Phase Twenty-Five: Land of War

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. Nor do I own Martin Nightengale, as he is Meteorthunder3's OC. I only own Akira, Tao, Nisha, NASA/NAZAFT, the 7th Fleet, the Wing, Z.A.M., and Diver Gundams.

CT7567Rules: I am glad you like the story so much! :3 And trust me, there will be an alteration to the fate of Shinn's family... ;3

Titanic X: Glad you like it. :)

A0930: Okay, I did a double update last weekend for obvious reasons, but now I am slipping back into once a week. You will like the next chapters, I am sure. :3

nbm: PLEASE use a consistent guest name! Geez... But I am glad you still like it. But I want to know WHAT you love about it, not just that you like it, even though I like hearing that as well.

Just a Crazy Man: Glad you like it. :)

gagasgumilang208: I will see about doing that. :)

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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…


The Archangel's Brig

"So, you think we're ever gonna get out of here?" Saul asked.

Nicol shrugged. "Not sure. Actually, I've lost count of how long we've been in here."

"Same here." Saul replied. "What about you Dearka?"

"Hey don't look at me. I haven't been counting days at all."

The door at the end of the hall opened and a girl in an Earth Forces uniform and pushing a cart, entered. Saul glanced through the bars of his cell at the girl. "Uh oh... Dearka, it's that crazy knife girl." he said. "You better hide before she tries to cut you up again."

Miriallia ignored him as she walked to Dearka's cell. She entered the code and opened the cell. "So, questioning or prison transfer?" Dearka asked.

"Neither." Miri quietly replied, grabbing Dearka's flightsuit from the cart and tossing it at him. "This ship is going into battle again because the Earth Forces are attacking ORB."

The ZAFT pilots were all surprised by this. Why would the Earth Forces attack a neutral nation like ORB? It didn't make any sense. She left his cell and unlocked Saul's and Nicol's cells, and returned their flightsuits. "The Captain said you're all free to go." she added before leaving.

The three ZAFT Red Coats stepped out of their cells, looked at each other for moment, and then rushed out after Miri. "Wait!" Dearka called out. "What did you mean by that?"

But the girl didn't stop walking, so they followed after her. "Exactly what told I you." Miri said.

Nicol shook his head in disbelief. "But that's crazy! Why would they invade ORB?"

"They want ORB's Mass Driver since they've lost Panama. And ORB has refused to join the Earth Alliance." Miri answered. "The Earth Forces will be attacking soon and the Archangel is staying to fight for ORB. When the fighting starts outside, things are going to get chaotic, so all of you had better get off the island while you can."

"But how are we supposed to get off of ORB?" Saul asked.

"That's not my problem. Take one of the boats evacuating the civilians if you want."

"Hey! What about my Buster?" Dearka asked.

"And my Surge?"

"Those were ours to begin with. Morgenroete has them now." Miri answered.

"Aw man... And I liked that machine too. No way am I going back to a GINN." Saul complained.

But Dearka ignored him. He reached out and grabbed the girl's arm, stopping her. "Are you going to be fighting as well?"

"I better be. I'm in charge of the Archangel's CIC." Miri shot back as she pulled out of his grip. "And besides, ORB is my homeland."


ORB Military Headquarters

An Hour Later

General Samuel Dante walked through the corridors of ORB's Military Headquarters, his mind focused on the battle to come. Lord Uzumi had appointed him in charge of ORB's defense, a task that he couldn't and wouldn't fail. Over the last several days, they had planned and prepared for the incoming invasion. Though in the end, he knew they could never hope to beat the Earth Forces' numbers. Truthfully, deep down, everyone knew they couldn't win. But beating the Alliance wasn't what he sought in this battle. What he sought was to give the Earth Forces a mauling that they would never forget. They may conquer ORB, but every foot they claimed would cost them greatly. As he entered the command center, everyone inside stopped what they were doing and saluted him. Save for the only non-soldier present, Cagalli. "At ease." he said, returning the salute. "What's the status of our forces?"

"All defense forces are in position and awaiting orders sir." an officer answered.

"The civilian evacuation?"

"Approximately forty-four percent of civilian population has been evacuated sir. Another flotilla of ships will be leaving within the hour, with an additional twenty percent of the population. The rest of the population should be evacuated by dusk sir. Should we move a unit to provide cover for them, sir?"

Samuel let out a quiet sigh as he leaned on the edge of the massive display table. Dusk was hours away. A third of ORB's population stuck on the island while a battle raged on... That did not sit well with him. "No. They'll be safer if we keep our units away from the civilian docks. Pass the order to our forces to stay away from the evacuation sites unless they come under attack." Samuel grimly replied, moving from the table. "Patch me through to all of ORB's defense forces."

"Yes sir." one of the comm officers said.

He picked up a headset. "This is General Samuel Dante to all ORB Defense Forces. As you know, an Earth Alliance fleet is approaching ORB. Their goal is to force us to submit to them, one way or another. The ORB government has refused to submit to them and they are coming to conquer ORB." Samuel said to the defenders. "I know many of you are wondering why we shouldn't just submit to the Earth Alliance and save ourselves from the approaching storm. But if we sided with the Earth Forces, than it would only be a matter of time before ZAFT attacked us. And if we joined ZAFT, the Earth Forces would attack us. Regardless of what we do, we will be attacked. The only difference is by whom we will be attacked by."


Kira sat in cockpit of the Freedom as it stood on the Archangel's port catapult as he listened to the broadcast. On the starboard catapult, the Exia stood. Behind them, the Strike, the Farsight II and the Dynames stood. All of them were waiting for the order to launch. A part of Kira still found this whole situation a shock. Of all the places that he thought that could become a battlefield, ORB had to be at the bottom of the list. But then, so had Heliopolis.

"Hard to believe that a few months ago, we were just students living in Heliopolis. It seems more like a lifetime ago." Chris commented. "Who could have guested that we would have ended up caught in the middle of this whole thing?"

"Instead of submitting, we will declare in one loud voice; NO! We will not submit to those that wish to use us to fight their enemies and their battles! We will not abandon our ideals! We will not attack another nation! Will not allow another nation to attack us! And will not get involved in the conflicts of other nations! These beliefs are what ORB was founded on! To abandon those beliefs is to abandon ORB itself!"

Kira nodded. "Yeah. I never thought I'd ever pilot a mobile suit. And yet here I am, sitting in the cockpit of a mobile suit."

"The most powerful mobile suit out there. Well, aside from Wing Zero that is." Chris added. "I sure don't envy you. You get shot down and it will pretty much take us all out. So be careful out there. I don't want to end up dead or glowing in the dark."

Kira chuckled at the comment. "Don't worry. I'll be careful out there."

"Hey, don't leave me out!" Nisha exclaimed over the com-line. Everyone just laughed before Heero spoke up.

"We need to make a stand here. Otherwise the Earth Alliance will gain the upper hand in the war. They wish to oppress this nation, and that is the biggest mistake they will ever make." He replied.

"What do you mean, Heero?" Chris asked.

"To me, a Gundam represents two things: Freedom to the oppressed, and death to the oppressors. There is no way that I will die before I give up to anyone who wishes to do so."

John was impressed by what Heero said, if not a little doubtful. Still he let it slide.

"The Alliance thinks that they can bully a small nation like us into submission. And that even if we stand up to them, they can crush us beneath their boot heel. They do not know what they have awakened. We shall show them ORB's strength! We shall make them pay dearly for every inch of ORB soil! So much so, that when this battle is over, they won't forget what we did here! They won't forget the mauling they received from the small, neutral nation of ORB!"

"Alright everyone. This is going to be a long and difficult battle to say the least, even for us." John sighed before adding. "What I wouldn't give to have my 11th Fleet here."

"Yeah. I wouldn't mind having their help out here either. Same with the 7th Fleet" Mu said. "Though I have to wonder if they'd really make a difference here."

"Don't underestimate them. Their presence on the field would have scared many of the Earth Forces pilots without having to fire off a shot." John replied. "And a panicking enemy is a careless enemy."

"It just means more work for us." Liz said, joining the conservation.

John nodded. "That's true. As I said before, this will be long and difficult. So be careful and stay focused out. And good luck out there."


"I will not lie to you. We are outnumbered a hundred to one. Each of you will have to be an army in your own right if ORB is to survive. But never forget that you are all fighting for the safety and future of your families, and the future of ORB itself! May the blessing of Haumea be upon us all as we prepare to wage this terrible battle! For the future of ORB, it's ideals and its people!"

Cheers and shouts echoing his words filled the comm channel. Samuel closed his eyes as he closed the comm line. A lot of people were going to die today. Hopefully, it would be only the soldiers of ORB and the Alliance. But there still many, many civilians fleeing ORB. And as long as they were still on Onogoro, they were in danger. Samuel opened his eyes, his face locked in grim determination. "Have the First Defense Fleet engage the Earth Alliance Fleet at close range." he ordered, knowing that he just sent many of those men and women to their deaths.

But there was no other choice. They had to delay the Alliance Fleet from closing in on Onogoro for as long as possible. If they could force the advancing Earth Forces into a narrow funnel around the First Fleet for a while, they could thin out their numbers before they reached the mainland. And maybe they'd get lucky and manage to take out a carrier or two before they could deploy most of their mobile suit complement.

Samuel turned to one of the comm screens. "Keep the Archangel with the rest of the fleet within the harbor, Captain. It won't be long before the bulk of the Earth Force's fleet breaks through the fleet they're engaging and hit the harbor." he said.

Murrue nodded. "Yes sir."

"Lieutenant La Flaga, Mr. Alaric, Nisha, Liz, I want you four to spread yourselves out amongst the Astrays and other ground units, providing whatever support you can. Kira, you and Heero are the most powerful weapons we have. I need you two to stay on the move, shoring up areas that start to buckle under the strain of the Alliance's attack. Chris, you will be in close-combat, so be careful."

"Sir, incoming transport planes! They're dropping mobile suits!"

"Have all AA guns target the planes. You as well Chris." Samuel ordered. "We need to stop as many of them as possible from dropping their mobile suits."

"Sir, Earth Forces warships and mobile suits are slipping past the First Fleet!"

Samuel turned to the map display table. As expected, while a portion of the Earth Alliance flotilla were engaging the ORB Fleet several miles off Onogoro's shore, warships, carriers and mobile suits were maneuvering around the fleets and heading for the mainland. "The remaining vessels and coastal batteries are to focus on the advancing forces while the Astrays and remaining defenders are to focus on the mobile suits that reach the mainland."


NASA east coast, U.S.A.

"Ma'am, we have incoming Earth Forces warships! They're from the AEU's Fifth Fleet!" a male officer shouted. His superior officer looked up in surprise, but not shock. NASA had been expecting such an attack, but not so soon, especially after Executive Order 88742610 had been repealed no less.

She looked out at the fleet that was mobilizing to defend the NASA coast. Ships of all sizes and functions were moving out, but she knew that against the large numbers of Strike Daggers, they would be of little help. Those ships carrying the mobile suits would land on the coast and overrun the entire coastal area. But that was if they didn't have the Traverses. With those machines, there was no way that they would fall so easily.

"Prepare to have the Traverse Squadrons move out! Have them take up ambush positions anywhere they can. Have Czech hedgehogs set up as anti-tank defenses to block any and all streets. As soon as they pick up the IFF of the Strike Daggers, they are to open fire at will!" the woman ordered as the soldier saluted crisply.

"Yes ma'am!"

As the man left, a news clip began to play, revealing President Hilson herself.

"All United States, Mexico and Canada soldiers. As you know, the Earth Alliance has launched an attack, not just on ORB, but on us as well. That is a big mistake. As I'm sure you're all aware, the Executive Order 88742610 has been repealed, and an attack by the Earth Forces after we have done such a thing equals greater recovery abilities, as all of our factories are now back in production. As such, the Earth Forces attacking us are going to learn the hard way that we will never back down, we will never give in, and we will not fail in our mission!"

Soldiers ran about, preparing for the coming invasion, listening all the while.

"Our nation has been invaded only a few times during its long history, but each time, we had the home-field advantage. This time is no exception. The Earth Forces will come to regret their decision to invade us, and in more ways than one. We will fight in the streets, we will fight in the fields, we will fight in the open deserts and oceans, and in the skies! We will defend our home, and we will never let them have our Mass Driver!"

People looked on as they were moved inland to shelters built underground and into the mountains. They knew that an attack was likely, and wanted to do what they could to help, but only the armed forces could, so all they could do was hope for the best.

"The Earth Alliance has no idea of what they have awakened, in both military and economic might! We will regain our position of superpower and put an end to this pointless war once and for all! If ZAFT wishes to attack us for cutting all ties with them as allies, then so be it! We will do the same thing we will do to the Earth Forces! We will drive them back and make them learn why we are a nation and alliance to be respected and feared! No one will make us submit to them, under any circumstances! To submit is to give up on America's ideals, the very ideals that made us famous in the human rights arena! All men and women are created equal and are endowed with inalienable rights! All people have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness! And all people are protected by the United States Constitution! We will never let those ideals be threatened by the Earth Forces! If the Earth Alliance wants to remove those very rights from the Coordinators living here in the United States, then they will have to do it the hard way: by fighting us and conquering us if they have the guts to do so!"

Civilians cheered the president as she continued her speech.

"For all of America, and for the entire WORLD, we will never submit! God bless us, god bless the world, and god bless AMERICA!"

Cheers all over the nation erupted as both civilian and military personnel felt her energy and drive to protect the nation that they all called home.

America was never going to fall!


ORB

Earth Alliance Spengler-Class Carrier, the Powell

The four Biological CPUs entered the hanger where their mobile suits and the doctors with their drugs were waiting. Each took their vial and downed the contents. Martin put on his red and black helmet and entered the Massacre's cockpit, starting up the mobile suit as his 'teammates' did the same.

At that moment, Azrael's face appeared on their main screens. "Say boys..."

Orga looked up at his display screen. "What?"

"Now remember boys, don't destroy Morgenroete or the Mass Driver." Azrael ordered. "Understand?"

"But we can destroy anything else, right?" Shani asked.

Azrael simply nodded.

"Oh yeah!" a pleased Clotho said.

"Time for some fun." Martin added, gripping the Massacre's controls as a grin spread across his lips.

"Why don't you guys shut up." Orga said as the Powell's mobile suit hold doors opened. The Forbidden and the Massacre launched first, heading for Onogoro. The Raider followed, transforming into its mobile armor mode. Then the Calamity launched, quickly landing on the Raider, using it as a flight platform. The four machines streaked towards Onogoro.

Unlike the Strike Daggers, which were maneuvering around the battling naval fleets, the four Biological CPUs tore right through them. The Forbidden's scythe sliced through the bridge of an ORB battleship. The Massacre's beam Gatling guns and head mounted beam cannon tore through another ORB warship, igniting its forward ammo magazine. The vessel exploded in a great ball of fire.

"Well what do we have here?" Orga said, aiming at the Archangel.

"Incoming mobile suits!" Chandra shouted.

"Evade them!" Murrue ordered.

Orga fired the Calamity's Schlag cannons and Todesblock bazooka at the white battleship. But the Archangel managed to move out of the beams' path. "Figures. You missed." Clotho said, flipping the Raider. "Now get off so I can show you how it's done!"

The Calamity fell off the Raider, landing on, and crushing, the bridge of an ORB battleship. Clotho transformed the Raider back into its mobile suit mode and landed in front of the Archangel's bridge. He raised the Raider's Mjolnir hammer, to drive it into the bridge, but just before it could hit it, the Freedom slammed into the Raider, knocking it into the sea.

At that very moment, the Forbidden appeared, firing it's railguns at the Freedom. Kira evaded the shots and fired back with his beam rifle. But to his surprise, the Forbidden's Geschmeidig Panzer pack dropped down. The beam harmless bounced off the shields. Shani snickered as the pack returned to its original position and he lunged forward, swinging his scythe at the Freedom. Kira managed to pulled the Freedom back just in time, the scythe missing him by a few feet. 'These guys aren't ordinary pilots.' Kira thought as he dodged wild scythe swings. 'Definitely aces. And in new machines too. I've got to careful with them.'

Kira fired again on the Forbidden. But again, Shani managed to deflect them with his Geschmeidig Panzer system and fired off his plasma induction cannon. Kira banked to the right, only to see the beam curve towards him. Kira cursed as the Freedom shot up, avoiding the beam.

'A curving beam? An energy deflection system! And this is just one of those four new machines!' he thought. 'If the other three are anything like this one, then we're all trouble.'


NASA

Strike Daggers landed on the shores of New York and Maine, forcing the defenders back. The older model GMs were useful in driving back the Strike Daggers, but only for a short time before the pilots began to become overwhelmed. In response to that, the Traverses were deployed as the GM pilots made their retreat inland. The Daggers followed them, certain that victory was coming.

"We need to hold the line!" a pilot shouted as she opened fire with her GM's beam rifle, like it would do much good. The only real weapon NASA had against the Strike Daggers was the Traverses. With the armor on those things, there was little that could actually damage them.

"Understood!" Her male counterpart replied as he slashed at a Strike Dagger with his machine's beam saber. The sword was met with the Dagger's shield as sparks flew from the impact point.

Strike Daggers were taking out GMs with one Dagger going down for every two GMs that they took out. It was an uneven fight, but they had to defend the coast-line!

People were being evacuated to the shelters, whether they were civilian or military personnel. All Coordinators were being sent to the shelters for their own safety. And into space if it every came down to it.

"This place will be easy to take over! All they have are old GMs!" A Dagger pilot exclaimed as he and his squadron made their way over to the city of New York.

"Yeah! All they can do is run for it!" another added as he took out a GM's arm. The machine exploded, older components finally giving out. The man laughed, only for it to be cut short by a beam cannon blast through his machine's torso. "We-"

The Dagger blew up, making the other squadron members look over behind a building. The end of a tank turret was visible, giving away what had fired that shot. "So, we have a tank here, eh? Not gonna do much good against us!" the lead pilot sneered as he aimed the beam rifle at the so-called 'tank' turret.

In response to that, another beam shot hit his machine on the shield, forcing the lead pilot to glance back. In the distance, a tank-like machine stood behind another building. The machine aimed the cannon again, and fired. Two Daggers got hit, one in the torso, and another on the arm, making the limb blow off.

"What the hell?!" the lead pilot fired on the tank-machine, only to miss the machine's turret, which moved backwards to prevent it from being blown off.

"Sir, I don't think those are simple GMs…" a pilot whimpered as another Dagger was hit. The machine exploded, making the squadron move back.

"Ya think?!" the leader exclaimed.

"Those are the Traverses! They can match ZAFT's machines and ours! Those things are much more advanced than even our Daggers!" another pilot blurted out. "Those things have beam cannons on them! And they have missiles as well!"

This made the squadron leader frown. "Damn…"


ORB

The Exia's GN Vulcan fired, tearing through a transport plane, destroying it and its complement of Strike Daggers. "Another plane down." Chris grimly said as the plane's fiery remains fell to earth.

For every plane he or the ORB defenders shot down, another managed to drop at least half of its payload, which meant dozens of Strike Daggers were already on ORB soil. And more were arriving every minute.

He glanced at the Freedom. Kira appeared to be having problems with a strange green mobile suit armed with a scythe. It seemed that every time Kira fired at the green mobile suit, it either dodged the shot or deflected the beams somehow with its shields. He better help him out. Chris sped off towards the Freedom. Only to come face to face with a mobile suit emerging from the sea, that was virtually identical to the Raven he used to pilot. Both the Exia and the Raider stopped dead in their tracks. "What the hell..." both Chris and Clotho said simultaneously as they stared at the other's mobile suit.

"Damn you!" Clotho yelled a moment later. "Who the hell do you think are, being the copycat pilot of my mobile suit!"

"Copycat! I'm not the copy! I was the original!" Chris shouted back. "You're the copy!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

Clotho growled. "Then I'll just kill you and become the original!" he shouted, firing his railguns.

The Exia dodged the Raider's shots and fired back. "That's not how it works! I'll always be the original and you'll always be the copy! Besides, the Raven is destroyed. So you were never a copy to begin with!" Chris shouted at his old Gundam's copy with a smirk on his face.

The two mobile suits continued their deadly dance. Neither able to gain the upper hand over the other. "Just die already!" a frustrated Clotho shouted, firing off the Zorn cannon.

Chris narrowly managed to avoid the beam. "Whoa…A Beam Cannon in the mobile suit's head. That's new. Clearly, you have more weapons than I do. But which one of us is faster, I wonder?"

Chris turned the Exia around and blew past the Raider. "Come on! Catch me if you can copycat!"

"You bastard! You're terminated!" Clotho growled as the Radier transformed and chased after the Exia.

Chris smirked as they raced across the skies above Onogoro. The Raider fired off its machineguns and Zorn cannon at him, but Chris was able to dodge the shots thanks to the Exia's GN Drive. 'That's it. Use up all your power trying to chase after me. Your weapons will be useless if you don't have any power.'


NASA

Alliance Dagger pilots made their way inland, only to be held up by ambush tactics that were used once before, in the Revolutionary War. Traverses made hit-and-run attacks on the Daggers that wanted to get inland, each time being more successful than the last.

"Let's show them the true power of NASA!" a pilot yelled as she fired off a slew of missiles from her Traverse. The warheads impacted the Daggers that were closest to her location, leaving behind a devastating explosion and aftermath. A large crater was all that remained, as were several damaged buildings.

The Dagger lieutenant turned to the location of the Traverse responsible, only to be met with another Traverse in front of him. He pulled his beam saber, only for the Traverse to do the same thing. Sword met shield, and sword met gun as the two clashed. Elsewhere, a Traverse pilot had snagged a Dagger's shield and was using it in a shoving match with another Dagger. Both machines were not getting anywhere, but that was fine with the pilots. As long as the other could not attack, then they were safe.

"Damn NASA! How could they have come up with these machines and still have much more advanced technology in them than we do?!" an Alliance pilot snarled as he fired his machine's beam rifle at a fast-moving Traverse in its tank form. The turret swung around and fired, hitting his machine in the lower torso. "Guh!"

That was all that he recalled before his machine blew up in a fireball. The Traverse then faded into the maze of buildings that was Boston. Many other Daggers were suffering as well due to NASA soldiers having the advantage in terrain. There were masses of Daggers on narrow roadways, leaving them open to mass attacks by Traverses that were in ambush locations.

It was not going well in the Alliance's favor. Not to mention the Mass Driver in Florida was rigged to blow if any Alliance forces got within twenty yards of it. But they were going to try anyway. And NASA was not going to give in either.


ORB

"Come on! Let's show these fools the might of the Alliance!" a Strike Dagger lieutenant shouted, leading six other Daggers towards a pair of Astrays and a group of tanks.

However, they didn't get very far when a beam pierced the cockpit of the lieutenant's Dagger. The remaining Daggers abruptly stopped, only to be gunned down by more well aimed shots. The first four were all hit in the chest and exploded. The fifth lost its head from one beam and was destroyed by the second. A shot narrowly missed the final machine. The second shot severed its left ankle and it fell to the ground.

Standing on a ridge, over a mile away, the Farsight lowered its beam sniper rifle. "Damn. I shouldn't have needed more than seven shots. Guess I still haven't completely adjusted to this new rifle." John said, taking aim at more distant targets.


NASA

President Hilson climbed into the Traverse she had used before, which was now labeled as hers until she could get a better machine. The cockpit closed up, the OS coming online. She looked over the stats and levels before she proceeded out onto the battlefield near the capital itself.

"All units, this is President Marie Hilson! As of right now, I am effectively taking command of the battlefield! Orders are to hold the capital under any circumstances! Use ambush tactics to gain an edge over them, and do not let the enemy gain a foothold! As long as I still breathe, I am President and leader of this nation and no one will take that! Even if the capital falls, I will still lead this nation, no matter where I go! That is a promise that I intend to keep!"

Many cheered as they opened fire on the incoming Daggers. Pilots of Traverses moved quickly in both tank and mobile suit form. The president moved in line with the other pilots, her mission clear. The nation was not going to fall!


ORB

A Strike Dagger lunged forward, its beam saber slicing through an Astray's chest. "Ha! These guys aren't so tough!" the Dagger pilot said, laughing as the Astray exploded.

Another Strike Dagger was saber-dueling a second Astray when a third Dagger ambushed the Astray, stabbing it in the back with its beam saber. The third Dagger pilot nodded his head. "Yeah! These idiots think they can mess with the Earth Alliance and get away with it. But they're-"

Whatever he was going to say, was cut off when a trio of beams tore through the Dagger's body and a split-second later, the mobile suit exploded.

The two remain Daggers turned to their new attacker. Before them, stood the GN002 Dynames, his beam rifle trained on them. "Bastard!" the first pilot shouted as both Daggers charged towards the mobile suit. "You're dead!"

Liz quickly stowed her rifle, switching it for the beam sabers. Both Dagger pilots smirked. This lone mobile suit didn't stand a chance against them. "Small hilts against beam sabers! Don't make me la-"

Suddenly, the Dynames rushed towards them, catching them off guard with its superior speed. Liz struck, slicing through the waists of both machines as she rushed past them. "GAAAAAAH!" one of the Alliance pilots screamed just before his Dagger exploded along with its teammate.

But Liz didn't have any to celebrate her victory as more and more Strike Daggers appeared, firing their rifles at her. Liz pulled the Dynames back, avoiding their shots as she raised her machine's left arm. The shields took the blows just fine. She sliced with the beam saber, shredding the right arm off one machine and taking out two others. But there were too many for her to handle by herself. Still, there wasn't much of a choice here. She sheathed her right beam saber and brought out her sniper rifle. "Come on!" she shouted at the advancing Daggers. "You guys aren't getting ORB without a fight!"

At that very moment, beams rained down on the Daggers from afar. Most of the Daggers exploded or found heads and limbs blown off. 'Guess I owe John for that.' Liz thought as she opened fired on the survivors that were still determined to fight.


NASA

As Earth Alliance Daggers made their way into Washington D.C., President Hilson was on the front lines with the soldiers fighting to defend their home. Many Traverse pilots had taken down even more Daggers than predicted. Her eyes flicked over the arrangements of soldiers before she looked back at the White House.

All around the presidential mansion, defenses were deployed. Missiles rose out of the grounds and did the launchers. Guns were armed and primed for firing, and snipers with bazookas were firing at any Daggers that tried to get close. Gatling guns were firing as well, sticking out of the ground like the sentinels they were.

Daggers were exploding before they even reached the grounds, or even the front gate. So far so good… An explosion made her look over to the left, away from the White House. A Dagger had been destroyed near the Pentagon.

Fiery remains were all that remained. Defenses were going around the military headquarters of the United States Armed Forces as well. Like the White House, missile launchers, Gatling guns, guns, and bazooka-wielding soldiers were taking out the Daggers like no tomorrow. She could also see the Alliance soldiers having difficulty weaving through the maze of Czech hedgehogs that lined the streets, there were so many.

The cockpit warning system bleeped, making President Hilson look in front of her. With a gasp, she realized that a Dagger had gotten the jump on her. Moving backwards, she managed to dodge the beam saber swipe, only to get hit with a beam rifle shot. She grunted as her machine regained its balance.

"Damn…" she murmured before she spoke. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Like traitors like you would know! Your Mass Driver is ours! Then we can wipe out the space monsters who dare to call themselves humans! They make a mockery of us, the true humans!" the Earth Alliance pilot she spoke to roared.

"NO! They are NOT monsters! YOU are the real monsters!" she snarled back as she pulled her Traverse's beam saber. The pink blade ignited and clashed with the Dagger's beam saber. Grunting, the president then aimed the beam cannon on the back of her machine at the Dagger and fired. The enemy pilot was so caught up in his duel with the country's leader that he did not notice the beam cannon charging and firing until it was too late.

"GAAAAHHHH!" His machine was vaporized quickly at such close range.

"You will pay for trying to conquer my nation!" the president roared as she got her machine into a fighting stance.


ORB

Nisha fired on several Daggers that tried to surround him, the missiles taking out the enemy with no trouble. "Damn. These guys sure are desperate to get that Mass Driver." He murmured.

Several Astrays were firing the same time he was, giving him the edge over the Earth Forces. "You said it." One of the pilots replied as he fired on a Dagger, taking out the left arm in the process.

Several Daggers rushed at the Z.A.M. Gundam, only to be wiped out by a massive golden beam from above. Nisha looked up, only to see Wing Zero hovering there, Twin Buster Rifle out.

"You need to be more alert." Heero noted in that emotionless voice of his.

"Thanks Heero!" Nisha replied.

"Hn." With that remark, Heero went back to attacking Strike Daggers that were flying around his location. He whipped out both beam sabers and attacked, slicing off the legs of one Dagger while another was sliced in half. Whirling around, he then stabbed a Dagger before he sliced another's arm off. A trio of Daggers opened fire on him, but Heero was faster, dodging two of the shots while blocking the third on Wing Zero's shield. The Dagger that had fired the shot blocked wavered, only to be blown to bits by the Twin Buster Rifle at its lowest setting.

The other two Daggers tried to avoid getting hit, only to be impacted by the Z.A.M. Gundam's missiles. The two blew up in a fireball, leaving nothing but armor remains behind.

"That was unnecessary." Heero noted as he flipped over an aerial Dagger, shooting it in the back before it blew up in an explosion of heat and flame.

"Hey, they were gunning for ya." Nisha replied as he went back to firing on the advancing Daggers.


"This is bad." Nicol said as they watched the battle play out before them from the ridge they were standing on. "We have to do something."

"Like what?" Saul asked. "Your Blitz is gone. And the Surge and the Buster are in one of dozens of ORB hangers."

"And this doesn't involve us." Dearka added. "This is between ORB and the Earth Forces."

Suddenly, the Exia, followed by the Raider, soared closely overhead, forcing the three teens to duck as the mobile suits pasted.

"Dearka, Saul, you both can't believe that we should just sit back when all this is happening, can you? This is wrong and you both know it." the green haired pilot exclaimed once the mobile suits passed.

Both pilots hesitated. Nicol was right, but they couldn't do anything, even if they wanted to, without their mobile suits. And if they did get involved there was the possibility that they'd be labeled traitors and deserters by ZAFT. But still… It shouldn't matter if they were still fighting against the Earth Forces.

"Hey!" a female voice called out.

The three of them turned around. A woman, sitting in jeep, had appeared behind them some time while they were talking. "I've been looking all over for you guys. I'm Johanna Dante. You guys wanna help out?"

"I'll help." Nicol said, stepping towards the jeep. He stopped after a couple of steps and turned to Saul and Dearka. "Dearka, Saul, are you guys coming?"

Saul scratched the back of his head. "Jeez... It figures. The first time I actually feel like being a soldier and it's when I'm not fighting for ZAFT. If only my family could see me now..." Saul said, shaking his head. "Ah well. I'm in."

"We may not be fighting for ZAFT, but we'd still be fighting the Earth Forces. So they can't really call us traitors." Dearka added. "I'll fight too."

Johanna smiled. "Good. Get in."


NASA

As Coordinator citizens were evacuated into the shelters, Earth Forces soldiers tried to penetrate the barriers that were erected around the roadways leading there. Of course, with the Traverses defending said barriers as well as other forms of artillery and Czech hedgehogs, that task was easier said than done.

With NASA's custom OS for Naturals, it was easier for the Traverses to avoid being hit, but at a cost. They had no real defense unless they stole a Dagger's shield, which several did.

Soldiers of NASA fired off rockets and shells at the incoming Daggers. And for each Traverse that fell, two or three Daggers went down with it. A Traverse pilot opened fire with his missiles, causing several soldiers near a Dagger to get killed. Earth Alliance infantry moved with the Daggers, hoping to take out any Coordinators that they saw. But that hope was becoming moot at that point. Another Traverse opened fire with the beam cannon, costing another two Dagger pilots their lives as their machines went up in balls of fire. A Dagger and Traverse engaged in a small beam saber duel before the Traverse stabbed the Dagger in the cockpit, causing the machine to erupt in a ball of fire. Nothing remained of the Dagger, although the Traverse was damaged slightly.

"Just what are the Earth Forces big-wigs thinking?!" A pilot growled as he blew apart a Dagger with his machine's cannon.

"You got me. All I know is that we have to drive them back, and so we will." Another pilot replied as he sliced a Dagger in half down the middle. The resulting explosion concealed the Traverse, but when it cleared, the pilot was already on another target. A Strike Dagger tried to get past the Czech hedgehog defenses, but the explosion of its comrade pushed it over onto the anti-tank defense, trapping the machine…

At Washington D.C., President Hilson was also fighting, but against a much bigger group of Daggers. She looked back for an instant, allowing a Dagger to attack her Traverse. The resulting push forced her against the Pentagon wall, making her grunt on impact.

"You race traitors shall fall, and soon only the true humans, US, will rule over the Coordinators! We are the Master Race!" the enemy pilot shouted as he pushed her machine against the crumbling wall even more.

President Hilson's eyes widened before she felt a fury that had never been felt before. With an almost feral, more like berserker, strength, she pushed the other machine off of her Traverse and opened fire. The beam cannon missed, but she did not care. In her mind, a hazel seed-like object exploded, making her eyes dilate and glaze over. The president pulled her machine's beam saber and stabbed the Dagger in the cockpit. But before the machine blew up, the pilot heard her words that were filled with malice and hatred of the Earth Forces. "You will NEVER enslave ANYONE EVER AGAIN! YOU RACE TRAITOR!"

In a fireball, the Dagger was obliterated. The president's Traverse had minor damage, but was still functional in a fight. She looked back, and unleashed her fury on the next Earth Forces pilot to be close to her.


ORB

A squad of ORB Astrays fired on the Earth Alliance's Strike Daggers as they advanced into the city. The Daggers were numerous, but somehow, the defenders managed to push them back, but barely. However, things were about to change. A crimson mobile suit suddenly landed before the ORB squadron.

"Captain! What is that?" a nervous ORB pilot asked.

"Some new Earth Forces machine." the Captain answered. "Destroy it!"

"DIE!" Martin howled as he flew in while firing his beam Gatling guns at the Astrays.

The barrage mercilessly tore through many of the Astrays before they manage any kind of defense. The surviving Astrays backed away, moving behind buildings and trying to regroup from the assault. But Martin didn't give them a chance to. The Massacre's chest plate opened as did its missile pods as well. The remaining Astrays in the area fell quickly fell before this second barrage. Beams tore through buildings and the mobile suits standing behind them. A cluster of missiles impacted a trio of Astrays standing together, destroying them.

Suddenly, the Massacre jumped to the left, barely dodging a beam. Martin giggled slightly as the Farsight's Camo Shift Armor deactivated. "Not bad." John commented. "But that's not going to be good enough."

Martin snarled this time, firing all of his Gatling guns at the Farsight. John pulled the Farsight into the air, evading the Massacre's shots and fired his rifle. The beam hit the Massacre's left twin Gatling gun. Martin threw the weapon away just before it exploded. "Damn you!" he shouted, firing back at the Farsight with his remaining Gatling guns.

John sidestepped behind a row of buildings. The guns tore through the building...Only to hit nothing. The Massacre's head turned back and forth, searching for the Farsight. Martin growled in frustration. "Dammit! Where are you? Come and fight me coward! Or are you too scared to play?"

There was no response.

"Come on! Fight!"

Again, nothing.

"That's it! I'm gonna level this whole city to find you!"

At that moment, the Farsight emerged from some buildings on the Massacre's left. Its rifle was gone and in its place, a beam saber. John raised the saber up as he raced towards the mobile suit. But before it could strike, the Massacre drew one of its larger Garm beam sabers with its free hand and blocked the blade. Both pilots suddenly raised their other weapons. The Farsight's beam pistol was inches from the Massacre's chest, while the twin barrels of the Massacre's Fenrir Gatling gun were inches from the Farsight's. The two mobile suits stayed there for a moment, locked in that position. Neither seemed willing to risk moving. "I must admit," John said. "You're much better than most pilots, even if you are as wild as they get."

"You're dead!" Martin shouted back.

The Massacre pushed the Farsight back and swung its saber down. However, the Farsight was a faster machine than its opponent, especially in John's hands. He quickly sidestepped the blow. "Too slow." John commented, swinging his own saber down.

But the Massacre managed to raise its saber back up, blocking the blow. Then Martin followed up with a kick to the Farsight's chest, sending the mobile suit stumbling back. Martin raised the Massacre's Fenrir Galting gun, aiming directly at the Farsight's cockpit...

But just before Martin could squeeze the trigger, a beam shot impacted the Massacre's side. Martin turned to his attacker. The Exia continued to fire on the Massacre as it down towards the two mobile suits, the Raider still chasing after it. Martin fired all of his remaining Gatling guns at the annoying airborne pests. Both mobile suits managed to swerve and transform back to mobile suit mode, avoiding the incoming fire.

"What the hell? You almost hit me you nutjob!" Clotho shouted.

"Get out of my way or I'll kill you too!" Martin roared back, still firing on the Exia and the Raider.

Clotho growled and fired his railgun at the Massacre. "Eat this you crazy bastard!"

The Massacre jumped back, evading the rounds and ceasing its barrage. "Damn. These guys are nuts!" Chris said to himself as he watched the two new Earth Forces mobile suits.

Then to his surprise, both Clotho and Martin stopped their attacks and turned to him. "Oh crap..." he whispered just before the two fired on him.

Chris desperately pulled the Exia upwards as fast as he could, just barely evading their attacks. "Guess even these lunatics have enough sense to focus on their actual enemies and not each other."

The Massacre's missile pods opened and fired the remaining missiles at Exia. Chris fired his GN Vulcan three times, destroying the missiles. The Raider's hammer then came flying right out of the smoke at the Exia. Chris pulled up the shield part of his GN Vulcan. The hammer slammed into the shield, pushing the Exia back. Chris reached out and grabbed the hammer's cable and pulled. Clotho was caught off guard and the Raider was pulled forward. "Bastard! Annihilate!" Clotho roared, firing his railgun at the Exia.

Needing to dodge the shots, Chris let go of the cable, allowing the Raider to reclaim his weapon. "Not bad copycat. But you're still just a cheap imitation." he said, heading higher into the air.

"Come back here!" Clotho shouted, chasing after the Exia.

Martin turned back to where the Farsight had been standing, only to find it missing. "Where are you, coward? Don't tell me you've run away!" he moaned, searching for the missing machine.

"If you want to fight me, you'll have to find me first."

Martin let out a frustrated roar. "Forget it! If you won't fight me face to face, then you can go to hell!"

He took off, heading after the Exia and the Raider. If that coward wasn't going to fight him, then he'd find some brave enough to actually fight him.

John watched as the Massacre flew off. Normally, he wasn't the kind to hide from a fight. But he had underestimated the Massacre. He thought that he could have taken it out quickly and return to his role as sniper. But both the mobile suit and its pilot were too formidable for a quick victory. And at the moment, the ORB defenders needed his sniper abilities to help hold back the tide. Hopefully, Kira and Chris would be able to deal with those machines.


NASA

President Hilson looked back at three Daggers that were making their way towards the trails of humans leaving for the buses that would take them to the interior shelters. One aimed at a group of Coordinators, only for the president to react, firing off the beam cannon which then impacted the Dagger preparing to fire.

The explosion took out the Dagger and damaged the other two in the process. "No one will take this nation alive!" she snarled as she ran at another trio of Daggers, beam saber out. She slashed one Dagger in half, pulling the machine's beam saber before the Dagger blew up. Igniting the second blade, she then sliced one Dagger in half down the middle, with the other one getting sliced from the right shoulder down to the left leg. Jumping away, the president watched the two machines explode in twin fireballs.

Her Traverse landed without harm, only to get hit in the back by a beam shot. Looking back, President Hilson's seed-dilated eyes narrowed as she dodged a Dagger's beam saber stab. Whirling around, she sliced that Dagger in half while slashing off another's arm. Both the machine and severed limb blew up in the process, giving the president some breathing room.

She glanced back, just in time to see the Daggers retreating. The sheer power of the Traverse units and their skilled, experienced pilots was driving them back, but when the drive to defend their home nation and the fact that the Earth Forces lacked the advantage in terms of terrain experience were thrown in, the facts were pointing to NASA winning the near siege of America.

People ran into the last of the shelters, which were then all closed up, the doors sliding shut with a hiss of compressed air. Once those doors were shut, there was no way to open them up until said siege was over. And if the shelters were compromised by the Earth Forces, the shelters, which were actually shuttles, would eject into space, giving NASA a way to protect their Coordinator citizens.

As the Daggers began to leave for the coast-line, the President began to feel the weariness of battle catching up to her. It felt like a load of bricks were on her, but she forced herself to remain conscious until the last of the Daggers had left.

NASA had won…


Aboard the Cousteau

Outside ORB Territorial Waters

Yzak watched as the screens displaying the battling Earth Alliance and ORB forces. He was particularly focused on the screens displaying the stolen Freedom and the new machine. Freedom was fighting one of the new Earth Forces mobile suits while the newcomer was apparently being chased by another mobile suit that was almost identical to the Raven.

But he wasn't the only one watching. Commander Creuset, Saya, Zane and virtually the entire bridge crew were watching the battle play out. Yzak had to admit, it was pretty brave of a small nation like ORB to stand up to the much, much larger forces of the Earth Alliance. They were doomed of course. The only way ORB could have won, was if they had accepted ZAFT's offer of assistance. Regardless of their decision, ORB was still putting up one hell of a fight. And there were even brief moments were Yzak thought that perhaps ORB could actually beat back the invaders.

There was no doubt ZAFT was also observing the fight in NASA. Yzak knew that NASA had declined their offer of assistance as well, so he had his doubts about the alliance being able to drive off the Earth Alliance. Still, he knew that very few wanted to challenge them, so there was a chance that they could still win against the superior numerical forces, even if it was not even there.

"Make sure to record everything you can about those new machines." Commander Creuset ordered. "We'll likely have to face them in the future, so any information we can gain from this battle on them will be helpful."

The Freedom fired its Balaena plasma cannons at the new Earth mobile suit. Only to have the beams deflected by the mobile suit's strange backpack mounted shields. Then it fired back with its powerful cannon. The Freedom sidestepped as beam shot out and then curved towards the Freedom. The white mobile suit barely managed to dive down under the beam. "It's seems the Earth Forces have come up some interesting new technology." Zane commented. "Especially considering that it's going up against a machine like the Freedom."

At that moment, the newcomer and the Raven's black copycat appeared. The new machine fired on the green mobile suit. Its shields came down again. But the deflecting capabilities of those shields did nothing to the little to dampen the new machine's blasts. Both machines then fired their ranged weapons. But the two pilots managed to dodge the others shots, thought the newcomer was forced to move back several feet to even evade the high velocity rounds. Suddenly, the black mobile, in its mobile suit mode, launched its spherical breaker at the blue and white machine, hitting it in the back. Yzak heard a gasp coming from behind him as the new machine fell.

Yzak glanced over his shoulder. It was the Commander's new red haired assistant. Her eyes were locked on the screens and clutching something in her hand. It was either necklace or perhaps a single dog tag, based on the small chain sticking out the bottom of her fist. Yzak didn't know a lot about her. He wasn't even sure when she had come on board. The first time he had actually seen her was after Panama. But he heard from some of the crew, that she had been on board since JOSH-A. In fact, some of those people claimed they saw her in an Earth Forces uniform. And of course, that led to rumors going around the ship about her. Some claimed that she was one of their spies that the Commander had recovered from JOSH-A during the attack. Which did make sense since the Commander did disappear for a while during the battle. But Yzak didn't buy that. Her demeanor and expression weren't that of a normal soldier. Rather, she seemed too constantly on edge and extremely nervous, almost afraid, to be here. It seemed more likely that she was a captured soldier. But then why didn't the Commander lock her up? And if it was true, then why was he passing her off as his assistant?

This of course led to the darker rumors that were never uttered in the Commander's presence. It was that the girl wasn't his assistant but rather his lover. A few even suggested that she actually be a captured Earth Forces soldier that the Commander captured and had taken as his lover.

But Yzak brushed those rumors off as bad gossip and nothing more. Whatever the reason for her being here was, he was sure that it was good one. He turned back to the screens. The white machine had managed to stop its freefall and was firing back at both the black machine and the red one that had just arrived. If he had been paying more attention to her, Yzak may have noticed that her eyes weren't locked on all of the screens, but rather the one showing the new machine.


"Incoming missiles!" Sai shouted as wing of Spearhead fighters fired off their missiles.

"Evade!" Murrue ordered.

"There's no time!"

Suddenly, yellow beams tore through the path of the missiles, destroying them. Everyone on the Archangel's bridge looked out the side windows. Standing nearby them was Buster. "Archangel, I got your back." Dearka said, firing on the fighters.


"Go! Go! Go!" an Earth Alliance Lieutenant shouted, leading a squad of Strike Daggers towards a group of ORB Astrays and tanks.

Just after they passed a pair of damaged buildings, a black mobile suit appeared out of nowhere. The Neo Blitz fired its beam rifle at the advancing mobile suits, quickly gunning down two of machines. The remaining Daggers in the rear of the group stopped, turned around and fired back. The Neo Blitz pulled out its shield out in front of it. To the surprise of the Alliance pilots, the beams were deflected by the shield.

"What? Impossible!" one pilot shouted.

"Wow. They really weren't kidding around when they said that this was more than just a rebuilt Blitz." Nicol said as he blocked more beams.

At that very moment, the Surge appeared on the left side of Daggers, heading towards them at great speed. Both of its katanas were drawn. Some of the Dagger pilots saw the Surge coming and turned to face it. But they weren't fast enough. The Surge sliced through many of mobile suits as it passed through the group. Those that he missed were so stunned by this sudden attack, that they stopped firing. This allowed Nicol to finish them off.

"Damn...I should have gotten all of those. Someone's been screwing around with my Surge. It doesn't handle right." Saul complained as he adjusted the machine's OS.

"I don't know. The Neo Blitz handles just like the Blitz." Nicol said. "Are you sure that you aren't just a little rusty?"

"Hey! There's no way my skills have dulled!"

"That's not what it looks like to me."

Two mobile suits suddenly dove for cover as a barrage was fired in their direction. "Come on boys! Let's take those punks down!" an Earth Forces pilot said as more Daggers advanced on the pair.

"Jeez... Don't you guys give up?" Saul asked as he and Nicol fired back with their rifles.


Heero flew around, firing the Twin Buster Rifle at any Daggers that happened to be within firing range. Large groups of the Earth Forces machines were wiped out each time he did so, but only at half-power. If he tried to go full power, then he would not be able to fight effectively, as he would only have two shots to pull off.

He grunted as a Dagger impacted his machine's armor, but the beam did little against it. He let himself have a small smirk before it faded. Closing his eyes, he let the Zero System feed him information, and he chose the appropriate tactics based on that data.

Opening his eyes, Heero dodged a beam slash from a Dagger by flipping upwards and over before coming to a hover. "You are an amateur. I can easily read your moves." Heero murmured as the Earth Forces pilot tried to move away from him.

"Damn it! This machine is too powerful! It really is the Berserker of JOSH-A!" he exclaimed before his machine was blasted apart by a golden blast of energy.

Heero dodged another Dagger's beam fire, firing the Twin Buster Rifle again. Another Dagger fell to Wing Zero's power.


Orga effortlessly destroyed a group of Astrays with the Calamity's overwhelming fire power. They were all pathetically easy to destroy. Orga looked up. All three of his teammates were up in the air, fighting those funny white mobile suits. And they seemed to be holding their own against his teammates. That just wouldn't do. The Calamity jumped into the air, its thrusters pushing it towards the group. "Mind if I join in?" he said, firing into the heart of the group.

All five mobile suits scattered, trying to avoid the incoming fire. "Orga! You bastard!" an irate Clotho shouted. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Orga laughed. "Making sure you guys don't hog all the fun!"

In the distance though, he could see another winged machine fighting off the Daggers. Still, it was soon going to fall.


Unbeknownst to fighters, a tragedy was about to happen. A family of four ran through the woods, trying to reach the boats that were evacuating the civilians of ORB. Shinn Asuka looked up at the mobile suits fighting above them. The white one and blue one were shrugging against the other four. Shinn really wasn't sure which ones were fighting for ORB and which ones were with the Earth Forces.

Suddenly, the light blue one and the black one, one of which had transformed into a bird-like mode, raced dangerously close overhead, forcing Shinn and his family to brace themselves as a strong gust of wind slammed into them.

"My phone!" Mayu cried out as her phone flew out of her pocket and fell down the side of the hit.

Mayu headed for her cell phone, but their mother grabbed her arm. "Forget about it. We have to go Mayu."

"But my phone!"

"Don't worry. I'll get it." Shinn said, running down the side of the hill.

Shinn had found Mayu's phone and picked it up when he heard Mayu scream. He ran up the hill, only for his father to slam into him, tossing him down the rest of the hill. By some small miracle, the only injuries he had sustain were some scrapes and bruises, and having the wind knocked out of him. He slowly got to his feet, still clutching Mayu's cell phone. "Mom! Dad! Where are you? Mayu!" Shinn called out, as started to search for his family. "Mom! Dad! Ma-"

He looked over, only to see his father and mother running towards him with Mayu. Earth Alliance officers were behind them. "Oh no! MAYU!" he cried. Running towards them, Shinn was more than anxious for his family's sake.

An Earth Forces soldier fired on his family, hitting his mother in the back. Shinn was staring in shock and horror as she fell, dead from shattered lungs. "No…Mom…Mom! MMMOOOMMM!"

His father ran towards Shinn, his sister in their father's grasp. "We're almost there. Just hang on, Mayu!" their father exclaimed.

"Come on. The boat will be leaving soon." An ORB officer said, half dragging Shinn to the boat.

As they left for the boat, Shinn looked back. His father ran towards Shinn, his sister in their father's grasp. "We're almost there. Just hang on, Mayu!" their father exclaimed.

But before the duo could reach the boat, the Earth Forces got them first. Their father was grabbed, unable to fight off the trained soldiers. "MAYU! Just keep going!" he cried, Mayu already heeding his words.

Shinn reached out just as the boat began to pull away. "Mayu!" he cried. Mayu saw this and ran for her brother. "Shinn!"

The two siblings reached out their hands, hoping to make contact. Her hand was so close to Shinn's as the boat began to move faster. The end of the dock was getting closer, but so was Mayu. Then, the Earth Forces shattered the moment. Mayu cried out as she was pulled back from her brother by the enemy.

"Mayu!" Shinn cried. But it was too late. The boat was out of range and too far from the dock. His sister looked back in his direction, a plea for help visible on her face. "SHINN!"

"MMMAAAYYYUUU!"


All across Orb, the battles raged. The Buster and the Archangel let loose a furious barrage on the advancing invaders, cutting down dozens of mobile suits and fighters. The Neo Blitz and the Surge tore Strike Daggers in the close-quarters of the city blocks using their superior abilities to overwhelm the Daggers. Nisha and Heero were driving back the tide of Daggers in the air, but even with the sheer power of Wing Zero, that was not doing much good. Mu, in the Strike, was leading a squad of Astrays. Together, they were managing to push back the advancing Daggers. Elsewhere, John had resumed his role as sniper gunning down Alliance forces all over Onogoro. He was even hitting some of their closer naval vessels. Like Nicol and Saul, Liz had taken to fighting the enemy mobile suits at close range, where the Dynames' swords could make easy work of the mass production mobile suits.

But even with the aid of the Archangel and Gundams, that was only just barely holding back the tide of the Earth Alliance forces. For every Strike Dagger that fell, there were two more to take its place, while for every ORB Astray lost, that cut the defenders' strength. And even though the Earth Forces' second generation Gundam were being distracted by the Freedom and Exia, the sheer numbers of Daggers were enough to cut through parts of the defenders' lines.

A squad of Strike Daggers gunned down a group of defending Astrays and tanks. A wing of bombers dropped their deadly payload upon a cluster of artillery guns. An ORB Aegis-class battleship was hit by a pair of Fraser-class vessels and started sinking.

Samuel watched these scenes and many more like them play out with an emotionless expression on his face, unlike Cagalli, who was wearing her emotions quite clearly. There was no point in getting emotional or dwelling on all the deaths at the moment. It would only serve to distract him. He had learned long ago to seal up his emotions during battle.

The battle was not going well for ORB, or at least not as well as he had hoped. He had miscalculated. Not on the number of the invaders. He had actually predicted a much larger force than this. No. It was those four new mobile suits they had developed. He knew they would have built successors to the G-Units from Heliopolis. But he hadn't expected them to be so formidable. While Kira and Chris were distracting them, limiting the damage they could do. It was at the same time, robbing them of their strongest weapon, the Freedom. He had predicted that with the Freedom fighting in the frontline, it would have bought them hours, possibly an extra day, before ORB was overrun. But now… Now things weren't looking so good for them.


In the skies above ORB, things were not going well for both Kira and Chris either. The new mobile suits of the Alliance were all technologically superior to everything they had faced before. Added to this, the pilots themselves were as skilled as anyone they had fought before. Kira was managing to hold his own against them, using a combination of his skill as pilot and the power of the Freedom. But Chris found himself relying more on his skill as a pilot than the abilities of his new machine, the Exia. Even with the Exia received from NASA, it was becoming clear to Chris that his older trusted mobile suit had become old and obsolete in the face of these newer and more powerful Gundams. But with the Exia, that had changed. Still it did little to change the situation he was now in. The Massacre fired off its Ragnorak beam cannon at Chris. The Exia flew up, avoiding the beam. "Come on Exia, let's show them that you're not obsolete like the Raven has become and let's show them that the Raven has not become obsolete yet!" he said, firing at the Massacre.

One of his shots hit its target, shredding the mobile suit's head fin and the beam cannon with it. Needless to say, Martin was less than happy to see his beam cannon destroyed. The Massacre lunged forward, reigniting its beam saber. "I'll tear you apart! That was my favorite weapon!"

Chris swore as he pulled back, trying to avoid the Massacre's charge as he drew his own sabers. Martin swung his saber down as Chris crossed his in front of him, blocking the attack. Suddenly, the Massacre's leg came up, kicking the Exia. As if things couldn't get any worse for the pair, a warning light went off in the Exia's cockpit. Chris swore as he glanced at his power meter. "Dammit. I'm getting too much damage. I'm gonna have to retreat soon."

Kira nodded, firing at the Massacre. "Go. I'll cover you."

"Right." Chris said, pulling the Exia away from the battle with the Earth Forces' new Gundams.

'Dammit. All four are still fighting.' Chris thought as he withdrew. 'What kind of batteries do those things have? A normal battery should have run low by now. But these guys are still going strong. How is that possible?'

"What's this? Running away copycat?" Clotho said, taking aim at the Exia's back. "I don't think so!"

But before he could fire, Kira fired at the Raider, forcing Clotho to move out of the way of the beams. However, Clotho was still not willing to let the 'copycat' go and started firing at the fleeing Exia. Chris evaded shots as Kira continued to fire at the Raider. Shani, seeing that Kira was distracted, fired its plasma induction cannon at the Freedom. Kira caught the incoming plasma beam in the corner of his eye and dodged the shot. However at that moment, Clotho decided to focus on the Freedom. "Game over." Clotho said, just before he fired his Zorn cannon at the Freedom's back.

Kira spun around to face the beam. But he had no time to mount any kind of defense. His life flashed before his eyes as the beam drew towards the Freedom.

But it wasn't his time yet...

At that very moment, a red Gundam appeared in front of the Freedom, blocking the beam with its shield. The battle between the mobile suits stopped as everyone stared at the newcomer, unsure of what to make of him. The new mobile suit and trained its beam rifle on the new Earth Forces mobile suits. "Are you alright Kira?" Athrun asked.

Kira's eyes widened in shock. "Athrun?"


New Juneau

Aki' stood in the pilot's room, finishing up putting on his new flight suit. The new flight suit was blue and black, with white chest armor, a blue torso, black sides, blue upper arms, and black lower arms. The upper legs were blue and the lower legs were black. White gloves and boots finished the outfit. The helmet, which was blue, looked nothing like the ZAFT helmets, EA helmets, or ORB helmets. It had a green pentagon above the visor, but had the standard blackening coat on the visor itself.

(A/N: Imagine the Gundam 00 pilot suit helmet.)

Slipping on the helmet, Aki' closed up the pilot's locker, his uniform in a backpack that was in his machine. He looked over his body, making sure that everything was on right. He twisted the sides of the helmet once, a click signaling it was sealed.

He then left the room, the door sliding shut behind him. Aki' drifted down the hallway towards the hanger where the Wing was located. Entering the hanger, the new NAZAFT pilot drifted into his machine's cockpit, which sealed itself with a hiss of air. Closing the visor, Aki' powered up the Wing's OS, which was now updated to a NASA Coordinator-use OS.

He looked over the readouts, which read in the clear. His hands flew over the keyboard as he adjusted the OS to the settings he had used before. The settings returned to normal, he gripped the controls, once again heading to Earth.

"ORB-04-A Wing Gundam, you are clear for launch." The NAZAFT flight controller replied.

"Lieutenant Akira Nishikama, Wing, LAUNCHING!" Aki' cried as the Wing sped out into the vacuum of space.

Turning the Wing to its fighter form, he sped down to Earth.

'Hang on, you guys! I'm coming!'


The Battle of ORB begins, and NASA is also attacked. But while NASA is able to drive off their invasion force, ORB is not so lucky. A family is torn apart by the Earth Alliance while Athrun arrives to save Kira's life just as Akira prepares to head down to ORB and Earth as a NAZAFT pilot. Read on to find out what happens next~! :3

On that note, any flames or troll reviews WILL be reported and/or deleted depending on if they are signed or not. Those kinds of reviews are NOT tolerated by ANY means. If there are such reviews, they WILL be reported, not even responded to or acknowledged.