AN: So I started watching Destiny again so I decided to start doing this a little bit again. As an aside, did anyone else find that Lunamaria forgave Shinn way too easily when she thought that he'd killed her little sister? I mean, considering how close they were, I thought for sure that she would have tried to kill him rather than sleep with him. It's like you killed my sister...that's kind hot. Watching that I could only think WTF Lunamaria. Also FYI, Imperial humans will be a lot stronger physically than their SEED counterparts, but still only as smart as regular humans, IE, naturals. One more quick thing that I want to add, was anyone else disappointed that Lunamaria wasn't really a main feature in Destiny? I was hoping that they'd do a little more with her character, and less with the old cast.

Acronyms that will be used commonly:

IFF- Identify Friend or Foe

HUD- Heads Up Display

HQ- Headquarters

ZAFT- Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty, the military branch of the PLANTs

PLANT- Productive Location Ally on Nexus Technology, the civilian and agricultural colonies.

Heinrich entered the hangar cautiously, bolt pistol up and searching as he stepped over the body of a ZAFT soldier. Still bleeding out on the ground, but very much dead just like the rest of his squad that had been manning the entrance to the hangar. Precision bursts had killed these men, so precise in fact that there were no bullet holes in the building behind them save for rounds that had entered and left their bodies. Clean, quick, and professional with no bodies of the attackers left behind. Good work, enviable, but such work that put him at a severe disadvantage with only his personal arms and no body armor.

Heinrich didn't feel fear at the revelation though, merely calculated the threats arrayed against him and his own abilities against them. He had been a Death Korps Grenadier, the elite of the Korps fighting elite. He had been a sharpshooter first and foremost, but he had also been a door kicker and involved in multiple CQC engagements during his career.

This hangar looked a little bigger than the ones around it, with much more, now very dead security, but it still looked like it was made of the same prefabricated materials as the other. Sleek, utilitarian, and cheap. Nothing on the outside to differentiate it from any of the others.

Heinrich stooped down and picked up an auto rifle from one of the fallen guards as well as several spare magazines, checking the load with a click clack and advancing like an Arbite Special Response Officer. There was no reason to check for a pulse on the man he took the rifle from, his throat had been opened into a wide smile.

Despite his dress boots, he advanced near silently into the hangar, passing by another, smaller checkpoint with a trio of ZAFT soldiers slumped dead at their stations. Fluorescent lights lit the way ahead and the air was heavy with the smell of blood.

It quickly became apparent that this was not just a regular hangar. The walls in here were made of stronger metal the farther in he went, the cheaper exterior merely a facade. This almost looked like their equivalent of warship grade hull armor, a dull green in color. He reached another heavy metal door that was ajar, and more security soldiers sprawled around it. As he entered, he was confronted with multiple rooms and doors on either side of a straight hallway.

The sound of movement made Heinrich stop and turning quickly, he kicked open a utility closet door with a crack of plastic polymer. Startled yelps along with the terrified faces of two young technicians greeted him. Huddled together amongst bottles of cleaning fluid and mops.

"Don't shoot!" Pleaded the younger looking of the two, holding up his hands as if they would ward off bullets.

"I am not your enemy. Now, what happened here?" demanded Heinrich.

"W-we were attacked. We heard gunfire so we hid in here."

"Well it appears that your cowardice may have saved your life then trooper," said Heinrich disdainfully. "If you wish you may follow me to try and avenge your dead comrades, but if you prefer to flee the way out is safe."

Much to Heinrich's disdain, the two technicians bolted from the closet and ran for the entrance of the hangar, eager to escape. Utterly pathetic, were they some of his soldiers, his Kriegers, he would have executed them for their cowardice on the spot. He would have left their bodies to rot, with no chip to be returned to the Halls of Remembrance on Krieg, damning their souls to wander forever.

They were not his soldiers though, so he had no way to punish them for their actions. Or lack thereof. Heinrich held his rifle at the ready and continued down into the hangar, passing a final security station and into the large open

The interior of the hangar was dark even with the lighting overhead and smelled of metal, oil, and blood. There were more dead in here and Heinrich had to be careful not to step on spent casings so as to not give himself away.

Mechanics and technicians hung limply from their dangling cradles, blood dripping to the ground below. Many looked unarmed, caught unawares doing their duties and some looked like they had been trying to run away when they had been shot. Yet they were only a side spectacle next to the three titans that dominated the center of the room

They weren't the mobilesuits that he'd seen being moved around outside, or been viewing in the hangar that Lieutenant Towers had been showing him. No, these were the more advanced versions. The designs different, the bodies shaped differently. They called them, GUNDAM.

There was a hiss, like a some large beast taking in a breath as one of the GUNDAM suits started to rise, its dull gray body coloring green as it did so. It towered over him like a god, the ground shaking as it stood upright and although Heinrich had been a soldier for many years, he could not help, but to stare in awe at the thing towered over him as its eyes lit up. He knew they were targeting auspexes, but they looked so damn much like eyes of some dead god reawakening.

Then another one rose, this one coloring blue as it came to life. Phase shift armor. The techno wizardry had been explained to him and so far as he understood it, it was a system that protected the god machine from physical attacks such as missiles and tank shells by projecting an energy field around the machine like a void shield. Though unlike a void shield it could not block energy weapons and it was more form fitting rather than the bubble a void shield produced.

Finally, the third and final GUNDAM rose, coloring black as it did so. Emerging from behind the row of GUNDAMs, a ZAFT soldier with an assault rifle started heading towards Heinrich. His first thought was survivor, but the body language was all wrong and there was no way that this one man would survive where all others had been killed. He raised his rifle and pointed it at Heinrich, only for two bullets fired so close together as to sound as one removed the back portion of his skull. The rifle barely kicking into Heinrich's shoulder as he ended the man's life.

Though it galled Heinrich to do so, he turned sharply on his heel and ran back the way he came, gritting his teeth in frustration. He could do nothing more to fight such machines with but an auto rifle. It would be up to the pilots of ZAFT to fight it on equal terms.

A thunderous explosion seemed to chase Heinrich down the halls of the hangar as he ran back out the front, his parade boots splashing through the growing pools of blood as he did so. More explosions followed, quieter, but still monstrously loud as the GUNDAMs no doubt began reaping a grisly harvest.

xxx

"What the hell is going on out there?" demanded Emily when the Krieg Colonel came sprinting back into the hangar where he had left her and his aide.

She had both seen and heard the explosions, even now she was watching thick black smoke billow up into the air from spreading fires. The red alert was going off and the sounds of combat were growing ever louder, in addition to the sounds of mobilesuits exploding.

"This facility is under attack by three stolen GUNDAMs that appear to be new models. I assume that they are trying to steal them," answered the Kreig Colonel von Shreider.

Even with everything that was going on his voice was calm and even, not even winded from his run and his steely gray eyes showing only cold calculation, not fear or apprehension. He was a physically imposing man, tall, muscled, and with wide shoulders, yet not so much that he looked like a habitual steroid junkie. He was even kind of handsome, save for that cold look that was almost perpetually on his face when no one was speaking to him.

"What do you mean new models, and how the hell did they steal them? Dammit!" cursed Emily as an explosion close to them rattled the hangar walls around them, making the lights overhead sway.

"Three machines can not do this. Not here, not at Armory One," she said defiantly.

"Current events appear to be contradicting you Lieutenant. Now as things stand we must evacuate to either a shelter or to a central command station. As we are now, we are merely in the way of efforts to fight off this attack. Sergeant, bring the jeep around, Lieutenant, you are to guide us out of here, after which you will be free to rejoin your unit to aid in the fighting."

"The hell I will! There's a battle going on and I'm not going to take orders from you when ZAFT is under attack," shot back Emily hotly, her temper flaring. A displeased, almost surprised frown creased the face of the Colonel as she said that. Like he wasn't used to being talked to like that and didn't know how to respond.

"I see. Well then Lieutenant I have no authority over you and you may do as you please. However, me and my aide are not familiar how to leave this area. Will you go against orders and leave us behind? Letting a diplomat of a foreign power die?"

"Just follow the damn road, it's not my job anymore to babysit you right now. I'm getting into this fight, if you're scared just drive faster," said Emily testily as she ran over to a lowered tether for a GuAIZ mobilesuit.

"Scared," repeated the Colonel, for once something like venom creeping into his voice, his hands tightening into fists. "You dare accuse me of cowardice?"

"Look, do whatever you want. Follow the main service road and the signs, it'll take you right to a shelter. Sir," finished Emily as she ascended into a GuAIZ.

It came to life at her touch, the machine powering up and sensors coming alive, giving her a 180 degree field of view. The Colonel was staring up at her and though his features were too small to see clearly unless she zoomed in on him, he looked pissed.

Emily exited the hangar, watching the targeting reticules come alive as she brought her beam rifle up. Explosions splashed across her video feed as more hangars and mobilesuits went up in flames. She ignited her engines and took off into the sky towards where the fighting was coming from.

"This is Lieutenant Towers of the 33rd Mobilesuit Wing, 2nd squadron piloting GuAIZ ZG-IDPO, calling any friendly forces, over."

"This is Captain Wu of the 18th Mobilesuit Garrison Wing, go ahead Lieutenant, over."

"Captain, who's attacking us? Over."

"Three suits that came from Hangar Six. We're scrambling all available assets, but-ARGHH!"

The line went quiet abruptly and the sensors aboard the GuAIZ picked up a GuAIZ R exploding a kilometer to her right at heading 110 and Captain Wu's IFF reading disappeared from her HUD. A black BuCUE with extended beam pylons not far behind the crashing wreckage of the crashing mobilesuit. It also wasn't giving off an IFF tag.

"Pilot of the black BuCUE in the vicinity of the C block hangars, flash your IFF code or be considered hostile," called Emily over the radio, lining up her targeting reticule on the machine. Instead of responding, the BuCUE switched direction faster than it should have been able to and a pair of green beam shots streaked towards her with a brilliant flash of light.

Acting on ingrained reflexes, Emily brought the shield of her unit in front and the beam blast dispersed across the beam coated surface of her shield before she even had time to think, the impact rocking her suit ever so slightly. Emily felt her adrenaline surge as she gunned her thrusters, weaving to avoid another pair of shots that came at her from the BuCUE. Passing by close enough that the paint on the arm of her GuAIZ bubbled and melted off.

The thing was leaping around like some deranged terrier, and even flying backwards at full power with the buildings streaking by on either side of her, it was catching up. Emily fired a pair of shots, watching her own beams impacting around the BuCUE, throwing up clouds of smoke and debris, yet missing the leaping machine. Every time she fired what should have been a sure hit, the thing merely moved out of the way like the beams were only moving ten kilometers an hour.

Emily switched direction rapidly and cut down a row of hangars to the side, before cutting her thrusters and landing her GuAIZ in a sprint as she fought her own forward momentum. Churning up asphalt as she sought to slow her machine and bringing her beam rifle up, waiting for the BuCUE to follow her.

The GuAIZ beeped, warning her of approaching signatures over her right shoulder, but fortunately it was a flight of four GINN mobilesuits flying in formation, painted in their greenish gray camouflage scheme. Older models given to the reserves, but still a welcome sight. Almost like they had rehearsed it, they all began firing as one, lighting up the entire road that the BuCUE had been traveling down. Explosions rippling down the road, ripping it up and throwing up a tremendous amount of dust and smoke. Their 76mm rifles churning of stone, concrete, and metal into splinters and ash.

It was an awesome display of power, but one that was short lived. The BuCUE leaped from the destruction, trailing a current of smoke with it, beam pylons extended and cut two of the GINNs in half at the cockpit, making them fall to the ground below in pieces. Before the other GINNs even had a chance to turn around or the wreckage of the two cut in half to hit the ground, the BuCUE transformed into a mobilesuit; beam rifle in hand and blew another GINN out of the sky at the same time the two other GINNs hit the ground and exploded. The combined death throes of the three mobilesuits enough to collapse a hangar and have a wall of flames wash over Emily's GuAIZ. Who the hell was this guy?

She gunned her thrusters and shot into the air, firing a trio of shots in rapid succession at the black mobilesuit as the last surviving GINN sprayed a stream of white hot 76mm rounds at it, even as the machine ducked and weaved around everything that they threw at it.

The damn thing could had phaseshift armor and it was obviously more maneuverable than either the GINN or her GuAIZ. They were chasing it higher into the air, firing at it when a pair of red beams cut the GINN in half, making it explode spectacularly.

Emily rapidly switched the direction of her mobile suit, kicking its legs up and reversing the direction of thrust, diving away from both the black GUNDAM and trying to get out of sight of the ground based fire. Firing her beam rifle as she retreated, trying to keep the Black GUNDAM out of range. With a flash of pink light a beam saber flared to life in its hand and it accelerated like a falling meteor towards her.

Emily's heart was beating so hard she was sure it would burst and she fired her beam rifle as fast as it would cycle at the approaching GUNDAM which dodged each shot with contemptuous ease. Emily hovered her hand over the retro rocket control and as the GUNDAM filled her view feed, hit the rocket controls.

They were supposed to be used in space to help the mobilesuit maneuver without any air. Not a primary means of propulsion by any means, but with a hard burn they made her GuAIZ spin around like a top as the GUNDAM flashed by.

Her vision flashed to gray as her body was forced into a hard maneuver without a G suit, but she was now behind and above as she fired the hip mounted grappling arrestors at the GUNDAM which latched on to the back. Igniting the two beam claws on her shield, Emily rushed her GuAIZ at the GUNDAM, attempting to cleave it in half, a howl of mindless rage leaving her mouth unintentionally as she did so.

Yet the Black GuNDAM spun around with its own beam saber and met Emily's attack with its own, and stopping her momentum dead. Emily was thrown against the restrains in her cockpit as the two machines collided, yet kept the controls pushing the beam claws down.

Streamers of energy were radiating from the beam struggle, lashing own like a malfunctioning transformer, before with a titanic heave, the shield of the GuAIZ gave way and the beam claws guttered out as the shield shattered into a million pieces.

Emily's eyes went wide with fear as she simultaneously hit the emergency release for the arrestor wires and gunned the thrusters, barely evading a second swipe of the beam saber that cleaved her beam rifle in half and made it explode. She was vaguely aware that her thumb was mashing down the CWIS trigger and the light rounds were sparking of the face of the GUNDAM, doing little more than annoying it.

Time seemed to slow as the black GUNDAM closed the distance between them again, but Emily could only stare as it brought its beam saber back for a strike. Screams filled the cockpit and Emily wasn't immediately aware that they were her own.

Then, just as suddenly, the black GUNDAM broke off its attack and veered away as a flurry of green beam shots chased after it. Surging back up into the false blue sky of Armory One.

Still breathing hard, Emily checked her view screen briefly and saw another GuAIZ crouched down behind its shield and firing as fast as its rifle would allow beside a hangar. Emily changed her trajectory and headed straight for the other pilot, hoping that he was skilled enough not to hit her.

As luck would have it though, several more GINNs and GuAIZ suits entered the fray and with her suit now basically unarmed, Emily found herself forgotten as the now three GUNDAMs that were now showing up on her sensors engaged the ZAFT reinforcements.

She landed next to the other GuAIZ, breathing hard and covered in cold sweat. Her heart was beating hard enough to jump out of her chest and she could vaguely taste metal. Her hands trembled over top of her controls as she fought to bring herself back under some semblance of control after her very near brush with death. With one final deep breath, she felt calm enough to open up a comm link.

"Thanks, I owe you one," said Emily, using a closed beam communication system.

"Gratitude is unnecessary Lieutenant," came back the modulated and aristocratic tenor.

"What? Colonel?" Emily brought up a video feed and sure enough it was the Imperial Colonel's face that filled the view screen. He was the pilot of the other GuAIZ machine. "What are you doing in that GuAIZ?"

"You told me I could do whatever I wished Lieutenant, and I wished to fight. Now, I took liberty with your allowance and commandeered this titan, but I believe that present circumstances will allow me some latitude."

"You aren't qualified to fly that thing! You've only been in the simulator. Jesus, do you even know the output of that beam rifle?"

"In great detail Lieutenant, I am a devoted student. Your simulators are also exceptionally realistic and I found the transfer to the real machine nearly seamless. As an aside, I must apologize for the destruction of ZAFT military property. While getting used to the controls I stepped on and destroyed a heavy transport truck."

"You stepped on a truck?"

"Unfortunately I did, yes."

"Okay, well we have to get out of here, my suit's running low on power. They don't store them on full charge and the dog fighting didn't help very much. Follow me and be sure to keep low, we're out of our league in this fight, you especially."

"On the contrary, Lieutenant, I intend to stay and fight. Now that I have the means to fight back on an even footing, it would be shameful to withdraw, considering our numerical advantage," continued the Imperial Colonel and even as he said it another flight of reservist GINNs and DINNs flew to where the GUNDAMs were retreating to.

"You'll die Colonel! You're still only an academy level pilot, those guys will tear you apart." As if to accent her words, a series of explosions in the distance followed by the disappearance of several friendly IFF tags from her HUD followed.

"I am unafraid of death Lieutenant, I have been since the day I put on my uniform in service to the Emperor. It holds no special horror for me and I find the idea of shrinking from it intolerable. The sins of the father must be wiped clean in the crucible of righteous battle, it is the only way to have the weight of my sins lifted. The only way to find atonement is death in the Emperor's service in righteous combat."

The Colonel cut the video feed and Emily watched his GuAIZ stand upright and start walking towards the main road that was littered with the remains of other pilots and suits that had tried to fight the GUNDAMs.

"Damn fool," hissed Emily chasing after the Colonel, grabbing his suit, and throwing him to the ground with a shower of asphalt, then using the weight of her own suit to pin his to the ground.

"If I can beat you without any weapons and I couldn't win with weapons against them, what makes you think that you have a hope in hell of doing anything but dying Colonel? Pilots much better than you are dying right now, you shouldn't even be in that suit."

"Perhaps not, but the act is what matters Lieutenant, even if the outcome is unfavorable," answered the Colonel, his image popping back up on her view screen. "As a soldier of the Imperial Guard, of the Death Korps of Krieg it is my duty, if nothing else is achievable, to die standing."

"Dammit. Listen, you can't go up against them, you'll die and get that suit wrecked in the process. I'm...asking you Colonel, please. Follow me to safety and if we're attacked you can fight to your heart's content, but if you go out there right now you'll only be getting in our way. This is not your fight, it's ours. You said before that letting a foreign diplomat die was foolish. But what's dumber is a foreign diplomat killing without knowing who it is that you're fighting."

"I never said foolish Lieutenant."

"Well you sure as shit implied it. Now please Colonel, you are right, I am responsible for you and my duty is making sure that you don't die. You pride yourself on your obedience to orders, so don't make me go against mine."

"Very well Lieutenant I will acquiesce to your demands. Now, where shall we go?"

"We'll go to the...Minerva. It's the safest place to be right now and the closest. Now stay low and follow me and for heavens sake, if your warning sensors start going off, drop altitude and get beside something as quick as you can. The GuAIZ can handle a crash so long as you're not going full power and head first into the ground."

"Very well, after you then Lieutenant," answered the Colonel and a moment later they were airborne and heading to the Minerva.

xxx

With no small amount of difficulty, Heinrich managed to pilot the GuAIZ into the hangar of the Minerva along with Lieutenant Towers. He was loathe to admit it, but she had been right in her assessment of his abilities. On foot he was among the most elite of fighters in the universe, but in a titan? He was a mere novice, a child amongst warriors. It put him in a very foul mood to have to acknowledge it.

His landing was noticeably rougher than that of Towers' and he stumbled his machine forward a few steps before he brought it under control. He followed Towers' example and brought his titan into a docking cradle, making sure that his logic arrays told him that he was secured, before he powered it down.

As he lowered himself to the decking, he was confronted by a pale skinned magenta haired girl with indigo eyes holding a pistol and a determined look on her face. She couldn't have been more than 19 years old at the oldest. Still, Heinrich couldn't help but feel a certain...appreciation for the woman before him. She was rather fetching. There was also a gaggle of other crewmen of various rank behind her.

"Don't move and keep your hands where I can see them! This is a restricted area, what were you doing aboard a ZAFT mobilesuit? You aren't ZAFT, what group do you belong to? Answer me."

Subconsciously Heinrich brought himself up to his full lupine height before replying, towering over the girl by at least a foot and outweighing her by more than 100 pounds. The girl seemed visibly unnerved by his unwavering steely eyed gaze.

"I am Colonel Heinrich von Shreider of the Death Korps of Krieg, Imperial Guard. I was directed by my guide that this would be a suitable location to relocate to, away from the fighting."

"This is a warship, not a shelter, you'll have to relocate."

"Sir."

"Pardon?" asked the girl perplexed.

"You forgot to add sir at the end of that Lieutenant. I am still an officer and though of a different military hierarchy, I still expect the honorific and decorum proper for an officer of my rank. Also, if you are going to try to detain or threaten me with a sidearm, ensure that the safety is off first Lieutenant Hawke."

"Uh," mumbled the girl, turning the gun sideways to look at the safety and while she was doing that, Heinrich grabbed the pistol neatly for her hand, eliciting a surprised yelp from her by doing so.

"I would also suggest not standing within arms reach with your pistol fully extended towards someone. Makes it far too easy to grab. My only other criticism is that out of all of you, only one of you had a weapon; and a sidearm at that. For future reference, I do not appreciate weapons pointed at me of any sort, for any reason."

The assembled ZAFT personnel stared in something like dull horror as they now stood unarmed before a very large man armed with a multitude of weapons. Most notably, their only one.

"Dammit Colonel, we don't even have permission to be here yet, what are you doing?"

Heinrich turned to regard the blue haired Lt. Towers as she ran up to them.

"He's with you?" asked Lt. Hawke, looking between both Heinrich and Emily warily.

"Yes ma'am, he's a representative of the Imperium and Chairman Durandal assigned me as his escort for the day. In the confusion of the attack we grabbed a pair of GuAIZ MS units and headed for the Minerva. The Colonel here was some basic training in the GuAIZ model and so it seemed safer to travel by mobilesuit rather than by ground."

"Alright, well, you'll have to talk to the Captain then, she's on the bridge. I will need my gun back though," said Lt. Hawke, holding out her hand for her pistol, which Heinrich gave back butt first.

Just as he handed her back the pistol, a damaged ZAKU MS entered the hangar and landed, walking over to the docking cradle.

"This isn't a damned parking lot," growled Lt. Hawke running up to the new mobilesuit, positioning itself into a cradle. Several newly arrived ZAFT naval infantry soldiers following in her wake clothed in what appeared low to mid quality flak armor and auto rifles.

In Heinrich's opinion, the security aboard the Minerva was very...sloppy, for lack of wishing to use a more derogatory term. If even one of those GUNDAMs had done what they had just done, this entire ship could have been destroyed.

Another man and woman exited the ZAKU, both of them young and looking to be under 20 years old and in civilian clothes. The woman was bleeding from a cut on her head, but other than that they seemed unharmed.

"Hm, my aide is late," commented Heinrich looking at his wrist chronometer.

"Pardon Sir?"

"My aide, I told him to meet us at the Minerva with my wargear by no later than 1600 local time. I suppose that he will not arrive at all now," answered Heinrich as a general alert sounded throughout the ship. Saying that they were preparing to disembark.

"But there's no way he could get here in time," said Emily a moment before a hard working engine became obvious and a jeep leaped off the ramp leading into the hanger, bouncing on its suspension as it landed, a squeal of rubber as it slewed sideways, eventually coming to a stop.

"What?" began Emily, half to herself.

"I directed him shortly after you departed to gather out belongings and head for the Minerva. I had assumed that if we were not killed that this ship would be the most likely destination that we would head to."

"You knew that we would be going here?"

"I did not know, I calculated the odds against the other shelters and ships and found this one to have the highest probability by a factor of three."

"You calculated them sir?"

"Krieg officers calculate everything. It is how we wage war and has proven just as effective for more mundane tasks as well."

"Sir," saluted the Death Korps Sergeant crisply, before handing the Colonel his heirloom power sword Gotterdammerung, the finely forged gold filigree handle feeling welcome as his fingers wrapped around the hilt. It felt right to have the blade, it was his family legacy and to hold it was to hold the legacy of the von Shreider family. A lineage dating back more than 10 000 years.

With practiced ease, Heinrich attached it to his belt, feeling the comfortable weight of the weapon at his side once again.

"He brought you your ceremonial sword?"

"I assure you Lieutenant, it is anything but ceremonial."

xxx

"Your holiness, we must depart, the fighting has been growing more fierce. It is no longer safe for you on this station."

It was a sister superior who spoke, her gray power armor adorned with ribbons of martial glory and rank. Her voice, amplified by the vox speaker in her chest made it boom with power. A woman used to authority and giving orders, a veteran of a hundred campaigns against the heresies of the Imperim.

They were in a sterile decontamination chamber that led to a pressured landing platform. It was a sterile environment both in cleanliness and aesthetics. Blank steel walls with a few control panels and a lift to bring their lander out into the main hangar once they had vented the atmosphere from it. Lit by a multitude of unimaginative white lights set into panels in the wall.

"Of course," answered Cardinal Sanchez, flanked by a pair of Sororitas bodyguards on the ramp to the aquila lander.

"Sister Francine, a word."

"Of course my liege."

A uniformed sister with gray power armor broke ranks from the others and knelt before the cardinal, bolter in hand as her ceramite clad head bowed to the man of the cloth.

"In our haste to evacuate, a holy relic was left in my quarters in the residential district. It is not of dire importance, but its value can not be undersold or for it to be discarded so easily. I ask that you stay behind and guard it on my behalf until we return. Understand that there is danger in this duty."

"I understand and stand ready to do your bidding your grace."

"By our Immortal Emperor, may your strength be true, your path be just, and your hatred for the heretic burn hotter than a thousand suns. May he give you the strength to stand firm against the heretic and xeno wherever you may find them. In the Emperor's do I so bless you," said Sanchez, splashing from a small vial of holy water that he carried on his person at all times.

"Thank you your grace," whispered Sister Francine, her voice no more than a teary whisper as she received a personal blessing from a man who spoke with the Emperor's own voice. For a sister of battle, there was no higher honor.

"Walk in his light my child."

"And smite his enemies who trail in his shadow."

The Cardinal smiled at that and allowed a hand to rest on the brow of the Sister's helmet. A tremor passed through her at the touch from the holy man. Then, just as quickly he was walking up the ramp, the hem of his long robe held up by a troupe of initiates holding votive sensors giving off sweet incense.

A gaggle of Imperial Guard officers boarded the lander as well, all of whom were intent of returning to the Insurmountable Glory, the flagship of their fleet and an Emperor Class Battleship until the current situation had calmed down.

They boarded the shuttle and Sister Francine watched the ship line up behind a series of launching escort ships. No more than PDF patrol boats, but they called them frigates and destroyers. Yes, the Sister had no eyes for the other ships. Instead she watched the shuttle fly like a solitary cherub amongst ogres. It was Imperial technology, blessed by the Emperor and the machine priests of Mars. Not like the other machines.

Though no sound could travel through the glass through the void of the launch hangar, vibration and light could. Shaking the ground even beneath Sister Francine's feet and making her optics increase light filtration. An Explosion.

One of the escorts near the mouth of the launch hangar had crashed into the floor, spewing flames and metal before exploding spectacularly.

"By the Emperor's Mercy," whispered the Sister, watching as titans, weightless in the void began destroying at will the ships of war that ZAFT possessed. Moving like men in voidsuits, they moved nimbly like an eldar abomination through the vacuum. Each blossom of flame, each eruption of steel like bursting skin silent in the void. The aquila lander looking oddly peaceful, hanging in the weightlessness of space, looking for a route to escape as the ships around it exploded or crashed. The retro rockets firing as it attempted more aggressive maneuvering to escape from the press of ships.

Then, in a beam of yellow light that punctured through the lander like an angel's spear, it exploded. A silent ball of fire that turned to black smoke in but an instant, taking with it the Cardinal and several generals of the Imperial Guard.

"CARDINAL!" Shrieked Sister Francine, her vox speaker amplifying her voice into a beastly, inhuman howl. Startling even the dumbstruck ZAFT personnel around her with its intensity. She beat with power armored fists against the thick glass, cracking it as she wailed in grief, reciting a litany of hatred and vengeance upon those responsible for this crime.

The sister was not given long to suffer though, for like an avalanche, inexorable in its progress, a warship, trailing smoke and fire smashed through the viewing port that she was looking through. Her ceramite power armor offering her only momentary protection before the vessel exploded, sending her after her cardinal in a fiery inferno.

Yet the flames lit would burn after would not extinguish so easily. They would burn long and they would burn hotly in the hearts of even the lowliest of guardsmen. The death of an Imperial Cardinal, especially one so venerated and old as Sanchez is never forgotten so easily, regardless of how it happened. Or is it ever forgiven.

xxx

Lunamaria cast a curious glance glance back over her shoulder at the 'new' additions to the crew. One was the representative of Orb, Cagalli Yulla Athha, followed by her bodyguard. A young man, not much older than her and rather cute.

The other two were more interesting though. The one Lieutenant was just a pilot, but the other one, the one who called himself a Colonel was something else. He was one of the Imperials she had seen talked about on TV.

He was a tall man, a very tall man with wide shoulders and a pale complexion. Not sickly, but like he hardly ever saw the sun, or UV lights. His eyes were steely gray, but under the brim of his shiny officers cap, they glinted like flinty metal. There was a look in his eyes, a kind of danger in the way that he carried himself, like he was in complete control of himself with every movement that he made. It was a subtle grace, but one that belied tremendous dexterity and power. She remembered the masters at her brother's dojo walking in much the same manner.

The silver skulls on his tunic collar were almost as bizarre as the sword or the massive pistol on his belt. The recoil from firing that thing looked like it would break his wrist if he ever fired it. His knee high dress boots were polished to a mirror shine the entire length of the leather and not a single strand of fabric looked out of place.

"Is something the matter Lieutenant?" asked the Colonel, a deep, aristocratic tenor to his voice. It was odd, with his neutral expression and nearly emotionless voice, it was hard to gauge how he was feeling or what his intent was. Even still, despite all of that, he was fairly handsome.

"No sir, nothing's the matter," answered Lunamaria professionally, but inwardly questioning how he had managed to catch her looking at him.

"All pilots report to briefing room, and all hands prepare for disembarkment. The Minvera is leaving port in pursuit of the fleeing GUNDAMs Gaia, Abyss, and Chaos. Hangar crews prepare for an arrival of 4 GuAIZ R mobilesuits."

Lunamaria missed the rest of the message as the bodyguard spoke.

"What is that? Is the Minerva leaving dock right now? It's going into battle with the Chairman and representative Athha on board? You can't put her in danger like that."

"Athrun," said Cagalli curtly.

"Athrun?" repeated Lunamaria, the name sparking a lightning strike of recognition in her brain. Could it be? "Athrun Zala, son of Chairman Zala?" The silence was all the answer she needed.

"Oh, sir, I'm a huge fan of your actions during the EA-PLANT war. You were incredible!" bubbled Lunamaria like a giddy fan girl holding out her hand to her idol, shaking his hand enthusiastically with both of hers once he grasped it.

"I never thought I'd get to be on the same ship as a real live ace, and the greatest combat pilot in the PLANTs to boot! If it's not too much trouble sir, can I get a picture?"

"Uh, sure," said Athrun somewhat awkwardly as Lunamaria pulled out her phone and handed it to one of the startled marines.

"Here, take our Picture," said Lunamaria smiling widely and much to his credit Athrun doing the same. With a click and a flash, Lunamaria gleefully retrieved her phone before remembering what she was supposed to be doing.

"Sorry for that, I just never thought that I'd ever get to meet you in person," said Lunamaria, her cheeks heating up in embarrassment. "They actually teach your maneuvers in the academy now and I used your battles with the strike to demonstrate how to properly pilot a morphing mobilesuit or GUNDAM in battle.

"Well, I just made most of it up as I went along."

"But that was the brilliant part Sir. You took a brand new machine with a never before used design and developed the tactics that ZAFT teaches today. You're a bit of a legend now, especially amongst my class."

"Well that is very kind of you, but it's more praise than I deserve. I had a really good team backing me up and they taught me more than I could have learned on my own."

"I do hate to interrupt Lieutenant, but I believe that you were taking us to meet with Captain Gladys?"

"Oh, of course, right this way then, sir," said Lunamaria to the Imperial Colonel, after retrieving her phone happily, saving the image and sending it to her email so that she wouldn't accidentally lose it.

To think that she would meet Athrun Zala here of all places, and that he'd let her take a picture with her. Maybe he would even fight alongside them? She doubted it since that he had mustered out of the military thus making it a non option, but it was an exciting thought all the same. To fly beside the greatest ace of the PLANTs would be the opportunity of a lifetime.

xxx

"I would like to personally extend my gratitude to you for allowing us to retain amnesty aboard your ship, despite current circumstances ma'am," said Heinrich, bowing after he had saluted and implying that he viewed the Captain as superior in rank to him despite that they were of equivalent rank. Homage, to the fact that he owed his water and daily bread to her continued good will. As well as the fact that he was aboard her domain, her own fiefdom if ZAFT operated the same way that the Imperial Navy did.

"It's alright Colonel, seeing how things are right now we can't exactly arrange a shuttle to take you off ship. I will say though that I did not appreciate you flying a pair of mobilesuits into the hangar of my ship unannounced."

"A matter of unfortunate timing and necessity I am afraid Captain. Given any other choice I would have gladly taken it, rather than attempt to compromise your ship," mollified Heinrich, noting with some surprise that the Captain appeared to be around his age.

Now normally that would have not raised too many concerns with the prevalent nature of rejuvenant treatments available to senior Guard and Navy officers. Yet, despite the medical knowledge of the PLANTs and genetic meddling, they knew nothing of how to extend human life or replace lost limbs beyond the most rudimentary of methods. The Captain looked no older that Heinrich was himself, despite the fact that he only held the rank he did due to the attrition heavy nature of the Korps and its need to continually promote surviving members into positions of authority.

There was also a marked physical difference between the two of them. While one could say that the Captain was fit, she was by no means in prime physical conditions. She was not burdened with heavy muscle or beset by any visible scars, a testament to the difference of their professions.

Where Heinrich was meant to lead from the front as an infantry or mechanized officer, and he had risen through the ranks from common trooper to the rank he held now. As such, he had gone through the hellish physical and psychologically soul crushing training meant to turn him into a productive Kreiger. Able to carry a 60kg combat load at a marching pace for days at a time and routinely pitted into close range hand to hand combat. Or vicious urban engagements. That is, before he was transferred to the marksman company and later again to the Grenadiers. Even then though, it had demanded a great deal of physical strength and endurance, a will to continue when the body felt broken.

As such, Heinrich's height had gained an impressive, almost physically intimidating physique, one won through hard physical training and the rigors of combat. His body scarred beneath his uniform from years of constant warfare and fighting. The Captain on the other hand, was more lean and birdlike. Her profession instead requiring her to be able to disseminate information and make tactical or strategic decisions quickly while maintaining a calm demeanor, and logical analysis while only exercising to fight off muscle atrophy or other debilitating ailments. As such, her needs had dictated that she in essence only train her mind instead of such a heavy emphasis on the body. Able to sleep in a warm bunk at the end of the day instead of a muddy trench.

"I'm sure that is the case Colonel and while you are on this ship I grant you permission to visit all non vital areas of the Minerva. Chairman Durandall is also aboard if you would like to meet him at some point to discuss our current situation, but at this point we all know as much as you do."

"Again, I must express my highest gratitude at your hospitality Captiain."

"You won't be allowed a sidearm while on the ship though, you'll have to turn your weapons into the ship's armory." Heinrich's lips pursed for a moment before he responded.

"Of course Captain, your ship your rules. Though I would like exemption for my family saber. It is very dear to me both as a symbolic and...sentimental object. I assure you it will not leave its sheathe."

"Alright, but you'll have to wire it in."

"Of course ma'am, I will do so immediately."

"Now, Lieutenant Towers."

"Ma'am," said Emily crisply.

"You are a combat mobilesuit pilot correct?"

"Yes ma'am. I'm qualified on the DINN and the GuAIZ ma'am. Both models."

"Good. I know that you aren't normally assigned to the Minerva, but I'm going to need all hands on deck for this deployment. Can I count on you?"

"Absolutely ma'am. I'm at your service."

"Good, you may go with Lt. Hawke to the briefing room to learn about your new mission. Colonel, ensign Reed will take you and your aide to the quarters you will be occupying while onboard the Minerva.

"As you will it ma'am, so shall I obey," said Heinrich with a civil bow.

xxx

"Do you think that we should be doing this?"

"Why not? We got our leave passes and I'm looking to eat some good food, get blind drunk, and have a good time. With you girls here, it'll definitely be a good time."

"But I don't drink."

"Well then that makes you our chaperone now doesn't it Lisa?" said Selena, the tall amazonian blonde Cadian ruffling the hair of the youngest (and most devout) member of their tank crew. Her purple eyes alight with mirth as she elicited a squeal of protest from the younger woman.

"Lighten up, I'll even buy you a drink, how about it? It'll be a so~da."

"Well, I do like soda," conceded the brunette Cadian.

"That's the spirit! What about you Rachael, what would you like?"

"Something wet Sergeant."

"Okay then Corporal if you want to stay formal on leave. I however, intend to be as childish and impulsive as possible."

"You usually are Sergeant."

"Oh lighten up Rachael, I though redheads were supposed to be impulsive and angry?"

"That is a terrible stereotype Sergeant," monotoned the red haired gunner of their Destroyer Tank Hunter, the Two for Flinching. Like most Cadians she had the distinctive purple eyes, but they were set in a serious, no nonsense face.

"Well, I like it," offered the Amazonian Blonde.

"I know you do Sergeant. Unfortunately," sighed the redhead.

They were in a city called New York as embassy guards for the new Imperial presence on Earth, as the natives called it. Their Destroyer part of the protection detail assigned to it and as an added perk, they'd had more leave in the last few months than Selena had had in her entire career in the Guard and as a cadet leading up to her enrollment. Or rather, conscription.

The city was full of techno wizardry normally off limits to the regular Imperial citizen and it had all the amenities of any first rate hive without the choking pollution that so often accompanied it, or the restricted levels that the Guard imposed to keep their soldiers from wandering into ganger territory or mutants. Also, the clubs and drinks were superb. It was lit with bright lights and signs that would usually find themselves banned on the more conservative Ecclesiarchial worlds. For promoting too much flamboyancy that took away from devotion.

The only thing that had been truly shocking was the people offering pamphlets to join 'other' religions besides that of the Imperial Cult. Lisa had been most incensed by that, her normally cheerful face flushing red in anger. No doubt the Imperial Preachers would put a firm and final stop to that when they began their missionary work in earnest.

"That's the spirit I adore, now let's all get blackout drunk. Except for Lisa," allowed Selena to the cross look that came across the younger woman's face.

There was a sound of flesh striking flesh and a feminine cry of pain and quick as a switch, Selena's eyes darted over to an alley mouth where a man was gesturing angrily at a crying woman, bleeding from her lip.

"Sarge," said Rachael, the redhead's normally complacent eyes coming alive with both concern and a little bit of fear.

"I'm just going to talk to him," said Selena as she started walking over to the pair.

"No, Sarge, don't. This can't end up like last time."

"Like last time?" asked Lisa confused. Too new to know of the previous misadventures that the Two For Flinching had been on.

"I'm just going to talk to him," repeated Selena walking purposefully.

"I don't care if you're shaking, you don't get another bump until you make some money! Now-hey!"

"Good day to you sir, mind if I talk to you a minute?" asked Selena, her tone pleasant, but eyes murderous as she grabbed the man's shoulder and spun him around before slamming him up against the alley wall.

"What the fuck!"

"What the fuck indeed good sir. Now, as I was witnessing you laying your hands on this rather fine young lady here for what I can only assume were less than selfless reasons, I felt the strong compulsion to come and talk to you about why that is wrong."

"Get off of me!" grunted the man, straining against the tall, and very well muscled blonde.

"Number one. Personally, my mother always taught me and my brothers that striking a woman, one I might add is neither in the military or trained to defend herself, is something that only cowards and bullies do and that no real man would ever do such a thing. So it makes me wonder what kind of man, or boy, as the case may be would do such a thing?"

"I said get off!" growled the man, straining harder, only for the blonde to lift him off the ground by his collar and hold him against the wall.

"Number two. I could give a rats ass what people choose to do with their bodies. I have plenty of friends who love joy girls and a lot of those girls like being joy girls. What I can't stand, is when pricks, that would be you; go and get some poor girl addicted to some kind of shit so that they have to do it whether they want to or not. Because if they don't, they go through their own kind of hell with withdrawal and are soon crawling through their own vomit and piss until they obey like some kind of dog. I find that to be rather abusive and unfair."

Whatever the man was going to say was cut off by as the Cadian switched her grip to his throat instead of his collar.

"And finally, Number 3. This one is really important so be sure to pay attention. I don't fucking like you good sir."

Selena brought her fist quickly into the man's stomach, in a short and vicious punch that after a short exhale, made him slump against her grip.

"Next time be a little nicer, alright my good sir?"

Selena let the man slide to the ground and walked away casually like nothing had happened.

"Sgt, you can't do stuff like that," chastised Rachael, catching up with her superior.

"Relax Rachael, he'll be fine. I didn't hit him that hard. He'll just have a little bruise is all. Now let's go get drunk!"

"Yes Sergeant," sighed the redheaded Cadian wearily, the diminutive Lisa following closely behind.

"Tyrone?" asked the woman after the three purple eyed girls had left, shaking the man slumped against the wall.

He let out a wheezing gasp, like his lungs wouldn't fill with oxygen as a line of blood dribbled down the corner of his mouth and he fell silent. The woman screamed when she realized that he had just died.

AN: Well that was a three year gap ah ha, don't hit me. Well leave a review to tell me what you thought and if you liked it or want things improved or have critiques or things that you don't quite like be sure to let me know.