DISCLAIMER: THIS IS THE TIE IN FOR THE STORY COSMIC BEING. AS THAT STORY IS PERMANENTLY ON HIATUS UNTIL I CAN THINK OF HOW TO MAKE IT ...WELL MAKE IT MAKE MORE SENSE SOME THINGS IN THIS STORY MAY NOT MAKE SENSE FROM HERE ON OUT. FLASHBACKS AND REFERENCES WILL BE MADE. CONSIDER THEM GLIMPSES INTO THE INTENDED STORY THAT WILL EVENTUALLY BE. I MAY ALSO EVENTUALLY TAKE THAT STORY DOWN UNTIL IT IS READY. Anyways, ALSO FORGIVE ANY CHARACTER MISPLACEMENTS AS AGAIN THINGS HAVE HAPPENED BETWEEN THIS CHAPTER AND LAST. I'LL TRY TO MAKE IT ALL MAKE THE BEST COHERENCE BUT KNOW IT WON'T BE TOO MUCH.

i`m again apologizing for the length of time this has taken, please enjoy the chapter.

The winds of change

Luke sat in the cockpit of the strike. He had taken a shuttle over to the archangel and had decided to take up piloting the mobile suit. While it wasn't a simulation cockpit and the chance of him dying was real he felt he needed to do his part. He wasn't a strong builder…but he was a fighter.

Murdoch floated up and looked inside, seeing Luke familiarizing himself with the manual. "you know this machine is outdated technically right? You're better off using one of those models even if it's one of the strike." Said the grizzly mechanic.

Luke shrugged. "there is one striker pack I wanna see if we can hook up to the strike that is only available in a model kit…or no…it just isn't available till gundam seed destiny…or…I don't know. Anyway, the concept of it is simple. It was designed with mu in mind and is basically his moebius zero turned into a striker pack." Said Luke as the gunbarrel striker was his favorite pack.

Murdoch rubbed his chin. "that might work. Does it have the standard docking set up?"

Luke nodded. "yeah. I actually might make custom versions of all the packs. But think I want to use the actual strike gundam. I just want to protect mayu. I rescued her so she's my responsibility." Stated Luke.

The mechanic chuckled. "that kids a fighter that's for sure. I hear she's almost healed enough to get transferred to the purgatory for that regeneration treatment."

"yeah. I hope it goes well. If we can get her healed maybe we can change some things in the next series for the better." Said Luke as he climbed out of the cockpit. "But i think your right. I`d be better off with my own custom model...but i think i`d want the strikes cockpit transferred into it. I'd better go get started on it…" he said, pushing off to go take the shuttle back to the purgatory.

The winds of change

Athrun looked around the hangar as he floated through the door of the ready room. He was up next for patrol duty along with one of the astray pilots.

The eternals hangar was busy as could be, the small team of engineers loyal to lacus scurrying to get the ship ready for battle. Looking to his justice though he saw cagalli floating in front of the door with something in her hands. She had come over to the eternal earlier to speak with waltfeld about adding her to the reserve mobile suit pilot roster.

He chuckled as he heard her growl and visibly stop herself from throwing whatever it was. Getting closer he saw it was a plastic model of his old aegis. But where did she get that?

Stopping himself on the catwalk he smiled. "having trouble with that?" he asked and she jumped, the blue/purple haired coordinator catching the model and looking it over. It was easy to see that she had been trying to transform it. "who built this?" he asked

"Nicol just brought it over. Said he made a model of every one of the GAT series and was giving them to the pilots. Even built a duel for your friend yzak." Said cagalli as she blushed, watching Athrun quickly pick up on the parts that had to shift and move, soon having it go from mobile suit mode to its mobile armor mode.

He smiled. It would be Nicol who would do this. All five machines were basically destroyed, with the hardly fixed buster sitting in the purgatory's hangar and the blitz standing guard in the archangels.

As much as the model reminded him all too well of that horrible day he also enjoyed the nostalgia, knowing just why Nicol did this. "did he bring a strike over for Kira?" he asked as he handed her the model.

She nodded. "yeah, brought it over with a box containing all the striker packs. Said he left a skygrasper on the kusinagi for me." Said the fiery princes as she looked at the model.

Athrun noticed a tear in her eye and wiped it away. "hey what's wrong?" he asked as she looked away.

"nothing…I just…got something in my eye." She said as she pushed off. "I'll go put this in your quarters for you. Better get going." She said though he could hear the sorrow in her voice.

It made his heart ache as he tried to figure out what was making her sad. Climbing into the cockpit of the justice he buckled in and took one more moment to ponder why he felt so horrible seeing her cry. It was then he noticed he had his own eyes beginning to water and wiped them away.

He had just been engaged to lacus though they agreed mutually they were just friends and with his father the way he was and her father dead the engagement was off. But cagalli was also the twin sister to his best friend. What if the relationship went south? Would he be able to face Kira after breaking her heart?

Starting the nuclear-powered machine, he watched as the cockpit came to life. With the war where it was at he needed to decide. He couldn't leave these feelings and push them aside when either of them could die tomorrow in a fight and never know if she felt the same way.

Heading to the launch gate he sealed his helmet and steeled himself. He needed to focus right now or else set a bad example for keeping one's emotions in check while piloting for the astray pilot.

As he got the green light to launch he stated what he needed to for the mission recorder. "Athrun zala, justice, launching!" and with that he took off.

The winds of change

Cagalli meanwhile was silently sobbing in athruns room, his aegis model floating in front of her. She couldn't tell if she was mad, sad, happy…her body was a whirlwind of emotions. She was happy Athrun was not only safe but no longer fighting Kira. She was happy Kira was her brother! But Athrun was still piloting a mobile suit and without one of her own or even some kinda mobile armor jet thing to help him she was sad and scared and worried she'd watch him die.

And she was mad he couldn't see this! He was just a boy…a stupid boy who was engaged to lacus…or was he? It didn't matter he probably loved her anyways. How could the blonde princess compete with a brilliant, beautiful, talented songstress like lacus?

She looked to the aegis and remembered that night where he held her captive. He was so nice…so kind. Nothing like what everyone made coordinators out to be. A gentleman even when she had to strip down so her clothes would dry. She smiled as she sniffled, remembering him blush and turn away when she had stood up during her rant and the blanket from his emergency kit fell off and revealed her body only covered by undergarments.

She wondered if he had been rescued but she wasn't would he have protected her? Would he have defended her from being tortured and killed for information on the archangel? On the desert dawn?

Like mirallia when he apologized she hated how kind he was. He was like her brother, kind, nice, sweet. He meant as much to her as Kira did and more. But…she didn't know how to say it.

Finding herself suddenly tired and sleepy she closed her eyes, nodding off as she tried to stop her heart from aching over a boy she felt was a bit out of her league. She was a fiery, tomboy princess…how could such a boy ever pick her over someone like lacus?

The winds of change

Lacus and Kira however were having no such difficulties. From the moment they met Kira felt a connection and as they sat in the eternals officer lounge, staring out into space he held her hand while they discussed the philosophical aspects of this war once more.

Lacus had just brought up the fact that Noah had such a different outlook on the war then the two superpowers currently trying to kill each other.

"that's true. But he also knows how all this end. He has an outside view and has seen inside both camps. With that kind of knowledge how can he not have a different outlook?" asked Kira.

The songstress brought a finger up to her chin in thought. "I think it's because he knows what is going to happen, because he knows how each camp thinks it gives him a better perspective on this war. Plus, with knowledge of all these other universes and his own world he has a different view on war itself." She said as she scooted closer to the perfect coordinator.

Kira nodded. "but how he pulls the similarities between our world and those others…it seems like has his own agenda sometimes. Like he wants to try and mimic the events in other battles in other worlds."

"you mean when he spoke about how the hatred between naturals and coordinators would only truly end when both sides fight a battle with such a high body count that it leaves a sour taste for war in even the most blood thirsty minds?" asked lacus. It amazed Kira how perceptive she was and as she moved closer he pulled her under his arm as she leaned against him.

He remembered that conversation and how he mentioned it as often as he could. Which gundam series had such a massacre of a battle it left humanity driving towards peace even in places where war was considered normal?

"do you think maybe it was the universe celestial being comes from? If there was even an organization against war it had to be horrible." Suggested the pink haired coordinator.

Kira shook his head. "no from everything we've heard what ended the war there was actually the realization that corruption had worked its way into every level of government and the right people stepped up to fight it. Once celestial being was recognized as "the good guys" the world seemed to focus on making peace and fixing the damage that corruption had done instead of fighting the world celestial being was trying to make. So, the battle wasn't horrific there." Said Kira as he recalled listening to Luke and Alice discuss the differences between Noah's celestial being and the original.

Lacus closed her eyes and seemed to snuggle up to Kira. "well hopefully he wasn't lying and it was ours he was speaking of." She said with a cute yawn.

Kira smiled as she seemed ready to fall asleep against him. "no…the way he said the camps would pull out their big guns my bet is this war is ended with azrael and zala revealing just how far they will go and convincing the world weapons like what they made are not needed." He said quietly, hearing her breathing as she fell asleep. It made him happy to know just how comfortable she was with him.

The winds of change

Luke smiled as his son admired his work. It had been some time since he had built a gunpla so to see his sons reaction to his new strike line up. Though he was young; the boy was a big fan of gunpla battles and had been entranced by the idea of becoming an amazing builder ever since sei himself showed up at his fourth birthday along with Noah and they had dragged the party to a nearby hobby shop since everyone wanted to watch them fight.

Luke's strike was unique. It combined three gundams to make what he felt would be a "super strike".

The base model was called the "solar strike" the gundam was a fusion of the strike, an impulse gundam, and the G-self. To be fair a lot of the harder building was done by the staff of niels labs while he had greeted his wife and kids. That work being the fusion of the three gundams.

The base model, the "solar strike" was a strike gundam at its core. But the head was a replica of sei's with the four head Vulcans. The torso had the impulses front and a modified strike back. The Vulcans on the impulse portion were modified to be beam Vulcans from the G-self. The arms were the strikes except they had the photon frame sections in the joints though these were clear. The waist was that of the impulse with the VPS armor plates on the front skirts being clear. Also on the torso the grey parts which glow in sei's RG system were clear.

The legs of the solar strike were that of the impulse gundam as well but with the VPS armor again being clear and with the small triangle also clear. The small pods on the G-self were not present and instead the legs have a clear panel running down the sides like the X gundam.

The purpose for so many clear parts was the reason for its name. to avoid having to make various changes in the gundams size to accommodate a nuclear reactor as well as get around the battery issue of the impulse and strike Luke had come up with a new system.

The "reflector system" was to be implemented in various ways on all the packs and the gundam itself. Certain parts, even colored, would be a clear color and would act as solar panels, allowing the gundam to constantly be recharging its battery while it fights even in space. The unique factor of this system was even the slightest light triggered the system. So say he dodged a beam and it passed close enough to be reflected on the clear parts which would gain a shine once it was scanned in. the system would absorb that fraction of light it was reflecting and convert it into energy to charge the battery. This gave Luke far more options for striker packs. Also the hands were swapped with those of a strike e containing the palm anchor.

Speaking of…

Freedom striker: luke's answer to the perfect striker pack. The freedom striker was a fusion of the wings of both the strike freedom and the freedom gundam. In appearance they were similar to the strike freedom and gave him just as much speed. But they contained an upgraded balaena plasma cannon set within the center as well as the dragoon system.

The freedom striker also swapped out his side skirt armor with the strike freedoms rail guns. Otherwise the armaments of this striker were a pair of the strikes beam rifles and this striker relied on its speed to make up for a lack of defenses

Rebel striker: luke's personal creation, this was a custom version of the gun barrel striker. Similar in almost every way this striker was almost a straight build. Except the paint. The Mobius zero style pack was painted black with white barrels hidden in the pods and a white chain gun behind it. The rest of the strike was also set to change to a darker but otherwise standard paint scheme. Also, the chain gun was technically a remote weapon as when activated any machines attempting to chase Luke would be shredded by it.

The gun barrels were still wire guided but now had a program which allowed them to be launched and controlled more like funnels over manual usage. Also the reason for the strikers name was the gas mask/rebreather like object covering the gundams face. To Luke it reminded him of some video game character where you were helping a rebellion or something.

Arsenal for this gundam was a large handheld railgun, a standard beam rifle, and a standard strikes shield.

Assault striker: luke's answer to the launcher striker. This pack was basically a launch strike but mirrored. Two Agni cannons, a weapons system on each shoulder. On top of that it had a pair of 6 tube missile launchers that would be attached to the legs.

For defense a pair of special gauntlets were attached to the arms which harnessed the reflector system and created a photon shield around it at all times akin to an energy shield. Its main weapons outside the ones mounted to it is a shotgun from a kampher as Luke felt the only reason he would need any other weapons is if an enemy got close.

Samurai striker: a striker of luke's design meant for ground based combat where the sword striker would normally be used. Basically an entirely new strike gundam this striker was actually a separate gunpla. The strike gundam merged with a shin musha it was actually more like the strikes sword based version of the assault shroud. On its back sat a pair of anti-ship swords while at its waist on the left side sat two katana's.

This gundam relies on it armor for defense and is only designed for in atmosphere combat. Luke wanted to make sure all his bases were covered.

Demon striker: luke's version of the sword striker for space use. Designed with anti-ship combat in mind this striker has a pair of "schwert gewehr" anti-ship swords put back to back on a long handle to create an even larger double bladed beam anti-ship great sword.

Otherwise lightly armed this striker has two of the "panzer eisen" rocket anchor shields and only one of the "Midas Messer" shoulder guards. Otherwise most combat is kept to medium to close range with the head Vulcans and chest beam Vulcans covering most of the medium range.

Force striker: the least original pack out of them all. A converted force silhouette the pack is merely meant to give Luke an advantage over what zaft is used to with the aile pack and the E.A. would be expecting.

These packs also had the armor Schneider knives and unless specified otherwise have the strikes shield and rifle.

As Luke heard his wife calling his son he let him go so they could go home and he could finish his work both here and in the cosmic era. Having already seen so much death and loss it was nice to see his family. His mind drifted to mayu who was unconscious in the rejuvenation chamber. He had to admit he felt a bit protective of her and wondered how'd she react to her brother piloting the impulse, fighting Noah likely…

Luke shook his head. He had two kids. His wife was being more than generous letting him do this but he knew those kids were a handful. The last thing he wanted was to bring a coordinator here and assume she could just integrate into his family.

Returning to his work he began making sure he had all his bases covered and didn't need to come up with any more striker packs.

The wings of change

Murrue was at the bridge overseeing the new orb staff members getting used to the bridge. With sai leaving before Alaska and kuzzey gone after they went back to orb mirallia was the only one left of the tech students. She had originally had a picture of Tolle at her station but she recently took it down, the brunette captain guessing her recent time with dearka was helping get over the loss of her longtime boyfriend.

Speaking of new romances, she had noticed almost everyone was finding a partner. Even herself, mu was always finding ways to surprise her. From getting a model of the archangel from Noah and building it for her to bringing her coffee from the eternal and storing it in her office for her own personal use. She understood it was basically his best way of spoiling her but still she felt it was a bit…childish. What she wanted from him was more of some kind of date. Something special.

Still the model looked nice in her quarters and the coffee was far better than the military crap they had.

Reaching up though she pulled a special locket out from under her uniform. It was something the listed family members and loved ones of a mobile armor pilot received when they died. A coffin on a chain with the picture of their loved one. It was why she told him she didn't date mobile armor pilots. Her previous romance didn't end well and hurt her in ways she didn't know were possible.

The last thing she wanted to do was get attached to the hawk of endymion and then watch him die in battle. She couldn't experience that loss again.

Looking back to her new crew she saw they were getting more and more comfortable as mirallia and Neuman helped them adjust to their new positions. Valeria was out acting as an extension of all four ships radars currently and a ship wide alert was set to go off if she detected anything.

It had gone off once but it was a false alarm when they learned cagalli had set up supply ships to come from a nearby orb controlled colony.

Mirallia seemed more determined than ever after dearka left to keep the ship in top shape. She had originally taken over the whole CIC switching stations to keep an eye on the various aspects of the ship. But as the orb crew got used to their stations she slowly switched back to just monitoring the mobile suits. She even had the buster transferred back though murrue felt that was likely as a way to feel like she still had dearka around.

The older woman could understand young love and especially the odd feeling of being in separate universes, not knowing the dangers your love is facing. It was the same for long distance relationships. It had been the same when they first launched in Alaska. She had been worried the sub carrying mu would be attacked.

Instead he ended up coming back to her and now they had a chance to maybe give this a go.

Sitting back in her chair she fiddled with the locket in her fingers, thinking about the man she once loved and the man she now desired and loved.

The winds of change

Nina watched Alice work from afar and bit her lip. she couldn't remember the last time she was this nervous. Most parents knew their children from their birth, the mother technically even before that if one could read their own body and their unborn child's reaction to things well enough.

Still to think she was technically a mother. Why did Noah drop this bomb on her and then go and leave? What was she supposed to do? Looking down at the model in her hand she tried to rein in her resolve to ask her daughter for help. She had broken a piece while doing "maintenance" aka breaking it down and just making sure everything was going well.

China had been the main builder she just painted and picked some things out. So, when she went to put it back together she ended up snapping part of the inner frame of the barbatos gundam she used for a base. Now she had a decent excuse to talk to her new daughter.

Finally getting her nerve she floated over and tapped Alice's shoulder when she realized the girl had headphones in. that got a reaction. The girl jumped and nearly flew up into Nina's chin but the coordinator caught her and moved away from the knife that got caught in the zero G and thankfully didn't float far.

Looking over the girls work Nina blinked. It was another ship. But it was different from the purgatory.

Her curiosity winning over her desire to bond through her own mobile suit she asked, "what's this?" and immediately Alice was beaming.

"it's a custom Irish class vessel from the gundam series zeta. But I'm beefing it up a bit." She said as she looked up to Nina then back to her work. "for starters, I widened the ship overall and made the hangar the core of the ship with the living quarters surrounding it. That way all personnel can quickly and easily reach it. Next I replaced most of the massive engines with 4 true GN drives and then small "micro GN drives" like on dad's phantom pain model. From there I added six tanks, 3 on each side, that will act as GN condensers and collect excess particles so that we can dump them into GN fields and other defensive measures." She said before spinning the model around to show Nina the front.

"From there I shortened the runways and added brakes that can be controlled by the pilot so say we are in the middle of a battle and the pilot needs to boost away they aren't locked into the catapult and can activate the brakes and leave. Also, nearly removing the tunnel aspect makes it harder for the enemy to just fly up and fire missiles or something inside to destroy our units." Said Alice, remembering the first launch of the 00 gundam.

Nina had to admit the girl was proving to be…well her father's daughter. She could only imagine the original Irish class vessel and how inferior it was if she made this many changes.

"I added extra AA guns around the hangar doors and took the triple barreled gun off a Minerva model and enhanced it and put it in place of the original artillery. I added broadside guns and more AA guns mixed into a missile battery." She said. The model seemed half complete and Nina was very impressed.

"I wanna add a rear "repair" catapult but for now the right runway is meant to accept damaged units but I think it's too risky to let them sit on such a long strip to get in. instead I wanna add rear cannons, more AA and even spots we could get some mobile workers or something from IBO and have them be raised up on platforms to act as manned AA or anti MS turrets. I want everyone to come back alive but I also want this ship to be able to fly into a defensive line and blast away the competition." Stated Alice, a fire in her eyes that Nina was surprised to see.

"why can't the purgatory do that?" she asked.

Alice frowned. "celestial being was more hit and run style with their ships. No real swivel turrets or anything. They relied on miss sumeragi's tactical forecasting and the gundams. It's why the captain is so worried about us running defense. She can see this ship wasn't meant for true warfare. Ironic given the groups original mission." It was then that Alice noticed Nina's mobile suit. "did you need help with your model?" asked Alice as she took the model without waiting for an answer and began looking it over.

Nina blushed as she nodded. "yeah. I was running maintenance on it like Noah suggested I do to help myself get acclimated to it and I ended up breaking a part." Stated the snow haired coordinator.

Alice giggled. "well I can tell you right now dad should have said to scrap this…" stated Alice which nearly shattered Nina's heart. Was she that bad at making a model?

"wh-what? Why? It's a perfectly good unit according to china. It fits me perfectly!" exclaimed the woman and Alice just giggled.

"I'm sure it would but this is outdated in terms of parts and the base unit. You used a barbatos. By now China should have gotten the new barbatos lupus in. way better. What are you calling it?" she asked.

Nina bit her lip. "the fallen king…" she said to which Alice gasped.

"that's a perfect name for it! But seriously this is diorama material. Come on. we are gonna get you hooked up with a way better gundam." She said as she got out of her chair and grabbed Nina's hand before dragging her towards one of the bays currently occupied by the blitz jaeger.

Nina was a bit nervous but what better way for girls to get to know each other than shopping right? That…that was right…right…she hoped so. but why was her gundams name perfect? Because it was "diorama material"? Or because it actually fit.

Commence operations!

Nicol stretched as he lay in his bed. He was currently looking over a list of various gunpla and their abilities, watching reviews from reality and clips of them in combat. This time of relative peace was starting to get him a bit stir crazy. He had to admit he couldn't wait to start piloting the blitz jaeger in space. More importantly he wanted to start upgrading it. The machine was great, he would never turn down a custom build from Noah himself… but…. he wanted to either make something himself or upgrade the gundams arsenal.

He was mostly looking at machines with weapons built in, stuff he could hide and surprise his enemies with. The one that currently had his eye was the zeong. The wire guided arms and the beam cannons in the hands. It would make a great replacement for his gleipnir and he could still use the hand but he had other uses in mind for the beam cannon fingers.

Aside from that he had a few others in mind. There were so many… and then there were add on kits…to think he had so many choices for parts.

He was also considering making his own custom machines for athrun and yzak. The duel was such a blank slate after all. And he was sure the silver haired coordinator wouldn't turn down a custom machine if it was his old duel. But then…he was also the most likely to turn on everyone…he'd need dearka to help him bring yzak around.

And then athrun…well he had the justice for sure but a custom aegis would make a great back up machine. deciding to work on his own gundam later he set to work doing research on the various grades he could get an aegis and what gundams would go well with it or what parts.

Commence operations

Flay sighed as she lay naked in bed. Yzak had just stopped by and they had rolled around. She had to admit the coordinator was certainly coming around to her side quickly. Asking about celestial being, about Kira, the strike, the archangel. She assumed it was under orders from that masked man but still for once she had sex, like Kira there wasn't a real attachment to it, but she didn't have any flash backs, no anger, no reaction at all. So, for now as the boy left she thought about her actions.

He was getting tied tightly around her finger and maybe tight in a few other places. She was learning more about this "duel regen" gundam and even the other mobile suits onboard. With luck, she could hijack one in their next engagement and find a way to join back up with everyone.

Hearing of Noah's return she was elated. But she also wasn't expecting a rescue party. Even if he knew where she was would he really risk it for her? And then there was the rumor about the freedom. She wondered who defected from zaft with it.

And now she was hearing of a new machine, a fourth one that zaft was cooking up. Rumor had it yzak was in line to receive it. Another nuclear-powered machine to match the stolen freedom and justice and fight alongside a mystery third machine in the lineup.

Closing her eyes flay took stock of her situation and what all her options were. She had a vague feeling she was being calmer than she was in the anime. More strategic…but this felt good. She had a cause she wanted to fight for, not just blind rage against the very people keeping her aboard this ship.

As she thought about it all she found herself slowly drifting to sleep, her body tired and no other real options onboard the zaft vessel.

Commence operations!

As Nina and Alice walked into Lori's hobbies after the shuttle ride from Nielsen labs Alice quickly took her adoptive mother's hand and lead her through the small shop to the latest inventory. Sure enough a sign read "IBO season 2" and had a selection of kits. The young girl giggled and looked through them, quickly grabbing a few kits before rushing off to go gather more materials. Meanwhile Nina stayed and looked through the kits.

A moment later she heard the pops of amuro sucking on his pacifier as china walked up behind her. "I see Alice seems excited about something. Mother/ daughter project?" asked the famous builder as Nina turned around and smiled, poking the infants belly and receiving a giggle of joy as the child hid away in his mother's arms.

"kind of. I was running maintenance on the fallen king and broke a part. I came to her to get help fixing it and she insisted it was outdated. I just built it…how did that happen?" asked Nina and china giggled.

"well to be honest it has been a few weeks since that for us. Not sure how long it's been for you but season two of iron blooded orphans has started producing kits so she is right." Stated china as Nina picked up a barbatos lupus kit.

"it looks so similar but different at the same time…" said the coordinator as she tried to pinpoint the main differences between her own kit and this new one.

"that's how gundam upgrades usually go. The barbatos was unique as it went through many changes but all gundam iron blooded orphans gundams are like that. They don't all go through so many changes but they are all relics of an age gone by. So, while the frames may be intact it was rare to find a gundam frame with its original armor. Cecil picked the astaroth gundam which if memory serves had its armor removed and sold as a family that owned it deteriorated in wealth and status. So, when the unit came into use the pilot had to scavenge what armor he could at the start. Rumor has it a gundam they recently revealed in the same side series actually has parts from the astoraths original armor as its own, the pilot having picked it to spite his rival who pilots it." She stated as she remembered what she read about the new gundam series machines.

Nina was blown away by all the information. To think all this was considered…what was it Noah said…cannon…in a whole 'nother universe where they fought with gundams and mobile suits and...

"the pilots of these mobile suits…they are just kids, right?" she asked as she looked over another box, one called the "shiden".

China nodded. "yeah. Known as "space rats" tekkadan is forged from the third mobile worker company in a corporation known as CGS. When the series starts, they revolt against the first company which had tried to flee the battle and use them as shields. From there they form tekkadan and take over CGS and take on a contract to get a girl named kudelia from mars to earth. But that's a super broad explanation of the series." She stated.

Nina was appalled at hearing this. But it wasn't her world. Wasn't her fight. "I'll have to visit there sometime with Noah. I wanna meet this...mikazuki. I want his opinion of my gundam." She said which had china smiling.

"well that sounds reasonable. I heard Kira gave his two cents on the build strike though I doubt my husband has heard it or he'd be here trying to convince Bandai that he should get his own line of gunpla." Said china with a giggle.

Nina joined her and they both ended up laughing for a moment. "yes, I heard about it, I even tried it while we have been waiting for Noah to get back. The design is amazing and Kira was right to say it's a good cross between the freedom and the strike." Said Nina as China led her back to the counter.

"yes, well I watched reiji pilot it. You should have seen the star build strike gundam. That was a technological marvel for the gunpla battles." Said China just as Alice set some paints down on her stack of models.

It currently held a 1/100th barbatos lupus mechanical version and a similar vidar gundam. Along with that was a couple hashmal mobile armors and a gundam flauros 1/144th scale kit. Then there was a shiden and a stack of add on kits.

China blinked. "why so many option kits?" asked china as Alice looked over her selection.

"cause I wanna do some work with the mobile workers. Also, I'll need plenty of pla-plate and glue. I`ll be right back." Stated Alice before walking away to which Nina and china shared a glance.

"she does know your gundam isn't covered in weapons like Noah's, right?" asked China to which the coordinator nodded.

Either way China decided gossip was the best while they waited for Alice to finish. "so…kids…you and Noah talk yet or is Alice all you two want?" asked China, throwing the coordinator off.

"um...well we haven't really talked yet but I know he wants a couple. But…I'm a coordinator. It's gonna be hard to conceive naturally since I'm a third generation. And now that Noah is becoming an innovator…"

"NOAHS EVOLVING!?" exclaimed the relatively new mother as she heard of Noah becoming an innovator. "he's barely been in there for very long…he must be pushing those GN drives to their limits." Stated China as she settled and tried to calm amuro who had begun crying.

Nina nodded. "yeah. I guess it started just before I shot him down. He can even do something called…quantification I guess." Said Nina which caused the gunpla builder to gasp.

"ok ok…continue. I'm sure I'll hear about it later." Said China as she decided to let the other woman continue.

"well as I was saying with Noah evolving I guess…anyways with that I don't know if we wanna go the coordinator route or not. I mean what if they were potentially innovators and making them coordinators removed that chance..." said Nina with a sigh.

China reached over and patted her shoulder. "it doesn't matter if they are a coordinator or natural. It's a matter of exposing them to pure GN particles and them having quantum brain waves. Come to think of it…who knew Noah had those…" said China which she giggled when Nina jabbed her arm with a scowl.

"that's my fiancee you're talking about. He's as intelligent as he is deadly. I'm sure he expected it." She stated.

(off in the gundam 00 series Noah sneezes as he drinks some whiskey at a club)

Finally, Alice came back and set all her materials down.

"geez Alice. I thought your mom was gonna make this not you." Said china which Alice blinked in confusion too.

"mom?" she asked before glancing to Nina who was blushing and gasped. "oh…right…sorry I kinda got a bit into it. To think thanks to my dad, I can get whatever I want and make whatever I want." She said with a twinkle in her eye.

Nina sighed and nodded. "yeah…there isn't much I can offer you just yet so…" Nina was cut off as Alice hugged her.

"no! you'll make a great mom I'm sure of it just…I don't know you just yet. I called Noah dad already because he cared about me when it seemed no one else did and pulled me out of a dangerous situation. Plus, he taught me so much. maybe later you can give me a crash course in zaft boot camp?" asked Alice, clearly trying to repair the small damage she had done to her bridge with Nina.

Nina smiled and nodded. "sure…um…what I can remember I'll teach you." She said which had them all laughing.

"that's right I forgot your memories are mostly a blur thanks to the zero system. I'm sorry. I'm sure we can find something." She said as she let Nina go.

The white-haired woman nodded. "sure. For now, let's get back to the ship and get this built hm?"

Alice nodded happily and once it was all bagged up the two girls left to go bond over the gundams construction.

The winds of change

Valeria was munching on a granola bar and reading her book when she got a ping on her radar. She had gone out to the far edge and hid behind an asteroid. With her radar on it's extended settings she wasn't surprised. She expected it to be another supply ship or even a passing junker ship. Pulling up her radar ping she looked at the returned silhouette and nearly choked on her granola bar.

Grabbing her helmet she stowed her book and wrapped up the bar while calling up the purgatory on her comms. The communications officer responded promptly. "what is it valeria? Need to come back in?" he asked as he typed away at his keyboard.

"NO! I`VE GOT A RADAR PING. 250KM OUT, IT LOOKS TO BE AN EARTH ALLIANCE BATTLE GROUP!" she exclaimed as she maneuvered her GINN to get it's sniper rifle ready. "i`ll activate the defense grid if they start making their way here." She said as she focused her systems, trying to get an idea of the battle groups strength.

The officer nodded. "roger that. Any idea on the enemy strength?" he asked

The Russian coordinator shook her head. "no…but it's big. My guess is they aren't underestimating us this time." She said as she waited to see what the battle group would do. She prayed they were just passing by. Noah wasn't back yet and if they brought this level of strength…

The winds of change

Captain badgiruel sighed as she heard the report. They had confirmed silhouette of four ships, 2 of which were identified as the archangel and the new celestial being ship. As they approached the mendel colony she was running through all her options again. All the mobile suits and weapons at her disposal the best option was a blitzkrieg…but that would be if they were allowed to destroy a good majority of the machines. How she thought they were going to capture anything was proof enough azrael was clinically insane. Still it was her job to make sure his orders were carried out.

As it was confirmed she sighed again and called out her usual orders of readying the ship, including preparing the lohengrins. If she was going to do anything it was let them know she meant business.

Once they were in range she closed her eyes and said a small prayer. "fire Lohengrin 2 at the mendel colony!" she ordered. As the ship rocked from the positron cannon firing she watched it race towards the asteroid field that surrounded the colony she was surprised when there were explosions of what appeared to be some form of smoke screen. As the Lohengrin shot hit the smoke it seemed to fizzle out and disperse.

"what just happened?!" exclaimed azrael, no doubt surprised by the earth alliances most powerful weapon short of a nuke being neutralized by a smoke screen. Internally natarle was cheering as this meant they had had time to prepare counter measures. However, this also meant that they would be holed up tight in there.

To her surprise they were being hailed. "put it on screen." Sure enough it was ramius.

"hello captain ramius….i take it the archangel is nestled in tight there? That colony can't really hold all of your ships." Said azrael before natarle could even respond.

"i`m not sure who you are but this call was not for your benefit. I called to see who was captaining the successor to my ship." Stated murrue to which azrael clicked his tongue. "shame…no manners."

"my apologizes captain ramius. I was actually just about to try and hail you. I want to offer you a chance to surrender. This does not have to end in bloodshed." Stated natarle as she stood up from her chair.

Murrue's expression softened, "natarle…i`m not surprised. I told you you would make a fine captain one day. It seems they even put you in command of the perfect ship." Murrue was right as always. She did miss her former captain.

"I had the most experience with the vessel. Unfortunately this also means that when you were classified as renegade I was the best suited with hunting you down. Please murrue. I heard about Alaska but do not let this end this way. Surrender and come with us. You can discuss the matter with the proper authorities and while I can not promise much pull I will do everything I can to help you. You know what this ship can do. And…."she was worried mentioning this over an "open" comm but figured it would be her best way to subtly suggest to use their trump card. "i`m fully aware noah has likely informed you of this ship's mobile suit compliment. Please captain ramius. Consider it." She pleaded, honest to god not wanting to face murrue for any more reason than their friendship. Screw noah he could wipe out this whole fleet for all she cared. The bonds she made on that ship mattered more.

Murrue smiled softly, "I wish I could comply with your demands natarle…but it's so much more than Alaska. We have serious and credible evidence of corruption all through the earth alliance and the government. We will not be surrendering and we will not be returning to the military."

Natarle was trying to think of a way to end this conversation without guns being fully drawn but azrael had to open his big mouth as he laughed.

"that exchange was simply adorable. To think conversations could end conflicts. Even celestial being knows that you end war with strength. You should be simply embarrassed to think otherwise. There would be no conflict without misunderstanding and where there is a conflict there are enemies and the way to deal with your enemies is simple…you shoot them till their dead."

"director azrael!" exclaimed natarle as the blonde moron continued.

"Calamity, sword calamity, raider, and forbidden launch! The remaining fleet units are to wait until we pry them out of their hole. Whatever that smoke screen is i'm sure it isn't their only defense. Today we destroy the unsinkable archangel AND eliminate celestial being!"

With that everything was in place for the end. As the purgatory took off and launched it's remaining mobile suits and supplied them with data as well as an image of the fleet murrue began praying for another miracle like Alaska. Because without one she was certain they would not win this fight…even as the dominion broke off…most likely to fight them.

Peace and war

Ok…so finally got…something. I think. I have gone over this multiple times and I think I cut it off at a good point. I felt that the whole astray team thing was just bad, it was me trying to rush content and put my machines and characters in than I wanted, not needed. Also the whole thing with mike was just to try and push someone into the story who could rival noah and cause my friend wanted to be his rival so bad. That friendship has since ended plus I realized I was letting him write too much of it and not let me actually work the character how I needed like the spot where he dabs.

Anyways, hopefully you all enjoy this cause I do intend to eventually work out the other story and get it written as well as actually link these two, but I have had this story's continuation and ending going on in my head for so long I have planned it like 4 different ways so I wanna get it written.

also, I apologize for my loyal readers who got excited for me to add to the story only to realize I removed chapters. Thank you for sticking with me after so long, I am trying hard to get back into this story but this bridge chapter is just hard since there's a lot I want to have happen in 00 that won't end up being explained so bear with me while I get back into a groove. Plus I work and stream so it's hard to find time to write.