodging yzaks blade while seeming to have a plan of attack.

That momentary lapse in concentration though was enough as he yelled in shock as the blitz shook from something hitting it almost moments after alarms blared of an incoming unknown…

Blades of dreams

"I'm just in time…gotta get there before Kira hits the duel if I'm gonna time this right…"said Noah as he glanced to his trans-am monitor. He was moments from dropping out and he knew his particle output would be shit till his GN drive could recharge once he did so he pushed his accelerator as far as it would go…turned into the hit…and bam! He charged the blitz and put his shoulder into its back, knocking it off the archangel's wing.

He cringed. "Ouch…Nicol isn't gonna like me for that. Sorry kid but that thing is too valuable for me to pass on this moment. If I'm gonna fuck this series up I'm gonna save a few lives along the way!" he shouted as he dropped out of trans-am and landed on the archangel right where Nicol had been but launched off it, using it to make up for his lack of speed as he again floored the accelerator and brought his right knee up into the blitz's cockpit door.

"Gotta put enough dents into that power supply that this will work…please Mu, Kira…hold off the buster and duel just a moment longer. And natarle…you best not fire at me just quite yet." He stated as he put the machine into a spin and kicked the blitz in the cockpit. He knew Nicol had to be getting rattled in there. And with every hit he knew he was lowering the phase shift armors power supply quite a bit if the EX-caliber was performing anything like in gunpla battles. He had put extra work into the joints and reinforced the feet, knees and shoulders just for times like this so he didn't need to rely on his speed too much after a trans-am.

With that kick to the chest Noah brought the GN blade 3 up and just as he saw Nicol beginning to come back to his sense by trying to block with the trikeros shield he brought it down on his machines chest, sparks flying as the red, condensed GN particle portion of the blade collided with the phase shift armor.

He grunted as he tried to push down but barely made a dent. "Had to have hit his power supply hard…ok...let's try it…"he stated as he decided to just throw caution to the wind and let ZAFT and the archangel's crew in on his secret weapon. With that as Nicol raised the trikeros shield in an attempt to fire at Noah he raised the left arm from the cloak which seemed to surprise Nicol as his beam shot was blocked by the shield.

"yep…I got a second arm…secrets out of the bag may as well show you another trick!" he shouted as the blitz attempted to back away but Noah just pushed forward.

With a dramatic raising of the left arm Noah let yet another secret fly as the two black bars along the shield opened to form a line at the base of the shield and began to glow a blood red. He then brought it down on the blitz and what happened made Noah smile as his calculations were correct.

As Noah brought the equivalent of a low powered beam saber down on the blitz's torso like a hammer he watched as the phase shift armor dissipated and the blade melted into the torso slowly, causing its eyes to flash a few times before the machine went limp and the eyes went dark

He quickly pulled the blade out of the torso and brought the shield up to block a shot from the buster as it tried to rescue its friend. In the meantime Kira managed to give yzak his scar, Noah glancing at his screen to see Kira dig his armor Schneider knife into the open gash his beam saber created while he was fighting in berserk mode before kicking it away and boosting back to dodge a shot from the Laurasia class vessel.

Noah opened a channel with the buster. "Two friends dead in the water…which are you gonna save?" he asked before closing it and moving between his prize and the buster. He was right to guess the buster decided his machine was not one he wanted to tango with while the strike already showed signs of Kira coming out of berserk mode while he continued to evade fire from the ZAFT vessel.

The buster flew towards Kira and yzak and began to force Kira back further. Noah meanwhile opened a channel with mu as he seemed to give up on the buster in favor of aiming at him. "Guess I'm priority one enemy right now? "He asked to which Mu just seemed to glare at him. "Hey at least I got you guys a present….oh but the pilot is mine. I have plans with him…"he stated which only got mu to glare at him more.

Blades of dreams

Nicol was just trying to figure out what hit him when a machine with a similar paint job to his filled his view screen and he was shaken again as it hit his cockpit with its knee. "Damn it…I KNEW IT'D COME BACK!" he yelled as he tried to maneuver the blitz away from the mystery machine. But before he could get any considerable distance the machine seemed to help him…and give Nicol a bigger headache and case of whiplash as it spun and kicked him. He tried to get a glimpse under the cloak it had but had to close his eyes and force himself into his chair to not get too rattled.

He couldn't tell what alpha one was trying to do. Shouldn't it be using that…oh there it is. Finally he was beginning to get away from the black and red death machine only to have it close the distance a bit slower than he expected but still he tried to activate his mirage colloid but stopped as he saw the machine raise its sword. He closed his eyes.

This was it…he was dead….except instead he heard it hit the top of his torso, heard it grinding on the phase shift armor and thanked whatever god was watching out for him…then cursed it as he looked to his power meter. He was almost out. Another hit like that would do more then leave a dent as it likely had. He raised his trikeros shield to try and fire off a couple beam shots to force the machine back but then fate just gave him the middle finger.

From behind its cloak came an arm. That arm had a shield attached to it. That shield was bigger then it's sword's shield. That shield blocked his beams with ease. Nicol quickly returned to saying his prayers as he saw his power meter run out and tried to think of some way out of this without having to self-destruct only to have everything go black. No he didn't die…he didn't pass out…no, just…everything went black. The pilot of alpha one had raised its shield and he saw a pair of black bars swing forward and start to glow…then saw it drop and then nothing.

The mystery machine had been going for his main power control systems. Everything was off. All monitors, all firing controls. Hell the kick and knee to the cockpit door at this point had jammed it to where the back-up power that would open it in a case like this wouldn't even respond. So with his prayers said he tried to activate the self-destruct system…and wanted to cry.

He couldn't even self-destruct….he was going to be captured. He would be captured and tortured and die a POW….well hopefully his team would try to rescue him…if not at least he could hope he died from them blowing it up. Then at least he could go out knowing it was sunk.

Nicol hung his head…and waited for him to be brought aboard to the legged ship and removed from the blitz. He had no clue just what awaited him onboard.

Blessed blades

Murrue was cursing whatever deity got her into this mess. The Laurasia class wasn't leaving them alone and the blitz was about to break through their laminated armor and then tear right into the bridge. She didn't want to go out like this…not so close to the end. Then out of the blue she heard radar shout, "He's back! EX-caliber just came in on radar and…shit its Flying 3 times as fast as it was before!"

She nearly fainted hearing that. It was already a fast machine and suddenly it was faster. She was just waiting for this all to end now…till she heard the CIC.

"Noah just rammed the blitz off the Archangel...HE'S ATTACKING THE BLITZ!" shouted radar and soon murrue got a glimpse of the machine. It wasn't moving faster. If anything it was sluggish compared to its previous nimble fighting. This was accented by the lack of use of its sword and how instead it seemed to opt for heavy hits with its feet and knee. She gasped though as she saw the EX-caliber bring up its shield.

Something had to have changed while Noah was MIA. Perhaps he had gone to find a potential second cell of celestial being? Maybe he had tried to find some other organization? Hell maybe he just was nearly out of power after that high speed entrance and needed someplace to recharge...somehow. Either way she was not going to argue his entrance was timely and much appreciated…again….he certainly had a bad habit already of rescuing them.

The entire bridge gasped though as they watched what he did next by raising the shield. To see those bars glow…. "So that's why you hide it…it's not just a shield…"she whispered as she saw him drop it on the blitz just before its phase shift armor deactivated.

She expected it to explode, whether from self-detonation or from the strike Noah made. Neither happened. It just floated behind Noah as he moved around it after Mu attempted to move in and collect it due to natarle command. "Belay that order! Tell Mu to escort Noah and the Blitz back to the hangar. I have a feeling he has plans with the blitz if it isn't destroyed. Ensign Badgiruel! You have the bridge till I return. I`m going to go see what he wants this time. When we link up with the fleet if any members of command wish to come aboard let them." she stated as she got out of her chair and began to float out of the bridge.

Blades of dreams

Noah watched as the technicians were working on opening the blitz's cockpit. He half expected to find Nicol's corpse in there but at the same time he was hoping the boy had some will to live even as a POW. If the green haired coordinator acted anything like he did in the show he knew just the words to get him to join him….and later join the archangel. Which meant he lived, the blitz survived, and on top of that it meant another coordinator on the ship…he felt that was his way of pissing on azreals impending grave. Now to find a way to save the lieutenant…well soon to be lieutenant.

In the meantime though alliance soldiers had their guns trained on him though he gave up holding his hands up and was waiting to keep them from opening fire on Nicol.

"Ok…it's opening!" called Murdoch as he pushed off the gangplank and floated back.

The cockpit door opened and all the soldiers surrounding it raised their guns as Nicol floated out, hands raised. He glanced over to see Noah and blinked. He didn't say anything, just simply looked at him then back to the soldiers. Seemed he'd at least keep his dignity.

With that he was searched and relieved of his side arm then the mechanics began to look over the Blitz to make sure it wasn't set up to self-destruct or any other form of trap were awaiting them.

The soldiers looked to the captain though as she floated towards them. She met them on the gang plank and they saluted which she returned. Before she could ask Nicol anything he closed his eyes and stated," my name is Nicol Amalfi, I'm a zaft red and I am the pilot who stole the blitz. That's all you`ll get out of me." He seemed to clearly think he was in the position of a POW…

Which he'd be correct had murrue not seen Noah's smirk. She turned to him…and slapped him. "That is for gaining my trust to allow you to roam the ship then disappearing without warning…"she said before punching him across the face only to have a guard stop him from floating off. "And that is for giving nearly everyone on the bridge a heart attack when you show up out of the blue AGAIN moving far faster than even most battleships and not radioing us. We thought you had every notion to attack us. But…"she said as she glanced at Nicol. "Given your vicious assault on the blitz and the grin on your face I assume you didn't capture the blitz for our benefit. Before you do ANYTHING I want to know what your plan is. I also want a full load out for your machine before I let you anywhere near it. For the time being you and Mr. Amalfi can each enjoy a cell in the brig. I`ll also be taking the key to your machine" she said as she held her hand out to Noah who seemed more than happy to hand over his G-base to the soon to be captain.

She then looked to the soldiers and nodded. They then nudged Noah and Nicol to get moving. "Don't try anything coordinator. You either Noah. "One said as the two pilots were escorted out of the hangar. Nicol just kept his hands raised, seemingly wary of Noah and more importantly what role he'd play if he were to try anything. They were still in the hangar and if he moved right he could potentially move for alpha one…but he just heard the legged ship's captain mention something about a key. So it had a different system then the gat series proto-types. That was intriguing. Instead he just followed the guidance of the soldiers to the brig, trying to memorize the route they took in any manner he could for a potential escape later.

Blades of dreams

Murrue sat at her desk filling out her after action report. She hated these things. Half the time her reports were less thorough then natarle's, and she'd eventually hear about this when command showed up, but at the same time the more she wrote about Kira and the strike or the other civilians manning the bridge the more she worried that they may be forced to stay, basically conscripted into the military if only due to their already substantial knowledge of the ship and in Kira's case his piloting skills.

And now she had to write in the factor they had captured the blitz. She bit her lip. She knew that look on Noah's face. She'd seen it on multiple people's faces, most notably as of late the LT commander. He had some stupid and crazy plan that had to do with Mr. Amalfi. She also figured the blitz would become involved in one way or another. She sighed. She knew that if his plan worked they may very well have another mobile suit protecting them…but at what cost?

He was part of the le creuset team. One of zafts most notable teams and the same one to be dogging them since they stole the 4 prototypes. His knowledge would be invaluable were he questioned by the higher ups. But he was just a kid, no older then Kira. Then there was Noah's claim about blue cosmos infecting almost every level of the civilian government as well as the military chain of command. Even if she got a promise of admiral halberton that he'd be treated fairly if Noah was right the moment Nicol was out of her custody he could be killed at any moment.

Being his student she knew the admiral had a soft spot for coordinators. He was no true sympathizer and he'd defend his homeland till his final breath against them…but even she knew he'd likely never kill a child, even a coordinator, unless he absolutely had to, such as if they were to attack him.

She sighed yet again and decided to leave her report for now. She had about 20 minutes before she'd need to be on the bridge in order to talk the crew through linking up with the fleet. But before that she needed to know Noah's plan and if it involved the zaft red in any way before she handed him over to the fleet potentially. From there she got up from her chair and left for the brig.

Blades of dreams

Noah sighed as he sat against the wall in the brig. He was still trying to finalize his sales pitch to Nicol. He intended to recruit him to celestial being and convince him to protect this ship. That may take a bit considering it meant betraying his former team and his homeland. But if he let him get handed over to the alliance there was a strong chance all he would have done by capturing him and the blitz was give them the blitz's combat data and make new versions of the daggers with its data along with have Nicol die in a manner that compromised athrun and Kira's fateful fight that allowed them to retrieve the freedom and justice. And that would not turn out well….

Nicol though seemed to get the hint from what murrue had stated as he spoke first. "So you're the pilot of alpha one?" he asked from his cell next to Noah's. He was trying to gather some information mainly because he was confused by the captain's words. What had she meant by the fact this pilot had plans for him? Wasn't Alpha One's pilot part of the alliance? He heard the blonde pilot chuckle.

"That's what they're calling it? Alpha one? Well…I guess I am the alpha dog here. But no, it's called EX-caliber. And yes I'm its pilot. And I'm sure you are confused as to how I was treated by the captain back there. I`m not part of the alliance." he stated as he cracked his neck. Time to play his cards right.

Nicol was confused. He wasn't part of the alliance? Then maybe he was black ops undercover? Was he part of zaft? No, someone like commander le creuset who was close to athruns father, the minister of defense for the plants and likely next supreme chairmen if the polls had anything to say about it, would have been informed of a black ops unit, especially one using such unbelievable tech.

Nicols' brows furrowed as he tried to figure this out. "If you're not with the earth alliance then why do you fight for this ship?" he asked as he was also assuming the pilot in the opposite cell was a coordinator like the strikes pilot. If he had no affiliation with this ship then why fight to defend it?

Again Noah chuckled. "Fight for it? Kid I fought off the aegis and its ship and kicked your green haired ass. Two fights…and not specifically to defend this ship. Just because I chose not to destroy it doesn't mean I'm with them. Plus I'm a natural. How insulted do you think any coordinator would be if they found out a natural could pilot such an advanced machine?" he asked as he glanced back at the wall.

That baffled Nicol even more. He was a natural? But…the way the machine moved…the footage they received from Athrun and the Vesalius…it had moved as if the machine itself were alive, not piloted by anyone. "But…" that was all he could say. He couldn't think of how to state such an obvious question without sounding like an idiot.

"Training. I`m part of an organization called celestial being. Or I should say not only was I born into it…I USED to be part of it. We were at Heliopolis in another facility. My machine was the only finished one along with a container that was meant to house it in our own prototype carrier. So we got ejected like one of the shelters when your dumb asses attacked. The rest of the organization was destroyed due to a self-destruct system built into our little corner of Heliopolis. "he said, leaving his brief background explanation there so Nicol could chew on that. He was smirking though. He had the coordinator right where he needed him.

Again Nicol got more questions than answers. Training? That was all he got for an answer, no BS about some sci-fi grade augmentations, or something helping him pilot…just training. "So…wait…you're the last of your organization? But…what side did you intend to fight for? I mean you were clearly building mobile suits if what you say is true. Likely a prototype line like the g-weapon series. SO, you intended to join the war or profit off it by selling them. I just can't understand which." he said, now more than ever wanting to hear more about this pilot. Talk about an enigma. The more he learned about him the more questions he had.

Noah shook his head from within his cell. "Neither. Celestial beings' goal was to end this war. We were to perform armed interventions wherever acts of aggression were occurring. Any military facilities would be our targets, any sort of armed forces our enemies. The mobile weapons we were building known as gundams would be superior in every way to what zaft could produce…though I'll admit part of the alliances G-weapons project came from us…we gave them our leftovers since we did feel like they had a very, VERY poor handicap without it. I don't know the full plan, only that my machine was the original fruits of their efforts and therefore the only complete unit. Anyways to answer your question we would have fought both sides till they decided we were too strong and gave up or became a united front to try and bring us down I'd guess. "He stated as he once again twisted celestial being's ideology in order to cover his ass. If one paid attention in gundam 00 though it was clearly true.

Nicol sighed and glanced up at the ceiling. "So then I take it you're merely on this ship as a means to reach earth?" he asked, once again glancing at the bars as if to hope he'd see the man he was speaking to.

Noah shrugged. "Not entirely sure why I'm on this ship. I mean my mobile suit can only hold so much air, and I can only go so far in just a mobile suit. But at the same time I came across their battle with the aegis and that zaft vessel and felt the need to help out. After all while celestial being may see both sides as the enemy and I find this war to be an idiotic war with genocidal undertones I still feel that if I can save lives I should do it." He said with a sigh of sorrow.

"This war is stupid…and in case you can't see it you should know it's heading towards genocide on either side. The radicals and supremacists are gathering power in both camps…before you know it it'll be either the world is left to the coordinators or the naturals will have eliminated the "infestation of abominations known as coordinators" seriously…this war is basically a pissing match started likely by two men fighting over something stupid." He said as he glanced at his own cell bars.

"The bloody valentine event didn't help at all…but neither did the n-jammers. Yes they neutralized the use of any nuclear weapons…but they also had an effect similar to what the alliance likely planned. "He stated as he had a feeling Nicol was beginning to focus more on his piloting skills and background. He needed him to feel like he was emotionally invested in the war.

Nicol perked up when he could have sworn Noah had just insinuated that his homeland was no better than the alliance in terms of tactics. "And just what does that mean? We didn't destroy an entire city or kill nearly 250 thousand people! We launched them in order to protect ourselves!" he declared as he was beginning to dislike this pilot.

Noah outright laughed. "And what did zaft do about the fact it killed nuclear power? Killing thousands purely due to starvation and the fact so much of their lifestyle revolved around nuclear power! Back in the 20th and 21st century the united states intervened in many conflicts and caused plenty of destruction in a similar manner but even in the middle of war, once they cleared an area they brought in teachers to help restart schools, building crews to help rebuild what they had destroyed….they helped rebuild and fix what they broke. What has zaft done? Only looked out for themselves. They have sent no aid to civilian areas affected by the N-jammer drop. They even almost prey on towns they took over to the point that some towns became even worse off than with just the N-jammers in effect. You call yourselves better than the earth alliance? They may refuse to come to the discussion table anymore….but zaft is slowly becoming corrupted by radicals and only making matters worse." he said as he let off a small rant on his personal feelings about the war. In truth it was how he saw the war in gundam seed. The whole war was a genocidal pissing match from the moment that nuke was let loose on junius seven. All he cared about was making sure the archangel had a slightly smoother ride this time around.

Nicol had to blink at that. He had a point. While Nicol loved his home, he'd die for it if needed. He had heard about the alliance refusing to try and negotiate peace, likely a tactic of the known anti coordinator hate group known as blue cosmos. It was also well known that this group felt coordinators were an infestation, hell an affront to god and needed to be purged. Hence why part of the alliance went so overboard as to launch a nuclear weapon at a civilian colony.

"Junius seven had no strategic value military wise. But if I recall it was an agricultural colony. Think if they had more nukes on them what would they have done? What would YOUR PEOPLE have done if they were forced to starve while you built new colonies designed to grow food? With the N-jammers you stopped that from happening but how is starving people due to lack of power and resources thanks to that counter measure any better when that population being starved are civilians? "Asked Noah. Boom….he knew by Nicols silence he had hit home.

Nicol sighed and closed his eyes as he hung his head. "You're right…but why bring this up to me? If you're so convinced that if people just talk they will end the war why not use your mobile suit to try and…"Nicol stopped there. That had been celestial beings' goal the entire time. "I see…and without the rest of your machines it'd be just you against the world." He stated as he rested his head on the wall. Now he understood everything Noah was saying. By being more powerful than either sides of the war they would become a bigger target and eventually force the alliance and zaft to work together and try to make peace in order to bring them down. It was essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy of self-destruction but still…it was brilliant and subtle at the same time.

Noah nodded. "Now you see what all I'm saying. Now…Nicol…I'd like to make an offer to you." he stated with a smirk as he closed his eyes. And time to set the hook.

"I want you to join celestial being."

Blades of dreams

Ok then…so that's chapter three. So in my last ending note I mentioned plans for Nicol and the blitz. Now you see them. Some of you may not like this idea, others may wonder why pick Nicol when Dearka already ends up helping them and I can just bring him into the fold sooner? Or maybe what's to stop Nicol from joining him for protection from alliance and blue cosmos interrogation and then ditching at the first chance he has to go spill what all he found out on the archangel? Well I intend to have that all explained in the next chapter.

Next order of business….yes…Noah is in seed. Even off the archangel he can't open his cockpit to come back to reality. He is literally in an entirely alternate universe and due to the changes he's made has made it his own little world. He is part of it. Whether he's there or not. He could continue till the end of the war, settle down in orb, get a job, maybe even a girlfriend…then one day open his front door only to exit the simulator cockpit and life would go on there without him…as if he just vanished. His mail would pile up, girlfriend would grieve him then dump him…you get the idea.

Of course due to the first chapter giving me ideas for future chapters I won't be changing his exit of the cockpit from how nemesis wrote it just yet. Also this obviously means that zaft and the alliance will have to make something to counter his machine…that or get more cannon fodder to hold him off till their aces arrive. I have two machines planned for zaft, one is simply a prototype that will make an early entrance to the war while the other is a custom machine I'm working up. Still undecided for certain which will make it in but the battle with watlfeld will be its debut.

The alliance…still working on that. Anyways I also promised a load out for the EX-caliber in chapter three…so…here it is.

EX-calibers full arsenal:

GN sword 3/amazing GN sword: a custom take on both the amazing GN sword and the GN sword three, fusing them to include the GN sword 3's GN repeater. It also has the amazing GN swords GN Vulcan/beam saber emitter in its built in shield and the shield itself is slightly larger due to also containing an additional targeting lens which hides these and folds back to allow them to fire. This is Noah's primary armament and defense unless his opponent knows of his left arm.

GN repeater: a three barreled repeater styled gun that replaces the rifle mode. The barrels surround the GN sword, one on each side and another onto. The top barrel can also be used with the sword active or used to make more medium range shots by diverting all its power to the one barrel for increased output and range.

GN Vulcan/beam saber emitter: hidden behind the extra targeting lens for the GN sword 3's GN repeater is an emitter that can either function as a GN Vulcan or generate a beam saber in CQB combat.

X2 GN Vulcans: similar to the one mounted in the custom GN sword 3 these are in the wrists. They are low power and are only used by Noah when he is completely out of alternatives.

Cloak: not really a weapon per-say but I consider its intended psychological impact to be a weapon due to making the machine seem weak. By the way I realized on a black suit the scarring wouldn't be visible…but a friend pointed out it's just paint. The "scarring" would be more silver due to the metal underneath. So if you are having trouble picturing it….picture the exia repair two just with more damage to the left side rather than the right.

Amazing GN shield: another modified recreation of tatsuya's equipment on one of the amazing machines. This is more modified then just fusing it with something though.

GN "MAC" gun: The blue bars on the sides of the shield are now black obviously and as stated in chapter one can swing forward and magnetize. From there a single small object, originally a small ball of plastic held within the now hollow shields core is dropped between the rails and launched.

GN micro missiles: within the sides of the shield is two lines of five GN micro missiles. These missiles obviously don't do too much damage and are intended more to deter multiple enemies that are too close to the EX-caliber from getting closer or force them back to where he can begin defending himself with his sword again.

GN "heat blades": just as both bars can swing forward and become a rail gun, both blades can lock into position at the front sides of the shield to form a sort of twin blade though they can be "heated" at any point in time and on both sides or just one. This is again meant purely for defense as they are not designed to heat to the point of blocking a beam saber though they can cause a good amount of damage to an opponent rushing Noah should he maneuver correctly to intercept them. Again meant simply to deter multiple opponents from getting past CQB range.

Special abilities/features: it is capable of entering trans-am.

Also while its GN drive is a true drive it produces red particles at all times, and black during trans-am due to special treatment and modifications. In the case of the 00 universe or gunpla battles, one who only knows that green particles are produced by a true GN drive may assume that he has lesser capabilities due to it being a tau drive. This is not the case, it is a true GN drive though it is treated so it will produce red GN particles. Another part of its ruse to appear weaker then it is.

Intended add ons later on:

Beam "vents": recreating the beam sabers on the infinite justice's legs, these emitters will be hidden to appear as extra vents on the legs.

00[T] sword bit backpack: modified to hold six swords of equal size rather than seven and conceal a holster for a GN sniper rifle 2 for long range combat. This is to maximize EX-calibers range and increase its defense through the GN shield the swords can make while fighting. *also intended to be put in the story and used to disable to Blitz and allow it's capture though this has been changed as the machine was deemed too powerful by fellow gunpla builders for this early in the seed. These may be added later as I hope I have a plan that differs from the original author to allow Noah to modify EX-caliber as a gunpla once more later in the story.

X2 GN sword 2: a second to last measure of defense. While priding himself on keeping most of his tricks hidden, these GN sword 2's are a last chance for him to beat back an enemy before he has to resort to the wrist mounted GN Vulcans. As both weapons are not customized in any way Noah considers these his last resort weapons. Should he get down to these…he usually is fucked….hence why these were not put in the first chapter's mock fight…neither he nor I like the idea of using them unless necessary. * Again intended to be put in the story but I forgot about them while describing the machine in the first two chapters so I'm removing them. These WILL be added later somehow and will be made the GN short and long sword kai. Besides…less armaments on the EX-caliber, the more fun it is to still try and write him a winning fight.