Chapter four is up. I do not own Chris, Liz, or Johanna Dante, Saul, Ian, or Diana Kessel, John Alaric, the 11th Fleet, the Raven, or the Surge Gundams. They all belong to Akatsuki_Leader13. Nor do I own Gundam. I only own Akira, Tao, Nisha, NASA/NAZAFT, the 7th Fleet, the Wing, Z.A.M., and Diver Gundams.
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C.E. 71 – War has been raging for 11 months between the Earth Alliance and the PLANTs. With their superior numbers, it seemed inevitable the Earth Forces would win. But the PLANTs unveiled new technology and began to gain the upper hand. Now, 10 months after the initial conflict began, the war is at a stalemate…
January 25, C.E. 71
Aboard the Archangel…
Chris laid on one of the bunks while Kira, Liz, and the others talked amongst themselves. He was tired at the moment and didn't really feel like talking. He was also wishing that he had not left his guitar in the professor's lab.
The ship suddenly shook for a moment.
"What was that?" Flay Alster asked.
Flay Alster, one of the people that had been in that lifeboat he had rescued. Chris wasn't all that crazy about her. Sure he found her physically attractive, but her personality irritated him. Stuck up people did that to him. If she wasn't so stuck up and wasn't arranged to marry Sai, he probably would have asked her out at some point.
"I think we're on the move." Chris said. "Where we're going, I don't know."
"Ah. Kira, Chris. There you are." Mu said as he entered the set of bunks they were sitting at. ""Both Murdoch and Johanna asked me to tell both of you that because we're so under-staffed, you two are to are responsible for maintaining your machines."
"Our machines?" Kira asked. "When did they become our machines?"
"I have to agree with Kira. Don't these machines belong to either Morgenroete or the Earth Forces?" Chris asked as he sat up.
"Technically, you're right. But for the moment, it's been decided that since you're the only ones who can use 'em, they're you machines."
"Sure, we piloted those machines twice but we're not soldiers." Kira argued.
"So the next time they attack and you refuse to pilot it, those will be your last words, huh?" Mu said.
"I have to agree with him, Kira. Until we get to an Earth Forces base and we can disembark, everyone here is in danger. And at the moment, we're the only ones who can protect the ship and the people on board." Chris said.
"He's right Kira. Both of you have the power to make a difference. Why not put it to good use? We have very little time, including time to think it over." Mu said before starting to walk away.
"Nisha has already agreed to pilot the Z.A.M. Gundam until we can reach an Earth Alliance base. Akira, I have no clue about though. But I hope he agrees to protect the ship as well." Mu added as he stopped.
"Excuse me sir." Sai said. "But where are we going?"
"To the nearby Eurasian military base, Artemis. Of course, we're likely to have some problems actually getting in." Mu answered before he left.
Chris sighed. "Well Kira, should we go down to the hanger?"
"This isn't...I..." Kira mumbled out before running off.
"Kira!" Tolle and Mir shouted.
"I'll go talk to him." Chris said.
"Hold on minute." Flay said. "You mean that you and Kira were piloting those mobile suits with two others?"
"Yes." Sai said. "You know how one of the mobile suits brought lifeboat you were on onto the ship? Well, the pilot of that mobile suit was Chris."
Flay turned to Chris "You? You were the one?"
"Yeah."
"But why would the two of you be piloting mobile suits?" she asked.
"Well, my sister, Kira, Nisha, Aki' and I are Coordinators." he replied. "And just to tell you, if you're one of those people who discriminates against Coordinators, then do us all a favor and don't say anything."
Chris stood up and headed towards the hanger.
Liz watched her brother walk away. Ever since their parents had died, he had become bitter towards people who discriminated again Coordinators or Naturals, or in the case of Blue Cosmos, utterly hated.
Of course, things had been different for the first month and a half after their parents died in a Blue Cosmos terrorist attack. During that time, he became angry at just about everyone and everything. He picked fights with just about anyone. Sometimes he won. Other times he didn't. She had feared that they'd find him dead in an alley before long. Then, about a month and a half after their parents died, their grandfather paid them a visit from Orb. His second night there, he took Chris out for a couple of hours. What was said and done was known only to those two. But when they returned, both were beaten up, although Chris was unconscious and in worse condition.
After that, Chris had begun to change. His anger at the world faded away. He stopped going out and picking fights with people. He still got into fights but now he only fought to protect himself and others.
Seeing the uncertainly in Flay's eyes, Liz spoke, "My brother, Kira, Nisha, Aki', and myself, may be Coordinators. But we aren't with ZAFT."
"The five of them are still one of us. Treasured friends." Mir said.
Vesalius…
Rau was not having such a good time, considering all that had happened in the past few hours. The explanation for Heliopolis's destruction was what the PLANT Supreme Council wanted, and Rau was going to give it to them. He looked over the five reports on the captured machines. The Diver's data had been sent to the 'Maverick Fleet', so he did not have it. Then, the man called up the reports about the Strike, Raven, Wing, and Z.A.M. Gundams. Those four would be a problem, especially the last two…
"I wonder what you are, my two friends…" he murmured. It was obvious to Rau that the last two machines were not of the GAT-X series, which meant that they were of unknown origins. Not many nations could build Mobile Suits like that. For a minute, ORB seemed to be the likely culprit. After all, they had the technology to do something like that, but then again, they had already started a Mobile Suit project, code-named "Astray". That ruled out ORB.
Then, a startling thought came to his mind. What if they were behind the building of the last two machines?! That brought fear to his body. Not many things scared Rau, but this did. Only NASA could scare Rau like this.
A voice cut into his thoughts. "Athrun Zala reporting, sir."
"Come in." Rau ordered. The Coordinator entered, wearing his ZAFT elite uniform. "The destruction of the colony is quite a predicament. That is why our talk was delayed." He turned to face Athrun, who was still standing by the door.
"Yes, sir. I am sorry about the last battle." Athrun replied.
"I have no intention of punishing you, but I would like to hear the reason for your behavior. This is not like you." Athrun frowned at the words, meaning that Rau had hit a nerve. "You were beside that machine when it was activated?" Rau asked.
"I apologize for that. Due to an unexpected incident, I was unable to report back quickly. The pilot of that unit is Kira Yamato. He is a schoolmate and friend of mine, from our childhood days on the Moon. I never thought I would meet him again like that. I had to be sure that it was him." Athrun replied.
"The war is full of irony." Rau said as he stood up from the chair. "It's not a surprise that you were shocked. He is a good friend of yours?" Athrun nodded. "If that is the case then, I will have to remove you from the next assault. I cannot have you freeze up when fighting an enemy like that." Rau said. "And I don't want to do it either."
"No, Commander, I-" Athrun was cut off.
"Despite the fact that you were once friends, he is now our enemy. We have to shoot him down. I hope you can understand what that will mean…" Rau began.
Athrun could not accept it. Kira had to be used by the Naturals. "Sir, Kira has to be a pawn used by the Naturals. He is smart, but also good-natured, and a little air-headed. He just needs to see what we are fighting for. He is a Coordinator after all. If I talk to him, I could bring him around." Athrun explained.
Rau observed him before speaking. "I understand, but…what if he doesn't listen?"
Athrun gulped, leaving the question in mid-air for a moment. He had to say it, even if he did not like it. "Then…I'll shoot him down."
Archangel hanger…
Kira stood before the Strike, the Z.A.M. Gundam next to it. Lt. La Flaga's and Chris's words echoed in his mind.
"Just because I can pilot a mobile suit, doesn't mean that I'm a soldier?" Kira asked himself.
"Of course it doesn't. Why would that make you a soldier?"
Kira turned to his left. It was Chris.
"You don't need to be a solider to pilot one of these things." Nisha's voice added. Both Chris and Kira looked up to see the other boy pop his head out of the Z.A.M. Gundam's cockpit.
"Kira, at the moment, both of us aren't soldiers. We're just two guys who are trying to protect what we care about." Chris said as he approached. "When we reached an EA base and can disembark, then we must decide whether to stay or to go, to become soldiers or to remain civilians. When that time comes, you will decide what you want to do for yourself, just as I will."
"Have you decided?" Kira asked.
"Actually, I haven't really thought about it. But do not think that what I decide is what you should decide."
"Well, I know I already have." Nisha replied from inside his machine.
Suddenly, alarms went off.
"Silhouette detected. Enemy unit detected." a voice over the intercom said. "All military personnel, report to your stations at once. Repeat..."
"That was fast." Johanna said as she approached the two of them. "Well, come on you three. We need to get you three into some flight suits."
Elsewhere…
"Looks like we're heading into another battle." Sai commented as the alarms sounded.
"I wonder what Kira has decided." Mir said.
"If he refuses, our chances of surviving drop considerably." Sai said.
"Hey! My brother will protect us even if Kira doesn't!" Liz shouted at Sai.
"I didn't mean it like." Sai said in his defense. "I meant that the odds of our survival are greater if both Chris and Kira are fighting. And don't forget that Aki' and Nisha will too."
"We should do something." Mir said.
Everyone looked at her in confusion.
"We've been sitting on the sidelines and relying Kira, Aki', Nisha and Chris to protect us."
"If we have the ability to make a difference, then we should put it to use." Tolle said.
Liz, Sai and Kuzzey nodded in agreement.
Hanger…
Kira, Nisha, and Chris started putting on their flight suits. Kira was putting on a light blue one while Chris was wearing a midnight blue one. Nisha was zipping up the front of his green flight suit as well.
Kira had to admit, he was a little surprised that Tolle, Sai, Mir, Liz and Kuzzey had volunteered to help out aboard the ship. Though what was more surprising was that Chris was letting his sister help out, yet earlier he had been against her piloting the Strike.
"Hey Chris."
"Yeah?"
"Why weren't you against your sister helping out now?" Kira asked.
"Yeah, why is that?" Nisha asked as he closed the locker he was using.
"Well, the Archangel is dangerously understaffed right now. So, she's actually safer if she helps out." Chris answered. "And she's still in the same amount of danger regardless of whether she's a part of the crew or not."
"Well, from the looks of things, you've made up your mind Kira." Mu said as he entered the room in his own flight suit.
"Yes." Kira said. "Like both you and Chris said, the four of us are the only ones that can protect this ship and everyone on board. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not a soldier and certainly don't want to fight. All I want to do is protect the people on board this ship."
"It's the same for all of us." Mu said. "You won't find many people who fight merely for the sake of fighting. We fight because it's the only way to protect ourselves and what we care about."
"I know I am." Nisha replied.
"So what's the plan?" Chris asked.
Aboard the Gamow...
Saul Kessel sat in the cockpit of the Surge, waiting for the order to launch. He had to admit, he was excited to try out the Surge in actually combat. He had studied the machine and all of its capabilities. The Surge was easily the fastest of all the mobile suits. Hell, chances are, it's one of the fastest mobile suits ever made. It had a rival in the Wing. He could imagine the men and women of the infamous 11th Autonomous Mobile Fleet under the command of the Black Hawk, desiring to get their hands on this machine, or any of the other mobile suits from Heliopolis for that matter.
Scratch that. The Black Hawk had been dead for months. His older sister, Diana Kessel, was the 11th Fleet's commander now.
Saul shuddered at the thought of his older sister. She was the complete opposite of him. Where he was rather lazy, calm, and quiet, she was a real slave driver. Loud, uptight, forceful, and about a dozen other unpleasant words he could use to describe her. She was also a skilled hacker, though much to her annoyance, not as good as him.
Regardless of its commander, the 11th Fleet was still the same outfit. A group of pilots that varied from extremely professional soldiers to soldiers, that if they had been in any other group in military, they would have been kicked out of the military or thrown in a military prison. All and all, they were a wild and unpredictable group of soldiers, who had only two things in common: a tremendous loyalty to their commander, both his sister and the late John Alaric. And their mobile suits. The machines they piloted were a bunch of heavily customized GINN High Maneuver Types, in fact, it was said that no two mobile suits were exactly the same. All aboard a trio of customized Nazca-class vessels. But that's who the men and women of the 11th Fleet were. A group of wildly different soldiers who piloted non-standard, customized machines. And they were the most feared and respected space-based unit in ZAFT.
"Mobile suit pilots, prepare for launch." the Gamow's Combat Operator said over the radio.
He was up first. Saul moved the Surge onto the catapult. He received the green light to take off.
"Saul Kessel. Surge takin' off."
The catapult activated, the g-forces pushing him back into his seat as the Surge was launched into space.
'Time to try this baby out.'
Elsewhere…
A squad of three Nazca-class ships hovered nearby, the famed Le Creuset team unaware that they were being watched. A male form smirked as he looked at the famous team trying to accomplish an almost impossible mission. "So, they are trying to destroy the legged ship, eh?" he chuckled. "Good luck with that, you snake of a man."
"Sir, we are standing by to interfere if need be." A female voice replied. Aisha Nihao was a First-gen Japanese-American Coordinator with blue eyes and green hair. A few days after the Junius Seven attack, she had left NASA to join ZAFT as a green coat and was assigned to the 7th Independent Mobile Fleet. Calculating and intelligent, Aisha was invaluable as a tactical officer.
Her commanding officer just nodded at the news. "Very well. If anyone can defeat that man…it is this ship. If they can stay alive long enough that is…"
A red coat just grunted once. Heidi Matthews, a second-gen Coordinator, had blonde hair, dark skin, and green eyes that seemed to be cold and uncaring, but that was only because of the hatred she had been shown in her home nation, the Advance European Union Alliance. Underneath the façade, she was just a scared girl who had never been treated as a real human being. She was actually very sweet. After her mother's death by officials in the SAF, she and her father had moved to NASA to get away from the anti-Coordinator influence they had experienced there. And the attack on Junius Seven had only reinforced her hatred of the EA. Heidi wore the male pants instead of the skirt that Aisha wore as well. She looked back at her commanding officer, a cold look in her eyes.
"Are you sure we should be doing this? After all, we are helping the Earth Alliance's enemy." She growled.
A glare from the man in charge made her back down. "We need to prevent this war from getting out of hand. True, if we get involved on any other side other than ZAFT, it will get more out of hand, but it will bring the war to an end sooner." He replied.
Red coat Josh Ajaxi smirked. With unruly white hair, slightly tan skin, and grey eyes, he was one who liked to mess around and was also the most laid back member of the crew yet. A first-gen Coordinator, he had been born in NASA like Aisha. Having moved to the PLANTs when he was eight, Josh had joined ZAFT after one of his friends had been killed in the Junius Seven attack.
"And the sudden changes in sides will confuse that snake Le Creuset even more, as if he is not already confused enough." Josh snickered.
White coat Tao White stood on the bridge as well. Like Heidi, she was a second-gen Coordinator, but she was born in NASA like Josh and Aisha. She had joined ZAFT before the Junius Seven attack, but by the time the attack had occurred, she was already a white coat. Calculating like her father, Tao was a strategic prodigy on the battlefield. Very few survived her attacks more than once. Her blue-grey eyes were partially concealed by her messy black hair.
"Josh is right. The attacks will confuse Le Creuset and he will become nervous. But it could also backfire on us, meaning that the snake will attack us, believing us to be an enemy of the PLANTs. And that is something we wish to avoid at all costs, if at all possible." Tao reminded them.
The final person in the room, Araiya Wolfe, just sighed. A first-gen Coordinator, she had pale green eyes and long purple hair that was tied back in a ponytail. Having been born in the Oceania Union Alliance, Araiya and her family had fled when she was five years old due to attacks on her home occurring more than once. Leaving the nation a few months shy of her sixth birthday, Araiya and her family had entered the Japan Special Economic Zone of NASA and took the next flight out to the PLANTs. She was six by the time they arrived in the colonies.
Araiya had been a white coat for a few months by the time the Junius Seven attack had occurred. Outgoing and friendly, she made friends easily, but on the battlefield, she was a fearsome Mobile Suit pilot who had a knack for reading the enemy's moves and had earned the title of 'Best Pilot'.
"Even if we were to get involved, I doubt Le Creuset would let us get away. He and the Supreme Council have been trying to get us charged with treason for three months now." Araiya reminded them.
The air was filled with tension, the crew members knowing all too well what fate awaited them if they were caught.
"We are not the 'Maverick Fleet' as those idiots in ZAFT call us. We know who we truly are, and we will follow through with our ideals no matter who we may side with. Do not forget why we came together, or our reasons for fighting." The commander replied.
"Yes, sir!" they all said, saluting him as they did so.
Archangel's hanger…
Chris sat in the cockpit of the Raven, waiting for the order to launch. Lt. La Flaga had taken off a few minutes ago. And soon, he, Nisha, and Kira would be launching.
"Load the Aile Striker onto the Strike." his aunt's voice called over the radio.
'Hmm...Aile Striker. That's a new one.'
"Kira, Chris, Nisha." Miriallia said over the radio as her face appeared on one of screens on the console.
"Miriallia?" he heard Kira say over the radio.
"From now on, I will act as the combat operator for the mobile suits and the mobile armor." Mir said. "I'm counting on you three."
"Don't worry Mir." Chris said. "We're not gonna let anything happen to the ship."
"You can count on us, that's for sure. We'll show this crew that we're not with ZAFT and help you make it out." Nisha replied. "That's the best way to get them to respect us as human beings."
The ship suddenly shuddered slightly as the Lohengrins fired blindly at the Nazca-class ahead of them.
The catapult doors opened up.
"Kira Yamato. Strike Gundam launching." Kira said before he took off.
'Gundam? Interesting name. Taking the first letters of each word in the name of the OS. Wish I had thought of that.'
"Chris Dante. Raven Gundam taking off."
The catapult activated, propelling him forward and into space.
"Nisha Itsuno, Z.A.M. Gundam ready."
"There's five mobile suits incoming." Ensign Badgiruel said over the radio. "One from the front, four from the rear. It's the Aegis, the Blitz, the Surge, the Duel and the Buster."
"Okay Kira, Nisha, we're outnumbered, so I think we should stay near the Archangel. That way, they can provide us with some support."
"Right." Kira replied.
"You got it." Nisha responded.
The Surge, the Blitz, the Duel and the Buster streaked through space.
"Looks like Athrun's gonna beat us there." Saul said to himself. "Hey Yzak."
"What?"
"Athrun's gonna be by himself for a while against those two machines, waiting for us to get there. I'm going ahead to help him."
"What? What are you talking about? You can't get there any faster than the rest of us."
Saul smirked. "Do you know why my machine is called the Surge?"
"What? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Let me show you." Saul said before hitting the throttle to max.
The Surge's thrusters kicked in, causing the mobile suit to literally surge through space towards the Archangel while the g-forces were pushing Saul back into his seat.
'Wow! I knew this thing was fast but...wow!'
A few minutes later, he arrived just after Athrun arrived. Athrun went after the Strike. The second machine, the Raven, moved to help its comrade. Saul wasn't about to let Athrun get double-teamed. Saul aimed and fired a trio of warning shots at it. He wasn't about to destroy the Raven when it wasn't even aware of him. That was something cowards and snipers did. Not him.
The Raven stopped, turned to face him and opened fire with its dual railgun. But Saul, using the Surge's superior speed, dodged with every shot, and returned fire with his beam rifle. Both machines avoided the other's shots as they fired.
'Hmm...This guy's good. Let's try this.'
The Surge's left arm shot up and fired its Hakenfaust piercer claw. The Raven dodged the claw and transformed into its mobile armor mode and opened fire with its machine guns as it flew towards him. Saul dove to the left, dodging most of the shots and the few that did hit him, barely scratching the phase-shift armor.
The Raven flew past him. Saul spun the Surge around and fired again as the Raven turned for another pass. Saul fired his rifle at it. The Raven dodged but oddly enough, didn't return fire. It was almost upon him, when its bird-like feet angled up bit and short energy blades activated in the center of its feet.
'Shit!' Saul thought as he barely managed to fly up and avoid it.
The Raven flew past him and transformed back into its mobile suit mode. Then it spun around and fired it's railgun at him again.
'Why don't we try something a little different?' Saul thought as he dodged the shots.
He holstered his rifle and drew his swords and charged as fast as he could get the machine to go. The Raven managed to draw both of its beam swords and block his attack and pushed him back.
"You're pretty good." Saul said over radio to the Raven's pilot. "I'm a little surprised that a Natural could pilot a mobile suit so well."
"I'm not a Natural." the pilot replied.
From the sound of his voice, the pilot was probably around his age.
"I'm a Coordinator. Same with the pilots of the Strike and Z.A.M. Gundam."
Now this really surprised him. "What? Why are you three fighting on an Earth Force warship?"
"A rather long story." the pilot answered. "The short answer is that my family and friends, who are civilians, are on board that ship. So I'm simply protecting them."
Saul had to admit, that was a very good reason. Hell, he'd do the same thing in his position.
"Sorry to hear that. It's nothing personal but I got my orders. And I won't insult you by holding back." he said.
"Same here."
At that moment, Yzak, Nicol and Dearka arrived.
"Nicol, go help Saul with that machine. Dearka, you get the ship. I'll help Athrun." Yzak ordered.
The Blitz appeared and fired at the Raven, causing it to back off.
"Saul, you alright?" Nicol asked.
"I'm fine."
'Sorry buddy, but I got a job to do.'
Archangel Hallway…
Akira looked out at the two Mobile Suits that were headed out into combat. Even though he had said he would fight, the boy did not actually mean it. Fighting for the EA was not was what he was going to resort to…
Then, the Coordinator saw the ZAFT ships heading towards the Archangel. He knew that those were two of the most fearsome, due to the one that they were under the command of.
'Le Creuset…' Akira thought bitterly. The man was sneaky and shrewd in his own right, and that was what made him so scary and formidable. He was also Akira's rival squadron's commanding officer for ZAFT. "Looks like I have to head out…" the boy muttered.
He reached the pilot locker room, and took out a red and white pilot suit. Once Akira had put it on, he picked up the helmet and headed for the hanger. He put on the helmet and drifted into the cockpit of the Wing.
"Okay, Akira. You are set to launch." Mirillia said.
"Akira Nishikama, Wing, launching!" he shouted as the Wing roared down the catapult towards the end. The door open, the machine flew out and sped off to reach the battle site he was assigned to.
Akira snarled in anger, but he had a job to do. The Wing soon had reached the end of the ship and was primed and ready for a fight.
Not a moment too soon, the Duel came up to the ship from the front. Akira felt his blood pulsate with rage at the enemy. 'If they call me a Blue Cosmos supporter one more time, I WILL kill them!' He reminded himself.
"Let's see how the Wing handles space combat…" he muttered as he got the weapons systems online. The other pilot had no idea what he was up against.
Yzak growled as he looked at the newest arrival. It was a new machine, no doubt used by the enemy. "So, that is the famous machine that eluded our intelligence. Doesn't look like much." The silver haired boy scoffed.
"Don't let that exterior fool you. I heard from the commander that it is supposed to be the fastest of the group." Nicol replied.
"Yeah, against such a machine, it will be hard for you to win that fight." Dearka added.
"Relax guys. That machine is nothing when compared to us. We are ZAFT elites after all." Yzak sneered. Nicol was not so sure about that though. Considering how the pilot had fared against the commander, it seemed possible that the Wing's pilot was also a ZAFT elite pilot. "On second thought, I'll take this new machine. Dearka can help Athrun after he takes down the ship."
But, the combatants were unaware of the observers watching their very battle…
Elsewhere…
Unbeknownst to the combatants, a modified CGUE and a pair of modified GINNs armed with sniper rifles, observed the from afar.
"So those are the new mobiles and the legged ship from Heliopolis." Commander Diana Kessel said as she watched fight. "Quite impressive."
"Yeah. Those guys at Orb sure know how to make some sweet looking machines." Ajay Cortez drawled.
"Indeed." Lucius Raveshaw said. "Though I have to wonder if getting these machines was worth the destruction of Heliopolis."
"Yeah. They should have sent us. Not that masked pansy Creuset and those little boys." Ajay said.
"May I remind you, Ajay, that one of those 'little boys' is my younger brother?" Diana said to her subordinate.
"Sorry ma'am. Didn't mean anything by it ma'am." Ajay quickly said to avoid angering his commander.
"Don't worry about it. My younger brother is a lazy, foolish child. But he also happens to be about the only one who can tell what exactly happened to Heliopolis."
"You suspect that Creuset will lie about the events that led to the destruction of Heliopolis then?" Lucius, her right-hand man, asked.
"Through his teeth. Creuset is nothing but a snake." Diana answered. "He'll tell Zala what happened, then Zala will manipulate the facts and make ORB and the Earth Forces look like the villains while Creuset becomes the commander who tried everything to prevent Heliopolis's destruction."
"What'd you expect from a couple of snakes them?" Ajay said in disgust. "It's cause of them and that traitor that the commander's gone."
All three of them were quite for a moment.
"Sir. Should we get involved in this battle?" Lucius asked.
"No. We'll watch and see how things play out."
Battle site…
Akira snarled as he detected the Duel behind him. The bleeping alarm made it hard to miss anyway… "Damn it!" he snarled. In a flash, the Duel was up against his machine.
The Coordinator pushed the throttles back, and the Wing moved away from the Duel almost immediately. The pilot of the Duel was not too happy about the maneuver, so he tried to attack with the beam rifle. Akira just dodged the beam shots using the Wing's high maneuverability, so the shots each missed him.
"Damn you! You Blue Cosmos scum will not get away with this!" the enemy pilot cried. That proved to be his biggest mistake ever…
Akira stopped at that comment. Everything seemed to slow down for him as he gripped the controls so tightly, he risked hurting his hands. Tears began to well up and threatened to run down the sides of his face.
Yzak stared, wondering why the enemy had suddenly stopped. What was going on?
Minako laughed as Akira laughed. Even though he was only five, he already knew that his sister would be around forever. At least, she would to him. Then, her face shattered in a flurry of broken glass to reveal Minako's broken and battered form. One of her arms was missing as was part of her upper chest…
Akira looked up, tears now running down his face. The golden seed fell out of nowhere again, only to explode against his mind's barrier. All other emotions except for rage were pushed aside, just as the Duel began to attack again.
"YOU BASTARD! I WILL kill you so hard, you will beg for mercy, even AFTER death!" Akira screamed. He then grunted as he shoved the controls forward so hard it made the machine shudder.
The engines kicked in, the extra battery pack online. In a rush of speed, the Wing took off so fast, it seemed like a blur of speed. In outer space, it actually was too.
Yzak stared as the enemy machine took off so fast, he could not get a lock on it. The thing was so fast, it seemed to not even be there!
Akira opened fire with the beam rifle, but the Duel just blocked with its shield. Growling out loud, Akira then looked over the Wing's specs again and decided on something that had a little more power: the Hellfire mini-missiles.
The back of the Wing shifted as two slots opened up on the back thrusters. At the same time, twin missile launchers swung into place on the shoulder area, one per side.
"Let's see how you like THIS!" Akira screamed as his machine opened fire, missiles speeding out towards the Duel. The pilot had obviously not been expecting that, so he had a hard time avoiding the missiles. The ones he did avoid however, hit his shield instead of completely missing.
"DAMN YOU!" Akira cried as he flew at the Duel. The opposing machine avoided the first beam shot, only to get a beam saber to the side. The golden blade was hard to miss in the blackness of space anyway.
The Duel got out its beam saber as well, and a sword to sword fight ensued. The Wing dodged a slash by the Duel, but the Wing did not miss when it came to the other machine. The slash hit the shield instead, however.
Yzak grunted as he blocked the slashes. Those mini-missiles had been hard to dodge enough, but the close combat skills of this machine were way above what he had been expecting. It was as if the enemy pilot was a Coordinator…
He shook his head. There was no way that the enemy was a Coordinator, was there?
Akira dodged another slash, and tried to get around the shield. "RRRRAAAAAHHHH!" he cried. The Wing tried to slash at the chest of the Duel, but once again, he hit the shield instead.
"There is no WAY that I am letting you insult me like that!" the Coordinator snarled as he fired the beam rifle again. The beam shots missed the cockpit once again, but the impact of one shot managed to damage the Duel's shoulder.
This fight was about to get even more intense soon…
Chris dodged the energy blasts from the Surge and the Blitz and returned fire as best he could.
"Strike, Raven, where are you? We need assistance." Ensign Badgiruel said over the radio.
"Little busy right now. Besides, isn't Nisha there to help you out?" Chris replied as he dodged attacks from the Blitz and the Surge while returning fire.
"He's fighting the Buster." Miri replied.
True to her words, Nisha had to fight the Buster. The two machines were made for heavy-firepower, so it seemed to be a tie.
The Z.A.M. Gundam, however, had a little secret of its own. As the Buster got closer to finish off the machine, the Z.A.M. Gundam dodged the blasts!
Despite its heavier frame, the machine was still pretty fast, mostly because the frame was lighter than most. Nisha grinned to himself, but deep down, he still knew that the Z.A.M. Gundam was still slower than most machines.
That was why he had to finish off the Buster and soon too. As the Buster attacked, Nisha was able to have the Z.A.M. Gundam move out of the way of the other machine.
A beam shot from the Buster's beam rifle flew at the other machine, but Nisha blocked with the shield. The beam bounced off harmlessly, leaving the Z.A.M. Gundam intact.
"Not bad." The Buster's pilot remarked as he moved his machine back. "Hmph." Nisha was not impressed. The other pilot did not know that Nisha did not care for any compliments in battle. It was the wrong thing to do because it could lead to one's death in combat.
The Buster flew at the Z.A.M. Gundam, just as the many missiles prepared to fire from the machine. The warheads left the Buster, streaking towards the Z.A.M. Gundam. It seemed that the impact would be grand, but then things slowed down for Nisha as they had before.
Each of the missiles seemed to be moving slowly instead of fast. Nisha had a feeling that the slowness was his advantage, so he struck back. Getting out his beam saber, Nisha flew to attack the missile assault. He flew around, slashing at any missile he could see. All the while, no one seemed to be aware of what was happening. That is until, the world seemed to return to normal speeds. Nisha found himself at the receiving end of a beam rifle, the Buster's.
"I don't know how you were able to avoid and destroy all of those missiles, but you won't be able to do that again." The enemy pilot remarked. Nisha just remained silent as he flew backwards and away from the Buster.
A few missiles from the Z.A.M. Gundam's leg launchers flew at the Buster, impact being made with the shield. The Buster flew away, no doubt in disgust at having lost to a supposed 'Natural'.
Akira, meanwhile, was still fighting the Duel. The enemy pilot was attacking in a rage, just as Akira himself was.
The two machines seemed to dance around one another, trying to get a direct hit. But the Wing was a hard machine to even graze. Yzak snarled as he tried to land a hit on the Wing's wing. The other machine just dodged easily.
"Stay still!" the silver-haired boy growled. The Wing refused to comply. Instead, the machine's pilot attacked with the beam rifle again. The shot hit the Duel's shield with little to no damage.
"RRRRRAAAAAHHHHHH!" Akira let loose a primal scream as he slashed with everything he had. The Duel's shield absorbed some of the impact before actually breaking in half!
"WHAT?!" Yzak could not believe what had just occurred. The Duel had no shield to defend itself with! "GRRRRR!" he snarled as he felt the need to get even. The Duel left to attack the Strike, just as the Wing's pilot finally settled down…
"Need help Athrun?" Yzak asked.
"Yes, thanks." Athrun replied as he moved away from the Strike, only to have Yzak fire on it as he did so.
It had been a much needed break too.
Chris didn't know how much longer they were gonna last. He was barely holding out against one of the enemy machines. Now was forced to fight two of them at the same time. And these guys weren't like the GINNs from before. The machines were the counterparts to the Strike and his own machine, which meant that these machines were superior to the GINNs.
Both the Blitz and the Surge fired their claw weapons at him. Chris dove to avoid them and fired a few more rounds from his railguns at them. Suddenly, there was a warning beep sounded through the cockpit. It was his ammo indicator. He had only eight rounds left, which meant four shots and he was out.
"Damn. Gonna have to be careful now." he said to himself. "I can only fire when I'm absolutely certain I'll hit something."
The Blitz lunged at him with its beam sword. Chris parried the blow with his right sword and kicked the Blitz back. The Surge took this moment to attack with its solid swords. Chris managed to move out of the way. At that moment, a text message appeared on the Raven's console.
Preparing to fire Lohengrins. Watch out.
Chris took a quick look around. Kira was both fighting the Aegis and the Duel. Both he and Kira were out of the danger zone.
A few moments later, the Lohengrin cannons emerged and fired. The two massive streaks of energy raced towards the location of the Nazca-class.
'Looks like Lt. La Flaga succeeded.'
Which meant that the Nazca-class had taken serious damage and would likely fall back and recall the mobile suits.
Suddenly, a pair of stray shots from the Strike flew past him.
"Hey Kira, watch where you're firing. You're gonna either hit me or drain your battery."
"Sorry." Kira said he aimed at the Aegis and fired.
Only to have nothing come out of the rifle. A moment later, the Strike's phase-shift armor deactivated.
"No! I'm out of power!" Kira shouted.
At that moment, the Duel raised its rifle and aimed at the Strike.
"Hold on Kira!" Chris shouted as he transformed the Raven into its mobile armor form raced towards the powerless Strike.
Not too far off, Aki' noticed the same thing. "Damn it all!" he swore as he flew towards the powerless machine as well.
At the same time, the Aegis also transformed and sped towards the Strike. It became a race to see who would get there first, the Raven, the Aegis, the Wing, or the Duel's beams.
The Duel fired as the Aegis, the Wing, and the Raven neared the Strike.
The Wing and Raven were the winners. Their hands and talons grabbed onto the shoulders of the Strike and pulled it out of the path of the beam. Chris turned the Raven towards the Archangel with Aki' following the same path. The Blitz and the Surge fired at them, but he dodged their shots, barely. The Aegis however, was still hot on their trail. But thankfully, it wasn't firing at them as well.
'Why is that? One good shot and we're dead. So why isn't he firing?'
"Get re-equipped with the Launcher Striker. I'll handle these guys." Aki' snarled over the com-line as Chris brought the Strike near the ship.
"Archangel. The Strike's out of power and I don't have much power left either. Launch one of the Striker Packs or we're gonna be screwed."
Athrun Zala stared at the Strike and the Raven, unsure of what to do. The soldier in him was saying fire at the Raven and the Wing. But if he did that, the Strike would be caught in the explosion. But without its phase-shift armor, the Strike would likely be heavily damaged, if it survived at all. If he fired at the Raven or the Wing, Kira would likely...
"Athrun! What are you waiting for? Shoot them down!" Yzak shouted.
Athrun couldn't fire. Not at Kira anyway.
"Dammit! I'll do it myself!" Yzak shouted as he aimed his rifle, preparing to fire it's grenade at the three mobile suits.
'No! Kira...'
Yzak was about to fire when suddenly, there was a loud "YEEHAW!" followed by a barrage of beams that flew at the Duel.
Most missed, but a few hit their mark, stunning Yzak. Everyone looked up. It was a Moebius Zero.
Chris heard a warning alarm go off in his cockpit. Someone had a target lock on him.
'Dammit, dammit, dammit...'
Akira let loose several colorful words from his radio as the Wing's cockpit alarm also went off.
Suddenly there was a loud "YEEHAW!"
It was Lt. La Flaga. Chris breathed a sigh of relief.
"Get the Strike lined up with the Archangel so they can launch the Launcher Striker. I'll cover you." La Flaga said.
"Right. Thanks."
"Don't mention it. Now get going."
Chris didn't need to be told twice. He pushed the Raven's engines to the max draining most of the remaining battery power as Aki' flew off to deal with the other machines. One of the Archangel's catapults opened up. Chris turned the Raven and lined up both machines with the catapult.
"End of the line, Kira." Chris said as he released the Raven's grip on the Strike and flew away from the Strike.
"Thanks Chris." Kira replied as he released the Aile Striker from the back of the Strike.
The Launcher Striker launched from the Archangel towards the Strike. Kira quickly attached the Launcher Striker, reactivated the phase-shift and started firing at the enemy mobile suits.
Saul watched as the recharged Strike fired at them Everyone managed to dodge the shots, save for Yzak, who lost the right arm of his machine in the blast.
"Damn it!" Yzak cursed.
"Yzak, we need to retreat." Athrun said.
"WHAT?!" the other pilot shouted at the top of his lungs.
"The Vesalius has been damaged. And we're starting to run low on power."
"I agree with Athrun." Nicol said. "If we don't fall back soon, it will be our turn to run out of power."
"Yeah." Saul said as he glanced at his. "I'm running on fumes as it is. We should fall back."
Chris breathed another sigh of relief as he watched the five enemy mobile suits retreat.
They had won. Chris found himself wondering how much longer these guys were gonna be chasing them.
Something told him that they weren't going away any time soon.
"Wow. Even with a five to two mobile suit advantage, they still couldn't even destroy one mobile suit." Ajay said. "That's sad. Real sad."
"Perhaps that's a testament of the skill of the pilots of two mobile suits and the crew of the ship." Lucius said.
"Perhaps. Or perhaps it was just luck." Diana said. "We're returning to the Odin."
"Yes ma'am."
"Yeah boss."
I hope you liked the battles here. And there will be more involvement from the 7th Fleet soon. Please read and review! And any flames will be reported and/or deleted. Constructive criticism is appreciated too. Let me know what you think!
