Gundam Seed: The Federation ver 2

by Blackshadow999

Different telling of Gundam Seed. With the conflict between Naturals and Coordinators getting worse as time passes, some nations have banded together and formed the organization known as the Human Federation. Will the Federation be able to help bring peace or will the hatred between Naturals and Coordinators destroy everything and bring extinction of humanity? Cover by Saddle Patch

46. Phase 46: Battle of Belief

A/n

Here it is, a week earlier than expected, the long-awaited battle sequence start. Again as I remind you readers every few Phases, I don't own anything from the Gundam universe, as much as I wish I could. I only take credit for my characters, ideas, and musings which create this store. Enjoy the Phase!

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Phase 46: Battle of Belief

July 12th, 71 CE

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L4 Colony Cluster

Tyler exited Mendel's Earth-facing dock without any seeing him flying with the Aurora's stealth system up. He planned to swing around and check the opposite dock to ensure no squatters were waiting. The colony could serve as a backdoor to the Earth-facing dock and spring a surprise attack on the ships Tyler was helping protect. If there were no one there, Tyler would move on from inspecting the colony cluster. Tyler was only going to look over the side of the cluster facing the moon and Lagrange 5. That was the direction threats would come from, Tyler would bet on that and so would take that as most likely. If he could find which side would try an assault first, Tyler would consider his patrol justified. Thus, Tyler swung the Aurora around to travel close to the colony heading for the other spaceport.

Tyler took around five minutes to reach the other rim of the colony and zoomed around to see the spaceport entrance. Tyler glanced at his sensor display and didn't see any other signals besides his allies on the other side of the colony. He didn't take that as there was no enemy presence as there were ways to fool sensors that ZAFT and OMNI had to work with. Tyler slowed his forward travel and sailed into the northern spaceport of the Mendel colony. He scanned the port and found nothing that stood out or seemed out of place as he moved along. The area was dim as only emergency lighting was on, so that Tyler couldn't see every corner of the docking area. Tyler had checked on the colony's power system during his downtime before he headed out to this patrol. From what he'd seen, Mendel had its power distributed to keep general colony systems like atmospheric controls going and the southern spaceport active. So the northern port was running on minimal power, and most systems were dormant. Such didn't have Tyler just assuming the port was empty from just glancing inside, and there could still be enemies there hiding. Tyler cruised around, searching for anything off to him for about ten minutes in the spaceport. Everything was quiet, and nothing appeared off to Tyler. The port was a dark and unused docking area.

Tyler moved to leave the northern spaceport, his brain echoing thoughts of the current situation and how much he didn't like it. He didn't like waiting for things to happen, especially when combat was coming his way. Tyler preferred to have battle come to him and get down to business instead of waiting and imagining the possibilities. But that was one reason that Tyler decided to do the patrol, as it gave him something to work on to ignore the waiting. Tyler had the Aurora travel forward and begin a gentle arc to the right to start the plan search pattern. He planned to do zigzags around the colonies in the cluster before doing a long arc at the edge of L4. That pattern would cover the most area that enemy forces would be inclined to use to approach Mendel.

A quiet fifty minutes crept by as Tyler flew the pattern he planned with little to see for the time that passed. There had been nothing but wreckage floating around and the remains of colonies that made up the cluster. Tyler knew most of the colonies were classified as minor concerns and were checked once a year. The vast majority didn't have stable power or a breathable atmosphere to work with. As Tyler glanced at the colonies while he passed them, he couldn't help but feel a little sad at the state of the colonies. They had been built during the "golden age" the space industry had when constructing colonies as fast as possible. From what Tyler remembered from his history lessons, colonies had been sold as the "next great adventure." The official reason for their construction was to help with a potential population boom and make space for people to live comfortably. However, in the decade that followed the space industry building half of the colonies at L4, an arms race began with the unveiling the first mobile armors. It hadn't been long after that the L4 colony cluster began to lose its population of residential tenants and be used for research instead. The cluster became overlooked once the PLANTs were under construction, and few wanted to go to L4.

Tyler was brought out of his thoughts about the colonies when a blip appeared on his sensor display. He glanced down at it and saw the signal crossing the colony cluster's edge. Tyler put the Aurora in an arc to put in on an interception course to the signal so he could find out who was here first. Soon enough, Tyler spotted an object moving forward, unlike the wreckage floating around the cluster. As he got closer to it, Tyler figured a vessel was seeing and following. However, it wasn't a class he recognized at a distance, so it was not the usual ship classes OMNI and ZAFT used. And yet, Tyler was kind of surprised when he had gotten closer enough to see the ship was an Archangel-class. The color scheme was the major difference between the one he was seeing and the one he knew. The original Archangel was white overall, and the new one Tyler was viewing was black. There was little other visible difference Tyler could spot as he kept getting close. This Archangel didn't give any sign it noticed the Aurora's approach, though its stealth system was still active.

For OMNI to build another Archangel-class ship wasn't shocking to Tyler. They had gotten general blueprints from the Archangel when it was at JOSH-A. Tyler would admit from his observations the ship class was a powerful one. However, Tyler highly doubted the ship was closer to mass-production than it had been to the Alliance's Earth-based HQ. Also, Tyler couldn't help but wonder if the "design issue" the Archangel possessed had been "fixed" or "worked out." His intuition strongly stated that OMNI wouldn't have done anything about the problems or weaknesses of the ship class. If that were true, Tyler would have a serious advantage going against it. Tyler hadn't forgotten the weaknesses and "dumb" issues the blueprints had shown him when he'd looked at them.

Nevertheless, there was also another question that Tyler couldn't dismiss from his mind seeing this ship. OMNI wanted a machine that carried a neutron jammer canceller. Tyler would bet a large sum of currency on that point. And they should've seen taking on, let alone capturing, the Freedom or the Justice wouldn't be a simple task. The attack on Orb proved that for the Freedom and one could add the Battle of the Republic for the Justice. If OMNI were inclined to use logic, then they would take capturing either of them as something a group should be assigned to do. So, either OMNI was seriously overconfident about this ship being capable of the job, or they were absolutely underestimating the task's difficulty. Tyler was leaning toward the latter rather than the former if he were to give his opinion. His experience with OMNI made it clear they didn't use what most sane people would call "logical thinking." They were reckless, rushed to get what they wanted, and ignored the consequences. For all Tyler knew, it could be a combination of the two possibilities of overconfidence and underestimation.

For several reasons, Tyler was curious about who had been given the ship's command. First, the captain, whoever they were, essentially were on a harsh mission where the odds were stacked high against them. It wasn't suicidal per se, but Tyler felt it was not all that far from being considered such. It certainly made Tyler wonder what the captain could've done to get stuck with this mission. OMNI top brass either thought extremely highly of them or saw them as expendable. Second, this ship had no backup and would be screwed with the mobile suit pilots they would be facing. Bar a miracle or extreme misfortune on the opposing side, no matter what mass-production models they had, it wouldn't be enough to help them. Finally, with Tyler's knowledge of the Archangel-class, he could do more to the ship before they could counter. It would be hysterical if it weren't a life and death type of situation.

Tyler kept a short distance from the ship and followed it as it drew closer to the Mendel colony. He opened an encrypted channel to the Archangel, which was audio-only due to the distance he was away. "Archangel, this is the Aurora," Tyler began, "be advised, I've encountered an OMNI vessel which has entered the colony cluster from the moon-facing side. It's using the colonies' structure to mask its approach to Mendel. I can confirm that the vessel is an Archangel-class assault carrier. The chances of hostile intentions are extremely high, prepare a response accordingly. I estimate you have approximately five minutes at least until the enemy vessel comes into effective range to launch an attack, ten minutes at best. That is all the info I can give at the moment, Aurora out." Tyler followed the black vessel discreetly, paying strict attention to any signs of weapons being used. And as he sailed forward, Tyler's intuition was screaming at him the ship he was seeing would be trouble for him and his allies.

At the same time, the Dominion's sensor operator reported to Natarle that they were reading three ship silhouettes. The next fact that Natarle got was that all three were battleship-sized, which the Archangel would fit. But that also meant the Archangel had two allied ships probably with their own mobile suits to work with. "Any other vessels in the area," Natarle posed to her sensor operator. "No, ma'am, none we can detect in this half of the colony cluster," the operator replied.

Azrael smirked at hearing that since it implied they had gotten here before ZAFT and would have the first shot at the prize. His hunch had been right with the Dominion needing to head out as quickly as possible. It had given them the advantage to scoop up the nuclear-powered mobile suits. Azrael had heard no report of their targets knowing they were coming, so they also had the element of surprise. "And it seems we beat ZAFT to it," he remarked, causing Natarle to glance in his direction. "How fortunate that is for us," he continued, "Well, no time like the present, let's get started with the business, shall we, Miss Captain?" Azrael waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. "Feel free to sink the Archangel if it pleases you." His gaze sharpened on her, "Just don't lose sight of the real target, the nuclear-powered mobile suits." Azrael smiled sweetly, "So, why not send out our own suits to begin the work? I feel they will do a good job as they have been informed what will happen if they fail."

Natarle still didn't know what to make of the Director, and he was such a strange man in her view. He was normally calm and collected, but she'd heard he had his moments of fury that came up. Then he also viewed this battle as some sort of business deal that didn't sit well with her. However, her orders were to hunt down the Archangel and deal with her, so Natarle couldn't really argue with the Director. In the end, Natarle sighed and focused on the looming battle, "All hands, prepare the ship for battle," she ordered. "Activate Igelstellungs and Valiant cannons. Load all missile tubes with sledgehammers." Natarle heard her orders being echoed down in the CIC by her second-in-command. She continued, "Arm the Lohengrin cannons and wait for my signal."

Meanwhile, the Archangel's bridge was being manned by just a few currently, with Sai in the CIC and Kuzzey at the comm-station. Krystal was the commanding officer on duty so that Mu could get downtime and Murrue could have a break. Krystal had heard Tyler had headed out when she had taken charge, and something had been mentioned about the teen doing some kind of patrol. Krystal didn't blame Tyler for wanting to do something even if it seemed tedious, and being alone in a mobile suit for an hour or more just looking around would be tedious. The waiting for an assault to come was starting to get to some the longer the quiet continued. The responses from people were different, but the feeling of restlessness was the same. Even the look she and Mu had gotten of the Aurora hadn't done much to relieve the frustration of waiting she felt. And perhaps Tyler's patrol may spot something approaching that the lookouts wouldn't see until it was too late. Unfortunately, positioning the colonies in the cluster provided opportunities for surprise attacks. Thus far, her command shift was quiet and left her to her thoughts, which wasn't helping her. Krystal didn't like waiting for things to happen any more than Mu and Tyler had shown themselves to be. She knew there was no way OMNI would leave them alone after the battle with Orb. Some might even figure out that the Freedom and the Justice were nuclear-powered. That point alone would have members of the top brass more than interested and want to send some out to investigate.

Kuzzey was reading a file on the Federation's volunteer work, more for when the war ended. He was tentatively planning to do volunteer work after the fighting toned down. Kuzzey didn't feel he could return to the simple, quiet life he'd had before, not after what he'd seen with his own eyes. And with the Archangel's new access to the Federation's Information Network, there were many things to search for. Kuzzey had been impressed by the opportunities the Federation had available for any to do volunteer work. Honestly, the real choice Kuzzey had to make was what kind of work he wanted to do and where. But his attention was drawn away from the current file he'd been reading when his console flashed an alert. Kuzzey glanced at the alert and found it was saying he had an incoming message, and it was encrypted. He turned on his headset and connected the line to hear what the message could be and who it was from. After hearing Tyler's voice and tone, Kuzzey knew this message was important. "Ma'am, we're receiving an encrypted message, it's audio only," Kuzzey announced, "But it's from Tyler, and he sounds serious."

Krystal turned around, now worried at a message coming into the Archangel. She had been curious when Kuzzey said they had a message coming to them. However, for it to come from Tyler was not a good sign as he'd been out for close to an hour already. It likely meant he had found something, which was a bad omen if ever there was one. But ignoring a warning tended to be unwise, and as she'd learned, ignoring Tyler normally was a grave mistake. "Well then, let's hear what he has to say," she replied, "I fear the quiet time is about to end."

The first sentence Tyler had spoken had worried Kuzzey and confirmed to him his friend was serious. The tone may have already said that, but the words made it even more problematic. So, Kuzzey input the commands for the message to be heard by the speaker system on the bridge. "Archangel, this is the Aurora," Tyler began, "be advised." Krystal's concern heightened at Tyler saying to "be advised" as that wasn't encouraging. It meant that her expectation of Tyler finding something was right, and likely enemies were coming their way. Tyler kept going, "I've encountered an OMNI vessel which has entered the colony cluster from the moon-facing side. It is using the structure of the colonies to mask its approach to Mendel." If what Tyler said was true, the lookouts wouldn't spot anything until it was too late to prevent a surprise attack. That was serious, and Krystal would say there was little way it could be worse, but Tyler proved her wrong in his next sentence. "I can confirm that the vessel is an Archangel-class assault carrier. The chances of hostile intentions are extremely high, prepare a response accordingly. I estimate you have approximately five minutes at least until the enemy vessel comes into effective range to launch an attack, ten minutes at best. That is all the info I can give at the moment, Aurora out."

That was the full message Kuzzey could find the Archangel had received through the encrypted channel. Kuzzey glanced at Commander McAlester, "There is nothing else with the transmission we just heard."

The message from Tyler already gave a lot to worry about without needing more to work with. OMNI would be the first to attack them and had even made and were sending a ship of the same class to sink the Archangel and her allies. Tyler's warning had given them a chance not to be caught by a surprise attack. And she wondered if the teen was following the enemy vessel as he kind of implied. If he was, he could counter a dangerous attack launched before the Archangel and its allies could move out. Krystal exhaled heavily, arguing the message's contents wouldn't change the situation. Time was now of the essence, and every moment counted as Tyler had estimated how long they had. "As I thought, the quiet period is over," she muttered. Krystal faced forward and picked up the ship phone, "All hands, level one battle stations, I repeat, all hands, to level one battle station." She twisted back to gaze at Kuzzey, "Contact the Kusanagi and the Eternal and tell them OMNI is about to attack us. They need to prepare themselves too."

Mu had just finished a mean and returned to his quarters to wind down and get some sleep while there was time. However, the announcement that came over the ship speakers changed those plans in a heartbeat. The quiet time they had been experiencing was over, and enemy forces were here to assault them. Mu fixed his uniform as he sailed down the corridor towards the lift to the hangar level, wondering who it was that was attacking first. Truthfully, Mu was just relieved the wait for battle was over at last, and the tension was shifting to something he was more familiar with. Fighting in combat was much more straightforward than waiting and wondering when it would come. Mu had to dodge the crew racing to the navigation bridge but did fine with the task. He got to the lift and punched the button to descend to the hangar level, controlling his breathing and getting into the mindset he had when he piloted.

Murrue had been in a light dose when the battle stations had come, which had snapped her awake. She put her officer's jacket on and adjusted her skirt before she exited the captain's quarters. Murrue reached the lift to the navigation bridge and found it was filled with some of the normal bridge crew. She squeezed into the elevator, which closed before moving upward to the bridge. The lift door opened minutes after Krystal's announcement for battle stations, and around half the bridge crew floated to their assigned stations. Krystal pushed herself out of the captain's chair and faced the lift. She nodded to Murrue, "The bridge is yours, Murrue, I should head down to the hangar and suit up," Krystal stated as she sailed toward the lift.

Murrue inclined her head at Krystal as she sailed by to make her way to the hangar. Murrue was grateful that Mu and Krystal took command shifts so she could have a break. The two helped her keep her sanity and get some sleep and time to unwind. She considered the two pilots friends and wanted to keep it that way when the war ended. Murrue felt there could be more with Mu as he had shown they were "more than friends" before now. Yet, Murrue shook her head, clearing her thoughts and focusing on the present. Krystal wouldn't call for level one battle stations without a good reason. "Status report," Murrue ordered, "What is the situation?"

Kuzzey cleared his throat, "We got a message from Tyler an enemy vessel is on approach to our position." He brought up the message again as the lift opened again, and the remaining bridge crew filed out and to their stations. "Per what it stated, the enemy vessel is an Archangel-class and is using the colonies to mask their approach."

Murrue recalled Tyler heading out on a "patrol," as he'd put it. Such had happened just before Krystal had taken over. She hadn't thought Tyler would find much on his patrol but hadn't denied him. Tyler had already displayed how futile it was to try and stop him when he got an idea in his head. Low and behold, he had found enemy forces coming, so she would have to thank him later for his insistence. "Has this fact been given to the Eternal and Kusanagi," she asked Kuzzey. The teen nodded, "Already done per Command McAlester's orders." Murrue nodded in acknowledgment, "Open a channel to both ships, Kuzzey."

On the Kusanagi, Kisaka had been organizing the crew the moment the message from the Archangel came that enemies were approaching. The ship was ready for the most part, and there was not much more that could be done until they knew more. Kisaka gave orders to the forward station operators when Cagalli came onto the bridge. "Kisaka, what's going on," she questioned, "You called for battle stations." Kisaka bowed his head at Cagalli, "Lady Cagalli, my apologies for not asking you to come up sooner. We received information from the Archangel that the Aurora had found an OMNI vessel is closing in."

Cagalli frowned, "So it is OMNI who is attacking first," she clenched one of her hands into a fist, "Those warmongering fools can't seem to be satisfied."

Kisaka sighed, "While true, they are here, and we are assuming they will be hostile toward us and our allies." He floated to the mobile suit control station, Cagalli following him into the CIC. "Mrs. Simmons was down in the hangar doing the final preparation for the mobile suit pilots. We are ready to go as best we can for the moment, we just need to leave the dock." A call from the com-officer got Kisaka and Cagalli to float to the upper bridge, "What is it?"

"Sir," the com-officer replied, "getting a comm connection from the Archangel."

Cagalli knew that with her interactions with Orb's military, her rank would have her being the captain of this ship. She had been coming to terms with leaving Orb the way she did, and now it was time for her to do the expected job. Plus, it was something she could do to make a difference, and Cagalli had been searching for such. Her frustration had been mounting since she had been doing little the last week. So, Cagalli put a hand on Kisaka's shoulder, nonverbally telling him she would take charge. He gained a soft smile and nodded, letting Cagalli move forward into the position of command. "Connect the channel," she ordered, and the comm-officer did as she asked.

Murrue was slightly surprised to see Miss Cagalli in front of the captain's chair for the Kusanagi. The girl had been helping with the Kusanagi but hadn't given out the orders as much as Kisaka had. Not that Murrue had an issue working with the girl, she had command experience with Orb's military. The Archangel's forward display split as the Eternal's bridge also appeared on it. The Eternal had Waltfeld in the captain's chair with the woman who had been introduced as his second-in-command. Murrue cleared her throat, "What is the status of your ships?"

Cagalli gained a determined expression on her face, "The Kusanagi is ready to go," she replied, with Kisaka nodding to her statement. "Is there more information on the enemy force?"

Murrue nodded, wincing, "Yes, according to the Aurora, the enemy force is made up of one OMNI vessel." She hesitated for a moment as she didn't feel comfortable facing another Archangel-class. "It is an Archangel-class vessel, so it has the same capabilities as we do and is likely filled with their own mobile suits.

The news wasn't good, and Andrew hadn't expected it to be when work came, enemy forces were approaching. The Eternal wasn't ready just yet, it was close, but they needed minutes more, and he assumed they wouldn't get that from the enemy. Thus, the Eternal would have to count on the Kusanagi and the Archangel to keep the enemy busy while they finished adjustments. "That could be a problem," Andrew stated, "The Eternal isn't ready yet, we need a little more time to prepare, sorry to say." Aisha nodded in agreement, "Our weapon systems need a bit more adjustments, and the countermeasures need slight calibration," she added.

Murrue understood the need, the Kusanagi and the Archangel should be able to keep this unknown Archangel busy for the needed time. "I understand, do what you need to for the Eternal to be ready. The Archangel will head out of the colony first and face those outside," Murrue stated. "Just hurry as best you can." Cagalli nodded and spoke, "We will be right behind you, Murrue, OMNI will regret their reckless decision."

Meanwhile, Mu came out of the pilot locker room in his pilot suit, helmet in hand, ready to sorte out. As Mu turned to the hangar's entrance, he heard the lift open and glanced in that direction to see Dearka. Mu nodded and continued toward the hangar and the Strike so he could be ready to launch. Dearka popped into the locker room and went to his locker with the ZAFT pilot suit. He'd been offered an Alliance one, but Dearka preferred his ZAFT spacesuit to work with as he knew it best. Dearka glanced at the one Federation spacesuit that had been down here, which he guessed was McGregor's. The suit had been bulkier and had more equipment, making Dearka wonder. However, he hadn't inspected the suit in great detail, so he couldn't say why the Federation had their spacesuits designed the way they did. But now the wait for battle was over, and Dearka was calmer since it was the stress he was used to. He exited the locker room much as Mu had when Krystal came out of the lift.

Krystal saw Mr. Elsman heading for the hangar in his ZAFT pilot suit but said nothing. She went into the locker room for her turn to suit up before she went to her machine. She zipped her suit up after putting it on, made her way to the hangar, and headed for the Shadow. All three pilots checked their units and ensured they were ready to go. As they did, the Archangel lifted out of its dock and slowly moved forward toward the spaceport entrance. The Kusanagi followed suit, rose from its dock, and followed the Archangel to the port exit.

As that happened, the Dominion moved itself to have a clear shot at Mendel's southern spaceport. She still didn't feel good about attacking the Archangel, even when orders told her to. The ship had been hers until close to two months ago, and the crew had been a good and loyal one. Yet, it was too late to regret, and she cursed the point, so Natarle had the Dominion's left Lohengrin aim for the starboard side of the colony dock facilities. "Target the first ship in the harbor, the Archangel," she ordered, almost biting her tongue, saying the ship's name. "Lohengrin 2, fire!"

The Archangel was increasing the output of its engines when the colony shook from being struck. The positron blast caused some wreckage to shift inside the dock but didn't impede the Archangel as it sailed toward the exit. The port walls held, but fissures developed in the spaceport's outer walls. "I need Igelstellungs and Valiant cannons activated and ready," Murrue ordered. "Load all missile tubes with sledgehammers for anti-ship combat."

Natarle watched as the Archangel exited the colony's spaceport, ready to face combat. Once again, doubts about OMNI's orders and leaders returned to Natarle's mind. And she couldn't dismiss them as she did before, they wouldn't be silenced or ignored. Even if orders stated the Archangel was a rebel ship and it was to be sunk, Natarle couldn't just do that without trying something else. She would attempt to reason with Murrue, save them from execution, and do her utmost to help them. Natarle opened a communication channel using the Archangel's set identifier, "This is the Earth Alliance's Mobile Assault Ship Dominion," Natarle announced, "Archangel, can you hear me?"

Tyler had seen the black Archangel deploying its weapons and had been deciding how to respond. However, the use of its Lohengrin had caught Tyler off-guard slightly. The weapon was dangerous due to its effects, it was meant for destruction without precision. Plus, the range it was used at hurt accuracy so that it had hit the colony was impressive. Thus, Tyler was about to shift the Aurora into its suit form and get down to business but was stopped at hearing Natarle's voice. Sure, he'd jokingly thought about Natarle facing the Archangel at some point from OMNI's side, but he hadn't meant it to be a serious thought. Honestly, Tyler felt kind of sorry for the woman who had seemingly made it her mission to shape him up and was now in a ridiculous position. He would bet she hadn't been told the truth about JOSH-A or what the Alliance had been doing on Earth. Tyler couldn't see the woman being okay with the actions of OMNI recently, even with her rigid military discipline. So, Tyler held off for the moment but was ready to jump in and disable the black ship in the most efficient way possible.

On the Archangel, hearing the voice of Natarle produced mixed reactions. The woman had been the Archangel's vice-captain from the outset from Heliopolis and had only left at JOSH-A. To face her now in battle gave the Archangel's crew a horrible feeling they couldn't fully shake. Murrue recalled when she'd said Natarle would make an amazing captain someday, and she had meant it. She had also put forth the hope that they would meet again but not on a battlefield. And yet, here they were facing off against each other in battle just as they had both wished not to. Murrue silently cursed the war for bringing circumstances to this point where she had to face one she thought of as a friend. "Your ship has been designated as a rebel vessel," Natarle stated. "Therefore, we demand your immediate and unconditional surrender. Should you refuse these demands, then we will be forced to open fire and destroy your ship."

Murrue's feelings were sinking lower as Natarle had been stating her demands. They should have the same goal, to end the war as peacefully as possible. Murrue had thought Natarle had believed in such an ideal while they'd served together. However, it appeared that Natarle's military discipline had her following orders rather than fighting for what she believed. Shortly after Natarle gave the two lines, video communication connected. Murrue looked at a woman she respected as a friend and an equal. "It's been too long, Captain Ramius," Natarle greeted. "I wish we didn't have to meet this way again, I'm sorry."

Murrue was glad that Natarle's honesty was still intact even under the harshest circumstances. She had come to admire the quality since she could always count on Natarle to give the truth as she saw it. Thus, Murrue smiled sadly, "Indeed, the feeling is mutual," she replied.

Tyler felt that he was intruding on the conversation as he listened in. It was one of the sad facts of the war, it pitted friends against one another, with their side expecting death from the other. Tyler felt Natarle had bad luck before, meeting and dealing with him was an example of that. However, it seemed like the woman's luck had only worsened and in a big way since she was separated from the Archangel. And while Tyler disagreed with Natarle on her opinion of how things could best get done much of the time, it didn't mean he was blind to the good in Natarle. She was a capable officer when it came down to it, not the style Tyler preferred to work with, but a good officer nonetheless. The Alliance didn't have as many of those types as it started with, some had been killed while others left OMNI. Natarle's issue, as Tyler saw it, was her blind loyalty and faithfulness to the Alliance. The organization had clearly shown they don't deserve such loyalty as they cast aside those who give them that.

"I heard about what went on at Alaska," Natarle said, "it was a complicated decision, and the results were horrible." Tyler was quite curious about what Natarle could've heard about what happened at JOSH-A. The Alliance's narrative had been pretty cut and dry, and soldiers sacrificed themselves to wipe out ZAFT forces. He didn't see OMNI top brass telling the truth about what occurred as it would hurt their image and cause. And since she had been among those OMNI wanted to save, she wouldn't have been told about the Archangel before coming here. Natarle continued, "However, I strongly suggest you surrender and then talk things over with the top brass." Tyler would have snickered and told Natarle to stop joking if not for two reasons. Tyler had never seen any display suggesting Natarle had a sense of humor. Then, if he didn't know the woman was being serious, he would have called her out and dressed her down about justifying one's own decision with superior officers. "I don't know what help I can be, but I'll do everything I can to assist you," Natarle said. "You are fully aware of what this ship can do. Please, make this easier on yourselves."

Tyler was grateful that his helmet didn't allow the sounds he was making to be heard by others, it would have been hard to explain the evil laughter. He couldn't help the malicious cackle as unknowing to Natarle, and she had extended a dare to him. The "make it easier on yourselves" translated for Tyler as "show me how much of a pain you can be." Tyler wasn't one to refuse a dare often if he wasn't required to. They just didn't come as often as they used to. Natarle had provided more than enough motivation for Tyler to make her life harder, he had just held back before now. And with his knowledge of the Archangel class, the things he could do to it were scary. Not that anyone else had to know what he could do to the ship class. If the Archangel's crew had known, they would have never let him near a console or station.

Meanwhile, Murrue could appreciate Natarle trying to do what she could to save them trouble with OMNI higher-ups. However, it was far too late to save any career in OMNI for any of the Archangel's crew. They were supposed to have died at JOSH-A and hadn't thus had learned the truth about the Alliance. Then they had fought against OMNI in defense of Orb, making them an enemy. So even were they to surrender, it would be prison at best, execution at worst. "Natarle, thank you for that, but there is no way we will give in," Murrue replied. "This isn't just about the betrayal at JOSH-A. This is about the motivations of the Alliance and the inexcusable things done throughout this war that can't be dismissed."

Natarle was trying to process what Murrue was talking about when she said "inexcusable things." War was horrible, those who enlisted in OMNI were told that initially. Thus, Murrue should know those bad things that occurred during the fighting between OMNI and ZAFT. Nothing was said about betrayal, but Natarle wouldn't put it past Captain Sutherland to do something like that. "Harsh things occur in war, but even so, it isn't worth what you're doing," Natarle reasoned. What followed was a sad attempt to justify what Natarle didn't know about beyond what she'd been told. Tyler couldn't help but shake his head at listening to the crap Natarle was regurgitating. Murrue had stated things correctly, and he would applaud how far the woman had come from where she had started. And it wasn't that Tyler would say Natarle was wrong about harsh things happening in the war, it was true. There are things worth staking one's life for, Tyler had a few of those himself. One stood up against those who would do anything to achieve their destructive vendettas. And Tyler would do that before it was defined by his sweet mother and not hesitate.

Murrue could see Natarle was hesitating in her response to Murrue, implying the Alliance wasn't what they thought. Tyler had been right with how he'd described it, and the Alliance wasn't heroes. They were monsters portraying themselves as such. "Do you then condone the Alliance's attacks on member nations of the Federation," Murrue posed. "Or has the top brass not mentioned anything about what OMNI's Earth-based forces had done recently aside from Victoria?" Murrue took a deep breath, "This about the merit of this war, so we will not surrender, we will not return to OMNI's military."

Natarle blinked at Murrue's claim as it was so outlandish it sounded ridiculous. She wanted to deny what Murrue was saying, that OMNI had attacked the Federation. It was beyond a reckless decision for the Alliance to make with the war as it was. Fighting ZAFT was already taxing OMNI though mobile suits were helping turn the tides. However, Natarle knew Murrue wasn't the kind to tell ridiculous stories about events. Thus, what she said about OMNI attacking the Federation was likely true. It would explain the issues with the Federation exterminating the Orbital Fleets. "That's not what," Natarle began saying. but paused, "Captain, listen to me-"

Tyler rolled his eyes at whatever excuse Natarle was about to give for the Alliance and their actions. Nothing she could say would convince the majority of people after Tyler's mother's speech. And if Tyler got the chance, he would be more than willing to dress down Natarle and correct her view. He didn't think it would help Natarle in the long run, but he would try if the opportunity came up. However, before the conversation could go further, there was laughter from a voice Tyler hadn't heard in this conversation.

Azrael had thought about interrupting and ending the attempt the captain had been making to reason with the Archangel. It was pointless in the end to reason with traitors, yet something in him had said to see how it played out. The conversation had been amusing in some ways, the woman's desperation had been funny. Azrael had to admit he had a modicum of respect for the Archangel's captain, Murrue Ramius. She was standing up for what she believed and wouldn't back down; it took courage to do that. It didn't change the mission of capturing the nuclear-powered mobile suits. But the woman Captain Ramius had chosen bold last words to go on the record, and Azrael would make sure the woman was seen as a blind fool for the cause. "I really needed to see where that would go," Azrael remarked with a smile. "Honestly, you should be embarrassed, captain. If only we could solve disagreements or views and opinions by talking, the war wouldn't be happening. Enmity is born of misunderstanding, thus, enemies are created. And enemies must die, there is no other way to deal with them properly."

Tyler didn't like the almost carefree attitude this man was talking about in the war. The man's attitude made it sound like he was above all others. The type that used others cast them aside and thought nothing of it. Tyler didn't get along in any way with those kinds of individuals, and he normally did things to make them furious or miserable. Yet, Tyler's nagging feeling that the man he was hearing wasn't ordinary. The guy didn't talk like a soldier, so most likely a businessman or politician. Such didn't travel on combat vessels unless they had a reason, usually involving an interest of theirs. However, Tyler's question was answered a moment later by Natarle, "Director Azrael." The name Azrael caused icy anger to course through Tyler, which translated into his white-knuckled grip on his flight controls.

The name Azrael was more than familiar to Tyler and was in reference to Muruta Azrael. The man was the current leader of Blue Cosmos, which was a bad enough mark. He was also a war criminal for his participation in the Bloody Valentine. Azrael was one of the major people blamed for the event as he was supposed to have been heavily involved in the planning. The United Nations established the definition of a war criminal before the Alliance had existed. And causing or even being involved with the Bloody Valentine would qualify because it was mass genocide. The charging and punishing of such crimes were originally enforced by the group the UN put together that would become the Federation's military. Because of those like Azrael, the war started and was kept going. He was the prime example of a holder of "anti-Coordinator" sentiments. He was one of the few that had played a part in the Bloody Valentine, who hadn't been taken into custody by the Federation's military yet. And here and now was the very man who helped bring Bloody Valentine about, apparently a director of one of the Alliance's leading groups.

Azrael had enough of this nonsense, there was business to attend to, and the longer it took, the more likely ZAFT would interfere. And since Miss Captain wasn't doing the job, he would get things moving. "Calamity, Forbidden, Raider, you're cleared to launch," Azrael stated. "Today is the day we sink the unsinkable Archangel and be done with the matter."

The battle was unavoidable now, as much as Murrue wished she and Natarle could avoid that. A sick feeling filled her, understanding that she would face her former first officer in combat. Yet now, the Archangel would face her in battle, and all of the Archangel's crew had negative feelings about it, showing that this war was truly a horrible thing. The Republic's Prime Minister had put it quite well from the broadcast Murrue had watched had shown. This war only took away, destroyed, ruined, and didn't have anything else of value. In hindsight, the evidence was so easy to see what the war had done, along with the hatred that kept it going. Nonetheless, it didn't make it easier to swallow the facts or results. Murrue gave orders for the Archangel to ready itself for combat and for pilots to prepare to launch out in their mobile suits. The special signal and small equipment launchers were loaded with anti-beam depth charges in preparation for attacks from the black Archangel, the Dominion. The stern missile launchers were loaded with anti-ship Sledgehammer missiles.

Down in the hangar, the Archangel's pilots were ready, for the most part, to head out to the field. The Archangel's mechanics rushed around, doing as many of the needed tasks as quickly and as efficiently as possible so that the mobile suits could head out. Dearka was checking over the tuning that the Buster had received from the techs from Morgenroete. He was making sure the onboard systems were working as he wanted. He was fairly impressed at the work done on the Buster, which brought an amount of streamlining to the OS. The Federation clearly knew how to make an effective OS to work with, and he appreciated it. Krystal was deciding whether to go with the heavy beam rifle set the Shadow had available or went with the flight system that had been rebuilt instead. Both options had merit for combat, as each could provide something different to work with against opponents.

Mu was talking to Chief Murdoch about the finer points of the equipment he intended to use in this skirmish. Back in Orb at Morgenroete's main complex, Mu's mobile armor had undergone extensive modifications to work with the Strike. Mu had been very interested in the idea when Erica Simmons suggested it for his Moebius Zero to be able to combine with the Strike. It would give better thrust than the Aile pack and extra weaponry he could use against the enemy. Plus, his Zero had gotten a more updated arsenal that would be much more effective against mobile suits. Phase shift would reduce the weapons' effects but little else beyond that. And thus far, the mass production Earth Alliance mobile suits hadn't shown to have phase shift armor, and they had laminated armor instead. Now his Zero Armor had a Gatling gun exchanged for his linear cannon and was an 80mm caliber for more oomph than the linear cannon. The gunbarrel pods had their auto-cannons switched out for a railgun and a pair of missiles in each pod.

The real feature of interest Mu had in his mind was how his armor could combine with the Strike. It would mount to the hardpoint like the other striker packs did and improve the Strike's capabilities. The Strike would still carry its 57mm beam rifle and anti-beam coated shield as primary equipment. With the mobile armor mounted to the hardpoint, Mu could use the gunbarrels, the Gatling gun with it swinging forward to fire at enemies. The added thrust from the gunbarrels would give the Strike better mobility and pushing power, and Mu would take that and use it to do what was needed in this battle. Specifically, Mu was discussing with Murdoch how to launch the zero armor after the Strike went out. The zero had a control system installed for remote commands to be given and the armor move as directed. From what Murdoch said, it was supposedly similar to the system the Federation's military used for their mobile weapons. Mu had taken some time to study the general idea of the system and understood the basics of how it worked. However, he hadn't tried it out yet, and until he did, he was hesitant to rely on it for launch and docking to the Strike.

Murdoch could see Mu's hesitation and didn't blame the man for not wanting to use something he hadn't explored. Yet, time was of the essence since enemy units were likely deploying to the field right now. So, Chief Murdoch suggested that the Zero be loaded right behind him to launch with the catapult after Mu headed out in the Strike. Were that the case, then the zero could fling out in a predictable trajectory Mu could use to dock the equipment. Kira had devised a similar method to attach the launcher set to the Strike. If done as intended, the Strike would need to line up to have the Zero do the auto-docking procedure. In theory, it would shift over to its dock mode and attach to the Strike's hardpoint. That method would do away with the need for the armor's control system and simplify the process. The thing was, the method hadn't been attempted in real time, just simulated before now

Dearka and Krystal stated they were ready to head out within minutes and were moved to the catapults. The Shadow moved to the right catapult and was equipped with the flight system per Krystal's decision. The Strike was sent to the left catapult but was given no equipment other than the rifle and shield as it would be using the Zero armor for equipment. The catapult rams flung out the Shadow, and Krystal faced off against the black Archangel. After the Shadow launched, the Buster went to the right catapult, headed out to the field, and took up a similar position. Mu zoomed out in the Strike, keeping in line with the catapult for his Zero. Murdoch had the Zero armor quickly moved to the left catapult and had it shot out from the Archangel. Mu kept the Strike where it was as the zero shot out and watched the forward half, including the Gatling gun, fold up and back, revealing the docking point. The docking slot banged into the Strike's hardpoint, and Mu hit the button to lock it in place. The Strike's readouts looked good from what Mu could see, so he activated its phase shift armor and surged forward to join the other two.

The Freedom and the Justice launched out from the Eternal and came out of the spaceport as the Kusanagi sailed outside. The Regenerate would follow shortly once the Eternal was finished with its preparations. The Dominion was doing the same as the Archangel, and their allies deployed their mobile suits. Kira spotted three mobile suits launched from the Dominion, quickly recognizing them. The same three had been involved in both battles the Alliance waged against the Orb Union. Their names, Muruta Azrael, had stated, were the Calamity, the Forbidden, and the Raider. None that were facing them could say which name belonged to which machine, nor did it really matter. Regardless of names, all three had already shown that they could cause chaos and destruction when they came onto a battlefield.

Tyler was still watching the Dominion noticing the port side stern missile tube opened and missiles shifted into firing position. Tyler didn't have his normally solid control that even Natarle couldn't break through, not after hearing the man who played a part in taking his dad and sister away. He had originally intended to fulfill the dare Natarle had extended and leave the ship limping away. However, Tyler wanted to make Azrael miserable to the best of his abilities now. Thus, Tyler shifted the Aurora to its suit mode, took out his beam rifle, and switched it to its stream configuration. He aimed at the line of missile tubes, ensuring the line he could cut would affect the missiles' ability to launch. The Archangel blue prints had implied the stern missile tubes had an issue where something that could fuse metal went down the center between the tubes, and it wouldn't end well. It would make it so the missiles couldn't leave their tubes since their release mechanisms are locked. So the warheads on the missiles would be told to arm. Depending on what type of missile was loaded, it could detonate or just be stuck in its tubes, waiting to be hit and detonate in the tubes.

With that in mind, Tyler pulled the trigger of his rifle and carved a line between the tubes, effectively sealing the missiles in them. The Dominion shook as the starboard missile tubes took damage. Natarle had been about to order them to fire, but something had hit them before she could. One of the bridge crew reported that the starboard missile tubes were not just damaged, but the missile was stuck in their tubes. Instead of arguing, she ordered the port tubes to fire before something else prevented them from doing so. She was trying to use the missiles to hit one of the old colony cables to cause the unknown ship to get tangled up. If Natarle could manage that, it would give time to focus on the Archangel and not fight two ships simultaneously. Tyler had been arcing around to deal with the port missile tubes, but the Dominion fired them before he could set up a sweep. He did make sure to slice a line to disable the tubes from further use. However, the damage was done as Tyler heard chatter over his radio.

When Tyler glanced toward the Kusanagi, he saw Natarle had gotten colony cables to whip around and trap the ship. He would admit it was smart as it took the Kusanagi out of commission until they freed themselves. The Kusanagi sent out the M1-Astrays on board to work on freeing the ship from what Tyler saw. But even with beam sabers, it would take time to slice the cables and free the Kusanagi. Tyler spotted five Astrays were working as fast as they could to cut their way through the metal cables. The sixth Astray was keeping a lookout for the others, so they didn't get attacked while they worked. Tyler returned his attention to the Dominion and saw it trying to slip away and escape notice. He followed even more set on making those on that ship squirm and potentially beg for mercy.

As Tyler chased the Dominion, he had to admit Natarle wasn't doing half bad in this battle with tactics. She had gotten ahead of him for a while and disabled an ally of his for a time. Tyler rarely let an opponent get the advantage over him, but Natarle had managed a small temporary one. However, Tyler wouldn't give Natarle all the credit as her "passenger" had made his control slip and lose focus momentarily. He still had to keep a bit of a distance, so the random firing pattern the black ship's CIWS was doing. Natarle had guessed correctly so that an invisible enemy had been attacking them. But what she didn't know or plan for was one like Tyler, who knew all of the Archangel-class's blind spots were.

It was coming down to what Tyler would do to Natarle's ship and just how to mean he chose to be doing so. Tyler could destroy the ship or have its systems turn against them and end things quickly. But with the scum Azrael on the ship, Tyler wanted to draw things out and make the man fear for his life for a bit if he could. Then an idea came to Tyler, a rather mean and awful idea for the recipient but funny for the giver. With the idea too tempting to refuse, Tyler sailed downward to view the underside of the Dominion. He flew to come to close the ship hull and kept it near so the Aurora would be harder to target. Tyler didn't take long to find one of the junctions he could use for his plan, and he moved to be feet away from the hull. It was one of the wonderful blind spots Tyler knew of and was more than willing to use. It gave him access to the Dominion's systems and not be attackable by the ship itself. And from what Tyler had seen, the Dominion's mobile weapons were already away, leaving the ship vulnerable.

Tyler wasted no time, took out the Aurora's keyboard, and got to work getting into the ship's internal system. He had to laugh when he found the default access codes were still in place for the ship. One might as well have given Tyler the keys to the ship and told him to make himself at home and enjoy. Unfortunately, Tyler had seen and pretty much memorized the system attacks attempted and theorized would work against the Archangel-class. He'd gotten his hands on the report, which included programs or coding that would do various things. It could slow systems down, damage, or even take control from the crew, and they cannot do anything. And worse, he knew how to pull each one off and do so spectacularly before anything could be done about him. For Tyler, it was a literal guide to messing with the Archangel-class as he pleased. Or Tyler could just as easily disable the ship in less than ten minutes, closer to five or less, if Tyler really worked at it.

There were just so many possibilities of what havoc Tyler could deliver to the Dominion before sitting back and watching the show. And with the lectures Tyler had been forced to listen to from Natarle, it was a miracle he'd not done something mean before now. Tyler's hacking skills were legendary in the Federation. As far as Tyler knew, he still held the record of intrusion into the Information Network. He'd gotten extremely deep before being noticed and stopped by others, which was a bar of his skill. So a ship's internal systems would be easy compared to the security the Information Network had in place. And as Tyler "perused" the Dominion's systems, he found pretty much none of the design issues had been addressed, let alone dealt with. He expected higher standards of quality from Morgenroete, and this was poor. However, this was an Alliance vessel, so it was just as likely that OMNI ignored Morgenroete's advice about things. In the end, it made Tyler's job even easier now and in the future should there be a need.

And yet, it left Tyler to wonder about the Alliance once again about if they would ever learn important lessons. The one Tyler could teach them was sabotage was never something to be ignored or dismissed as nothing to worry about, it never ended well. Sabotage was an ever-changing and fine art that Tyler would testify about. That mostly came from him being a serious expert in the art. He'd used the art against the Alliance on multiple occasions to great effect. In some of the incidents, the Alliance suspected him of being responsible; for others, OMNI never found out what he had done to them.

Regardless of the reason or justification the Alliance used for being lazy and not protecting themselves, it didn't matter. Tyler would be more than up to the task of screwing the Dominion over and leaving Natarle to deal with the ridiculous mess produced by Tyler's efforts. He had no problem exploiting the Archangel-class's vulnerabilities to make Natarle's day miserable. Tyler couldn't help the nasty chuckle that escaped him at the thought of what he would give Natarle. The Archangel-class's designers never planned for or imagined someone like Tyler would come and go against the ship's systems and security. He was a security expert's worst nightmare incarnated to haunt them endlessly. A system architect's darkest machination realized to cause them hell. Tyler fully intended to show why that was the case and why he was so proud of the skillset. Natarle would be cursing him within hours, or Tyler would apologize to her for the crap he pulled. And he would do far more embarrassing things before apologizing to Natarle genuinely for something he did.

Tyler's fingers began flying as he started putting together a very nasty surprise for the Archangel's former second-in-command. One could call it a type of gremlin as old myths told about which would cause havoc. And Tyler intended the program he was writing to live up to said myths and make them pale in comparison if he could. The "gremlin" would fragment, twist, and mess with the ship's systems in record time, squealing as it did so. Tyler couldn't hold back the smile that was on his face as he worked. He imagined Natarle's face with the mixture of fury and horror that would be set there. Natarle was just too fun not to prod, and Tyler had been holding back before now. It felt wonderful to let loose and have fun showing the tight-uniformed officer just how much of a pain he could be.

Tyler quickly finished up the gremlin, but before he set it lose, he wanted to prod Natarle again. Thus, he connected an internal ship comm channel to his helmet's comm system so he could talk to Natarle directly. A neat surprise just didn't happen without the teasing and bantering that accompanied it. And this surprise would be outright foul, beyond nasty, and just malicious in the end, and Tyler would enjoy watching the mess spread and make Natarle's life harder than it ever was before.

At the same time, Natarle was studying the battlefield. The Dominion had a slight advantage as the ally of the Archangel was trapped for the time being. The Archangel had five mobile weapons on the field, and the Dominion had seven. If it were just up to numbers, then Natarle would be less concerned, but she knew it wasn't just about the numbers. The machines from the Dominion, the Forbidden, Calamity, and Raider were powerful by their specs. However, the "pilots" were questionable and not necessarily reliable for the task, in her opinion. It was especially true with the possible pilots they would go against. Lastly, four other mobile suits were also sent out, and two were the new version mass production Dagger suit. The first Dagger was equipped with the Strike's Aile set, while the second was given the Launcher set, including a 320mm beam cannon. One of the other two mobile suits was a variation based on the X103 Buster. There were two real differences besides coloration that came with its arsenal, specifically the missile pods. Where the Buster had six missiles per pod, the Dagger variation had only three missiles per pod. The second was that this suit could equip two beam sabers on their forearms, though it was optional equipment. Then the Buster Dagger, like other Dagger models, didn't have phase shift armor but laminated armor like the Archangel-class did.

The last of the Daggers was based on the X102 Duel with the equipment ZAFT had invented. The frame was the same as the GAT-01 Strike Dagger and not the Duel's own frame. Its equipment was made with data acquired on the Duel's extra equipment that ZAFT had given it. The "Fortrestra" equipment included a Linear Cannon, missile launcher, and beam sabers. The linear cannon was like the railgun the Duel possessed, except it was limited as it used clips fed into it with each shot. The missile pod had eight missiles instead of five as the Duel did. And there was also the shield and the beam rifle that was built from the design of the Duels on the rifle. The rifle was 57mm, put out a high-energy beam, and had a single-shot grenade launcher under the main rifle barrel.

Out of the mobile weapons the Dominion sent out, Natarle didn't expect the Daggers to return. The Archangel's pilots had more experienced and better skills than normal pilots OMNI and eve ZAFT possessed. The Strike had new equipment that looked like part of one of the Zero mobile armors, which had been modified to combine together. The X103 Buster had come out of the Archangel as well, and Natarle couldn't guess who the pilot was now. However, the last of the three mobile suits was one that she thought to be destroyed and gone. The X209 Shadow looked to be fully rebuilt and was equipped with its flight system now. The other two suits that came out from the colony, she assumed to be the two that director Azrael had mentioned, the Freedom and the Justice. The white and black one appeared to be built with range in mind from what she could see. The red one Natarle guessed was similar or complimented the other by covering ranges it was less good with.

Natarle ignored her growing doubts and ordered the Dominion to use the colony to get behind the Archangel after the mobile suits had gone out, she wanted to end this quickly. Natarle had hoped that Murrue would have surrendered when she had asked her to, but the offer had been refused. Of course, Natarle had not taken the first refusal as the final answer, and she had said that she would do whatever she could to help their situation and had meant it. The mention of betrayal at JOSH-A made Natarle wonder what wasn't in the official OMNI report. The actions of Captain Sutherland in leaving Eurasia's forces to die should've been a criminal offense. The man should've been court marshaled for lost lives, yet that hadn't happened. Sutherland had claimed the lives lost there had been unavoidable, but Natarle found out only Eurasian personnel had been lost, little Atlantic Federation people. And Natarle wasn't the only one who felt that way within OMNI, but the higher-ups disagreed, which stopped the argument. Instead, giving Sutherland tasks to do and dismissed any suggestion of a crime.

And yet, Natarle didn't want to believe the Archangel's crew would betray the uniform they wore. They were good people and valued principle and honor so that they wouldn't turn their backs on OMNI without reason. The things said had fueled her growing doubts about what the Alliance was doing, clashing with her military discipline. When Murrue had implied OMNI had attacked the Federation, Natarle wanted to deny it but couldn't. There had been no reports or any information that had suggested anything like that. If it were true, there was a lack of communication between the Alliance on Earth and the lunar forces. The Alliance assumed that the Federation's military was stronger than ZAFT by a slight margin at the very least. There was little solid evidence to prove how strong the Federation was, but what was known inferred that. So, confrontation with them had been avoided as much as possible for that and other reasons. Yet, it seemed like that had changed with the Alliance, and reckless mistakes were being made. Natarle had intended to ask for more information from Murrue so she could make sense of what was being said but didn't manage it. Director Azrael had interrupted and moved things forward and initiated the battle before she could do anything. It had effectively ended any change of settling things without potentially destroying the Archangel.

Natarle focused on the task at hand as the Archangel came into view with its rear facing the Dominion. They had been left alone by whatever had taken out the missile launchers for a bit. Natarle could only guess an invisible enemy had been responsible, but no info could confirm it. The L4 colony cluster was technically Federation territory, even if they didn't watch it as much as their other territory. There were the risks Federation forces could pop up and complicate things for the Dominion. However, Natarle was just prepared to have the Valiants fire to start disabling the Archangel. She wouldn't destroy the Archangel unless SHE deemed that necessary, no matter what Director Muruta Azrael 'suggested' she do to the Archangel. The man may have influence in the Alliance, but he was still a civilian and had no authority on the battlefield. But she was interrupted before she gave the order, "I applaud your tactics, Natarle," a vaguely familiar voice said. "How unfortunate that it's going to fail."

A moment later, Natarle recognized the voice as belonging to Tyler McGregor. But that couldn't be possible, and the teen had fallen outside Orb, taking down the Aegis. The Aegis's detonation had destroyed the Shadow, and there hadn't been enough left even to suggest Tyler could've survived. There had been no body recovered to prove Tyler was dead, yet the explosion was enough to classified as killed in action. However, once again, the teen had defied odds and survived something that should've killed him as it would any other. How Tyler had survived the event, Natarle couldn't even begin to guess, as few ever did. He had repeatedly proven that the teen was frustratingly hard to be rid of. "Tyler McGregor," Natarle uttered, "You're still alive?"

There was a short pause, "You better believe it, Natarle," Tyler replied, "I'm still the one and only Tyler McGregor. Not sorry to disappoint any hopes of being rid of my antics, but the Grim Reaper missed me with that scythe of his. But moving on from that, I feel the need to say how crappy your luck seems to be, Natarle." Natarle's head lowered, and she rolled her eyes as this was classic Tyler around her. He was rude and appeared to like teasing her for some reason. It annoyed her greatly, but nothing she had done had changed the teen's behavior. "I mean," Tyler continued, "your luck has to be bad with taking orders from civilians who think they run things wherever they go. You have my heartfelt condolences, truly, Natarle. I really feel sorry for your position."

Natarle felt the familiar pang of annoyance shoot through her at Tyler's attitude, which appeared unchanged. He showed blatant disrespect to those around him, especially those older than him. It meant his near-death experience hadn't done a thing to improve his bad habits. Natarle would admit that Tyler had potential as a soldier, both as a pilot and an officer. His skills were top-rate as a pilot, and he got the job done better than most, even if in his own way. Tyler had the makings of an officer and a damn good one from what Natarle had seen, but his behavior held him back. His rebellious attitude did more harm to him than anything, and the boy ignored all attempts to improve himself. "And what are you trying to imply, McGregor," she challenged, his name said in a sharp tone. "Go ahead and tell me if you have the guts."

Reactions like that made it so hard not to prod Natarle for Tyler. It was just too much fun to see what reaction he could get from the woman to leave her alone. Tyler ended out snickering in response to Natarle's dare. She was on a roll today, a dangerous one with him, but that was her problem. "Oh, I have missed your retorts, Natarle, it just warms my heart when you bristle at my comments." Natarle clenched a hand into a fist as Tyler kept going, "It is nice to see you are dependable as always when it comes to getting a rise out of you. Again, you need anger management, but that would cut down on your retorts. Then again, it could provide more of a challenge in that respect, and I wouldn't say no to that, Lieutenant."

Natarle clenched her teeth, "That's captain to you, young man," she hissed.

There was a pause, "You got promoted," Tyler questioned before he hummed. "Congrats, I suppose. But I would ask why that should change how I choose to address you, Natarle? If I didn't make it obvious before, I don't use titles or rank unless I feel like it, which is rare." Natarle let out a low, quiet growl, which Tyler did catch and took to me to move on and get to the real fun. The woman would curse him before the current hour ended. Tyler would do his utmost to make sure of that. He wanted it to happen from the gremlin he'd made, not his prodding as amusing as it was. It wouldn't be as fun if Natarle lost it early, and Tyler wanted some fun in this before the end. "Anyways, enough with the small talk, I suppose, as there are other things to do," Tyler remarked. "As I said, taking orders from one who shouldn't be handing them out is harsh. I feel for that since I've been there and done that. However, when you are taking orders from scum, specifically a real scumbag, that's lower than even you deserve on a bad day, Natarle. You have decent commanding skills as an officer, even if you're annoyingly strict to protocol when you don't need to be. Thus, the sooner you can dump, get rid of, or eject that civilian you're carrying, the better things will be."

Tyler was winding her up, Natarle did not doubt it, and it irritated her that she was responding to it. His disregard for authority was normal for him and was still as nerve-grating as it ever was. Yet, Tyler had complimented her on her skills for the first time in her memory. She hadn't thought she would ever hear a good thing coming out of Tyler's mouth. However, what was more concerning was his thinly vailed insult directed at Director Azrael. Tyler had called him a scumbag, not by name but had made it clear he was referring to the director. She was worried about how the Director might react to Tyler, a rebellious teen who was just being foolish. Azrael hadn't missed the insult sent at him indirectly. He was more surprised the boy had done so without hesitation as most didn't do that. This McGregor had no right to call Azrael names and was better than the majority. "Watch that mouth of yours, boy," Azrael sneered, anger evident enough. "You're biting more off than you'll ever be able to handle." Azrael took a moment to calm down and deal with this kid properly before he continued. "You would do well to quit before you pay the price for your actions, young man, messing with me is extremely unwise."

Tyler wasn't intimidated by Azrael in the slightest, if anything, Tyler hated him for the Bloody Valentine. But facing him in a fashion show how small of a man Azrael really was when you took away the hatred, fear, and threats he used. So Tyler snorted, "I've heard you use intimidation as a go-to for getting your way," he commented. "But honestly, your technique is lacking, Blue Cosmos idiot. You don't scare me, get that fact into your skull along with me detesting everything you work for. The sooner you do that, the quicker we can ignore one another as we would prefer."

Natarle felt embarrassment and horror at how Tyler was speaking to Director Azrael of the Earth Alliance's National Defense Industry Association. Tyler wasn't threatening Azrael, but he wasn't backing down from him at all and daring harm to be sent his way. And while Tyler had made it clear that he didn't have much respect for those in the positions above him, that wasn't the whole issue. It was one of the issues Natarle had with the teen, as it was the root of most issues between the teen and herself. However, Natarle wasn't in a position of influence, so Tyler ignoring her was frustrating, but little could change that. Tyler's attitude with Director Azrael was dangerous and could harm more than just Tyler. "Tyler," Natarle snapped in her commanding voice, "rein in that attitude of yours right now!"

It wasn't the first time Natarle had attempted to rebuke Tyler and "correct" his behavior. But she hadn't taken the hint she wouldn't be influencing or changing his chosen behavior. The only one who could have a chance was his mother, who'd tried already. His mother had curtailed the more problematic habits and behaviors when required, but little else. So, Tyler decided to tell Natarle in the vain hope that she would learn how things worked with him. He'd tried to get the point across before now, but the lesson hadn't sunk in for Natarle. Thus, Tyler sighed heavily, "Good golly Natarle, we have to address this lesson again," he posed. Natarle blinked at the question, not understanding what Tyler was talking about. "We have had this discussion several times in different forms, but you don't like hearing me tell you the truth after you give a lecture. However, I will try again in the hopes it sticks this time when it didn't happen before now. I do not follow orders like some sort of "yes-man" that some want soldiers to be. If you want to order me around, you better be ready to explain why I should give you the time. You could command me to jump, and I would just roll my eyes and say I don't feel like it. Heck, you could demand I dance for you, Natarle, and I would laugh and say get me good music before I consider grooving. I do not salute any I don't feel like and have earned my respect. I do things my way whether you like it or not, shut up, accept it, and deal, Natarle."

A hand hit Natarle's forehead in the developed response that had come with dealing with Tyler and his attitude. He was insufferable sometimes; it irked her so much, and she couldn't explain why it bugged her so much. "I see your behavior hasn't gotten any better, Tyler," Natarle remarked, containing the frustration that the line he spouted had flared up. This got to the point when Natarle swore that he was going out of his way on purpose to infuriate her, just to see if he could get her to react.

Tyler scoffed, "What you see is what you get with me, Natarle," he returned with a light tone. "I can't see any way to put it simpler than that, not my fault you don't accept my answer." Tyler paused for a moment, thinking about Azrael and the scum he was. The man was a war criminal and should be arrested and tried for his crimes. For one to expect Tyler to be nice to one like Azrael was foolish, he wouldn't use good manners. He would give general civility as his mother would expect of him if only to make her proud. "While we've had our differences Natarle, I would say we get along okay when it counts. However," Tyler paused again, "I honestly don't see a viable reason to show manners to the Alliance's illustrious Defense Industry Director. He is a scumbag, and I will not lie about him so he can feel good about what he does. I will give him civility, but that's all he gets from me regardless of any whining he makes for more. Truthfully, if I had my wish, he'd be in restraints and standing for the stunts he's pulled." Tyler took a breath and said the line he wanted: "He can be properly called humankind's true enemy." Natarle was somewhat confused by Tyler's last line as it didn't make any sense to her. Tyler appeared to be referring to something, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

On the other hand, Azrael didn't like the line nor its reference as he knew exactly where it came from. The source was that bi**h Blass and her cursed speech that had been making frustrating ripples. There was already more than enough fallout from that speech without being reminded of it. The boy was treading a dangerous line that could kill him if he kept on it. However, Azrael reined in his emotions before replying, "You've quite the tongue, boy," he stated evenly. "I'll give you that, comparable to the one whose words you use." Azrael paused for a moment, "But I recommend you watch what you say about me, or you suffer a great deal for it."

Tyler had hit Azrael where it hurt, which was an accomplishment in his mind. The man was portrayed as untouchable and proving he was not as steel-skinned as he seemed felt good. Azrael's threat wasn't anything Tyler was worried about, and he could do more than the scumbag. "My sharp tongue has served me well, punk, and I don't foresee it failing me in the near future," Tyler returned. "And the words I use are the truth you just don't want to confirm and can't deny truthfully. You can snap and growl at others or me as you like, but it won't help you in the end. You will face justice for your crimes, Azrael, the day will come curse it as you may, but you can't hide or slip away forever." Azrael had no words to reply to the last bit. The boy clearly knew the Federation was trying to apprehend him for his involvement in the Bloody Valentine. Yet, Tyler kept going, "But I digress, so let me get back onto the main topic in this." Tyler took a breath and prepared to release his gremlin. "It is in your best interest to leave Natarle, tuck tail, and run. This situation will not end as you believe it will, should you not. And if you want to argue with me, then think back to how often I've been right, and you've had to eat your words."

Natarle felt a mixture of disbelief and denial from her pride and sense of duty at Tyler telling her to either give up or run and say he was being nice. However, she couldn't deny Tyler had a knack for being right with his predictions. It had been frustrating, and she hadn't admitted anything to him when it happened. Tyler was making a threat, but Natarle couldn't figure out what he was implying. "This ship's orders are clear," Natarle stated, "we are to deal with the Archangel, and you won't stop that."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment, "That sounds like a challenge to me, Natarle," Tyler remarked, "Are you sure you want to dare me to prove you wrong? Should you need motivation, I'll remind you I know the specs of the Archangel-class. I would bet better than you do. I know the ship's weaknesses and issues I can exploit, such as the fancy strikes me. I've been holding back when you were around before. That stops if you don't retract your dare and challenge." Tyler paused, waiting for Natarle to walk back her challenge potentially, but she said nothing. "Do the figuring, Natarle, on what could I do with the weaknesses of your ship. I doubt it will take you long to come to the proper conclusion about the danger it is. So, I'll give you one more chance to take back your dare and end this easier than it would if you don't."

The final statement caused Natarle to hesitate as Tyler sounded serious. The teen had the talent to cause problems. If he had been holding back as he said, then she didn't want to imagine what Tyler could do. And his claim to knowledge about the Archangel-class was beyond worrisome. She hadn't been able to estimate how much Tyler knew about the Archangel-class accurately. Yet, her fear was he knew a great deal of information about the ship class. It would make him a very dangerous and potentially lethal opponent to go against. Natarle had been grateful that she hadn't been going against Tyler McGregor from just seeing how good a fighter he was. However, she feared he was about to be her enemy and show her just how bad that could be. Yet, something in her wouldn't allow her to back down and give the teen satisfaction. There was a full minute of silence before Tyler spoke again, "I'll take your lack of reply that your dare to me stands." Tyler hummed, "That is your choice, have fun with the consequences." Tyler released his gremlin before he cleared his throat, "Well then, I'll finish this conversation by saying I'm leaving you something, Natarle. You will find out what it is soon enough, and I promise you'll know it is from none other than yours truly, Natarle. Enjoy, and I will love watching the results."

Tyler's threat sent a shiver down Natarle's back as she didn't like it one bit. He hadn't stated he was leaving a gift, which inferred whatever had been left wasn't going to be nice. Tyler being in the mix of this battle changed so much as the teen was unpredictable. It left it being only a matter of time for Tyler's thing to do whatever it would do. Attempting to defend against something you knew was coming but not what it was rarely worked out. She couldn't narrow down what Tyler's attack may be; that was the last thing she needed. Moments later, the sensor operator announced that there was a mobile suit ahead of them. Natarle looked to the forward viewing screen and saw a red mobile suit with wings flying from under the Dominion. It had two long cannons connected to the insides of the wings, and who knows what power those could put out. The machine had a unique beam rifle that was wider from top to bottom. There was also a short shield that was white on the left arm. It was certainly different than any mobile suit that Natarle had seen before.

Tyler came up from under the Dominion, disengaging his suit's stealth system. He wanted the bridge crew to see him so he could dare Natarle and test his gremlin. The suit glanced directly at the Dominion's bridge, drawing attention to it before it transformed into what was more shaped like an atmospheric aircraft. Tyler slowly began orienting the Aurora to go forward toward the battle but didn't rush off. The Aurora hung in front of the Dominion as it oriented. Natarle blinked for a moment as she swore the craft had waved its backend to the ship in a taunting gesture. If Tyler were the pilot, as Natarle suspected the teen was taunting her and likely daring her to try something, she wouldn't put it past him. "Oh, Natarle, how about it? Do you think you can hit yours truly," Tyler asked in a happy tone. The tone didn't comfort Natarle in the slightest, it worried her far more.

Tyler wanted to properly test the work of his gremlin, who had been busy for minutes now. The nasty gremlin Tyler had made wouldn't waste time, it would've gotten down to business. It would be "quietly" messing with every onboard system the Dominion had, with the one exception of life-support. Only when a system acted differently would Natarle or her crew realize the mess they were in. And once it was noticed, Tyler's gremlin would kick into overdrive, work harder, and not try being unnoticed. So, Tyler cast out the extra special bait of his dare, "You know you've wanted to outdo me, Natarle, even if only once. I've not been blind, Natarle, and you've wanted to get back at me for my behavior, here's your golden opportunity." Natarle would not take the bait Tyler was dangling in front of her to have her and play his game. She refused to do so as it would only encourage his rebellious behavior all the more. He wouldn't give a free shot unless he knew it wouldn't be successful against him. Thus, he was trying to goad her, and she wouldn't rise to his attempt.

"Captain," Dole called up from the CIC, "What are your orders?" Natarle faced a real issue in deciding what to do. One shouldn't refuse the chance to dispatch an enemy. And yet, she was positive Tyler had a trap of some sort primed and ready to spring on her and the Dominion. She would be lying if she denied feeling the desire to get ahold of Tyler and shake him hard for his obvious attempt to taunt her. It was ticking her off as she tried to keep control and not give in to Tyler's taunt. Nevertheless, she shook her head after a moment and ordered the Gottfrieds to aim at the mobile suit. The beam turrets moved to bear on the red suit and were sent the command to fire. However, the cannons swiveled to be off sight and fired beams, which wasn't supposed to happen. The sight chilled Natarle's spine as it hinted at Tyler's something he left for her.

Tyler chuckled as the Dominion's beam turret swiveled off the line of sight to the Aurora. It confirmed his gremlin was busily causing all sorts of havoc for the Dominion. Tyler turned the Aurora's stealth system back on and headed for the mobile suit battle. He was confident Natarle would be cursing him shortly if she wasn't already. He'd achieved his goal by distracting the Dominion and the bonus of screwing with Natarle.

In Mendel's main dock, the Eternal's final preparations were completed, the engines fired up, and the ship headed out to the battlefield. Even though the Freedom and the Justice had launched out to fight already, the Eternal wasn't clueless about what was going on. Over the open com-lines, those on board the Eternal had been composing parts of the ongoing battle. The Astrays were still working on freeing the Kusanagi from the colony's support cables and were making progress. The Archangel was fending off the second Archangel-class but was having difficulty doing so. All five mobile suits were in combat with the same three mobile suits that had appeared during the first battle of Orb and four other Alliance suits. There had been no word from the Aurora since it had launched, other than the single message to the Archangel warning of the approaching Alliance vessel. But it was assumed that Tyler was somewhere on the battlefield and would assist as he could.

Once getting away from the dock, the Eternal turned its bow towards the battle that was going on. The other mobile suit that the ship carried hadn't been ready previously, but now the final adjustments were made. The ZGMF-X11A Regenerate was set to go out for its first skirmish and just needed a pilot. The suit was given the same type and make of beam rifle that the Freedom and the Justice carried, the "Lupus" rifle. The clear and obvious choice for the pilot would've been Andrew Waltfeld, but he was sticking with the captain's chair and the responsibility that came with the position. Aisha was in much the same position as Andrew as she was needed to help the crew and the bridge. However, Lacus stepped forward into the discussion, "Excuse me, Mr. Waltfeld," she started, "If I might speak."

Andrew turned to face Miss Clyne, wondering what she wanted to add to the discussion. He would be the first to admit the girl's perspective was quite interesting and not the same as most had. "By all means, Miss Clyne," Andrew replied, gesturing for her to continue. Lacus took a deep breath, "I would like to volunteer to be the pilot for the Regenerate," she said. "I want to do something to help in our circumstances. I don't have the best leadership abilities in combat, but I have experience in using a mobile suit."

Andrew blinked at the request Lacus was putting forth as it was rather unexpected by him. Yes, he'd heard she'd piloted while on the Archangel, so she had battlefield experience to work with. He wouldn't argue with the girl on that, and it was more the chance of death for her which worried him. Miss Clyne could reach many and help them stand up and bring this war to an end. Lacus was needed, Andrew didn't doubt that for a moment, so she needed to stay alive. Going out in a mobile suit was risky for even competent pilots, it was a fight for life. So, Andrew sighed, "I can understand you wanting to help, Miss Clyne," he remarked. "And I applaud your wish, but-" Lacus shook her head, "I can do it," she insisted. "My sister Sakura taught me how to care for myself."

Andrew and Aisha paused at the last sentence Lacus said. Commander Clyne was the best pilot ZAFT had currently, aside from Admiral Treize. If she had taught her baby sister, then there was little to argue about the skills she likely had. It also proved a rumor about the feared woman that was rarely brought up among ZAFT personnel. It was said Commander Clyne was very protective of her baby sister. And when the word "very" was used, it was seen as an extreme that shouldn't be questioned. If Lacus piloted the Regenerate, it would allow Andrew and Aisha to remain on the bridge. In the end, Andrew nodded, "If you insist, Miss Clyne," he returned, "I don't see a problem with your request. Especially if Commander Clyne taught you how to care for yourself on a battlefield."

Lacus left the bridge after that and headed down to the Eternal's hangar. She slipped into a ZAFT pilot suit along the way, determined to go and protect her friends. Once down in the hangar, Lacus quickly boarded the XA Regenerate. The Strike had been the last mobile suit she'd used, and that had been months ago. This suit's cockpit was similar in many ways, but it wasn't the same, more like the Freedom's from the one glance she'd gotten of it. She took a bit of time to look over and take in where the important controls were. Once she had the cockpit layout down, She took a deep breath and signaled that she was ready to go. The hangar crew acknowledged her and moved the Regenerate to the linear catapult. She launched out and joined Athrun and Kira on the battlefield, along with the others from the Archangel. Even though Lacus disliked fighting, she hated this war and what it had done, more so after listening to Ellen Blass's message, for it rang true with her. Lacus didn't want to see those who were friends, who she cared about and loved, die and not have tried to help them, no matter the cost.

At the same time, on the other side of the Mendel colony, three Nazca-class vessels which had been chasing the Eternal arrived on site. The signs of the battle playing out were visible even from where they were, so caution was exercised. The Vesalius was still in the lead of the three, with the Halberton and Heusinger following it. The ships took some time to observe what they could of the skirmish on the other side of the colony. They were exchanging information in an attempt to create a complete picture of the event. As that was happening, Rau Le Creuset was studying what they saw even with the distance from the fighting and having his own thoughts about how things were going.

He had been given specs for the N-jammer Cancellers recently by Chairman Zala. Creuset had been told to protect the data, which was the key to winning the war. However, Rau had his own ideas about what to do with the data to advance his goals. He had been looking for a way to get the data to the Alliance without being caught doing so. His influence in ZAFT was valuable, so he didn't want to lose it just yet. So, it didn't take long for Creuset to decide that he would sortie to gather more viable information. It gave him an excuse to slip the data to OMNI perhaps and not be suspected. Yzak would accompany him if something unexpected came up and trouble needed to be faced. Plus, Yzak didn't ask too many worrisome questions, which could lead to a threat to Creuset. Given a choice, he would've had Nicol do so as he was calm and cooler under most situations. However, as he had said he could not do this mission, Creuset would have to make do with just Yzak. The other ships would be on standby if something went really wrong and assistance became necessary.

Le Creuset was going to take out a mobile suit from a new series of ZAFT mobile suits, the ZGMF-600 GuAIZ. The suit was developed from data from the Earth Alliance prototype mobile suits and the CGUE. The frame was similar to the CGUE overall but had parts that were based on the Alliance suits. Its arsenal comprised 76mm CIWS guns in the head, a composite shield, two guns at its waist, and a beam rifle. The CIWS were much the same as some of the Alliance prototypes. While the shield did have an anti-beam coating, it also had two beam claws emitted at the shield's tip on either side of the center. The beam rifle was made from specs from the GAT-X series stolen from the Alliance and had much the same qualities. The pair of guns at the suit's hips, called "EEQ7R Extensional Arrestors," were equipped with rocket anchors. Due to the weapon's short range, it is used to generate a beam spike to use as a projectile. However, when the gun's rocket anchor is connected to the suit's backpack to grapple onto an enemy unit, its range, limited to fifteen meters or less, can restrain the machine. The suit Creuset was given to use was grey with some white, which were normal commander pilot colors that weren't custom. He suspected the machine was based on another he'd seen before which had been a custom suit for one of the Champions.

Creuset and Yzak launched out from the Vesalius and flew into the northern spaceport. Once inside, the two utilized the airlock system to enter the colony's interior. There was an atmosphere due to the active atmospheric controls and the sight of the ruins that had once been home to those who had worked in Mendel. Yzak glanced around the silent colony layout, feeling an ominous foreboding creeping into his mind.

Creuset wasn't very happy to be in this colony again as it had bad memories. So, the masked man's mood was not high at all yet, until he felt an odd tingling sensation. The sensation made it clear Mu La Flaga was in the battle on the other side of the colony. A smirk on his face kicked Creuset's mood way up. The last time he had the feeling was back at the JOSH-A base, which had been entertaining. Creuset expected this meeting with Mu La Flaga to be hysterical, more so with this location, as it held significance to both Mu La Flaga and Creuset himself. Their connection and relationship had begun here; if Creuset had his way, it would end here too. Mu's death here would be extreme irony, and Rau so loved irony as it was one of the few things that amused him. Thus, Creuset gave orders for Yzak to scout around. Yzak didn't question the orders from the Commander as they made sense on the face of them. Traps could be set in abandoned colonies like this one and would be hard to detect before they sprung. However, it may be Yzak's imagination, but the Commander seemed occupied with other things lately.

Creuset watched the Duel fly off and did as it was told, though he didn't move from where he was. With what he had planned, Rau didn't want to be interrupted by Yzak. There was some prep work to be done before Mu searched for him, as Rau knew he would. The trap Creuset wanted to have for Mu would be a special one, so Rau wanted to be as good as it could be. So, once the Duel had vanished from sight, Rau headed for the largest building complex in the colony. It would be there that the surprise Rau had in mind would be given to Mu. Rau imagined Mu's face when he was given the truth about the two of them. If he had to shove it down Mu's throat, Rau would do so with glee. Rau would make sure Mu would live long enough to learn the horrors his "sire" had created. That fact alone pleased Rau as Mu would feel disgusted by the man he called father.

Meanwhile, the battle continued on the southern side of the colony between the Archangel and her allies against the Dominion. Mu was fighting one of the OMNI mass-production suit models that appeared to have the launcher set equipped. The advantage in power was with the Dagger, but mobility was with Mu due to his Zero armor. The gunbarrels also helped Mu fight as the new arsenal was pounding away at his opponent. The Dagger's laminated armor was holding, but Mu could see it was being stressed. He still wondered why OMNI hadn't equipped their mass-production suits with phase shift armor system instead of laminated armor. Granted, laminated armor would save on power drain, but it was an exchange on defense which phase shift did more.

Krystal was going against the Duel Dagger the Dominion had sent out to the field. She would admit it was impressive that OMNI had not only made a mass-production version of the Duel but its equipment too. ZAFT had been the ones to add equipment to upgrade the Duel, but OMNI had made an inferior copy of the idea. The difference that Krystal could see was that the Duel's railgun had been exchanged for a linear cannon with clips. It also had laminated armor rather than phase shift, a common choice by OMNI, apparently from what Krystal had heard. However, Krystal had more experience fighting with a mobile suit than her opponent, which was painfully clear.

Dearka had been stuck with fighting one of the other Strike Daggers. It was equipped with the flight set the Strike had used before but wasn't as good per what Dearka could see. OMNI's mass-production suit models were a downgrade from the prototypes. They lacked phase shift and had less powerful weapons to use. Granted, Dearka felt OMNI's Daggers would do okay against GINNs, but not for more custom models. Thus, Dearka held his own as his opponent was easier than fighting the Strike or Shadow. Plus, the OMNI pilot was no expert or even that good compared to Dearka.

The Freedom and the Justice were keeping the three custom Alliance mobile suits occupied. Athrun had to draw the Forbidden back from trying to attack the Kusanagi from time to time. The machine appeared to have some sort of twisted obsession with taking down the ship. Kira was dancing with the Raider and the Calamity, keeping them between the two Archangels. Then, with the addition of the Regenerate, the odds became even more equal. Lacus helped Kira by taking the Calamity's attention off of the Freedom.

Orga wasn't happy with the newbie popping up and demanding his attention. They were annoying as they weaved out of his line of fire. And the beam sabers it used could seemingly come out of nowhere, forcing Orga to backup. He detested being pushed back by an opponent, and it was frustrating. Shani was occupied by the Justice and couldn't seem to break away for long from his opponent. Every time Shani attempted to sneak away to cut up the trapped ship, the Justice would either block or draw him back. And Shani was getting mad the enemy was denying him what he wanted to do. That also stuck Clotho with the Freedom; he felt his opponent was cheating. It was evading every attack he tried blocking its shield or simply moving out of the way.

After both Strike Daggers were shot down, Mu glanced around and saw there were the Non-Strike Daggers and the three Gundams left. The three Gundams were being fought by the three from the Eternal, and the enemy machines were being kept at bay. Krystal was going against the Duel Dagger while Dearka was fighting the Buster Dagger. Mu was about to help Krystal, but a tingle washed over him, which was unfortunately familiar. It was the one Mu felt whenever Creuset was around, and it was always a bad omen. The question of how Le Creuset could be around here and why ran through his mind. The masked man brought trouble with him and spread it wherever he went, Mu would testify to that. And Creuset being around here also strongly suggested ZAFT forces were nearby as well. Yet, there was only one way to get answers to why Creuset was around Mendel: to track him down. So, Mu retracted the gunbarrels back to their docking spars before scanning around to figure out where the tingle was coming from.

Within a minute, Mu had found the tingle was strongest from the colony's direction, implying Creuset was inside. Mu wasn't comfortable in any way having Creuset inside Mendel, but Mu didn't want the masked man around at all. However, with Creuset in the colony, the man had a path for an attack from the rear on allies. Mu wouldn't let that stand while he could, so he headed toward Mendel's southern spaceport. He sailed into the port and headed for the airlock system that led into the colony interior. Mu fully intended to take Creuset down if he could once and for all, so the man didn't trouble any ever again. And with the Strike, Mu believed he had a real chance of defeating Creuset.

Right after Krystal had sliced through her opponent's linear cannon, the OMNI machine fell back and retreated. Progress was being made slowly but surely, so Krystal hoped this battle would end in victory. However, as she took in the field, she was caused to pause. Dearka was wrapping up his fight with the Buster Dagger, which Krystal wasn't worried about. Yet, the Strike was heading for Mendel's spaceport, which didn't make sense. Mu wasn't one to run from battle, and his honor wouldn't let him do that. There had been nothing from Tyler saying there was a force on the other side of Mendel, though it was still possible. So, Krystal decided to follow Mu and back him up if needed while figuring out what he was doing.

Dearka halted, letting the Buster Dagger retreat back toward its carrier ship. He spotted the three enemy Gundams fighting the Eternal's three, and they didn't appear to be close to finishing the fight. Dearka was about to go and help the Kusanagi, but he spotted the Shadow heading for the colony's spaceport. That sight made Dearka curious, "Where could the old lady be going?" Dearka then realized the Strike was missing too, "And where's the old man anyway?" His head tilted in response, "The Strike was out here a few minutes ago." Dearka shook his head and flew after the Shadow to see what the two were doing. As he was sailing toward the port entry, the Eternal contacted him and asked what was happening. He said that Mu had disappeared, and Krystal was going into the colony and was more than likely following Mu. Dearka said that he would find out what the two were doing and make it as quick as possible. After telling the Eternal what he knew, Dearka headed for the airlock tunnel system that led into the colony interior.

Tyler quickly closed the distance from the Dominion and the fighting after he knew his gremlin was making Natarle's life harder. He did spot the Freedom going against the Raider while the Justice was fighting the Forbidden. The Regenerate was out and dancing with the Calamity, though Tyler wondered who the pilot was. OMNI's mass-production models were gone, whether through retreat or being destroyed. Oddly, the Archangel's machines were missing from the battlefield as well. Tyler focused back on the fight and flew in an arc toward the Justice and Forbidden, planning to help Athrun out so they could assist their allies sooner. Athrun was working on bringing the Forbidden back away from the Kusanagi once more. However, seemingly nothing sent his opponent flying in a different direction. A moment later, the Aurora appeared and chased after the Forbidden. Athrun left Tyler to the green suit and headed back to help Kira and Lacus, who was in the Regenerate.

As the Forbidden righted itself, Tyler moved to be in front of it, studying the mobile suit. It was one of the three he'd been told about by Kira and Athrun. It was supposed to be part of a new generation of the G-Project series by reports on the Information Network. From what Tyler had read, it was the X252 Forbidden for its designation. It had a backpack unit with two shields, a long rail between the shield, and a backpack. And said the backpack was supposed to have magnetic capabilities of some sort. The central section of the backpack was made up of a part that seemed to be able to swing over the head with a beam emitter in the front center. There were also railguns, according to the report and some sort of beam bending feature with the unit. Finally, as Tyler recalled, the shields could deflect beams in the same way the Duel-like unit Tyler had faced off against around the Republic.

Shani looked up and found a red machine he'd not seen before. It was likely them who had hit him and sent the Forbidden flying. Shani was mad that this enemy had interrupted and butted in on business they weren't a part of. He brought up his railguns and shot them at the new enemy, planning to pound them and make them pay before killing them. Tyler dodged the shots and aimed his beam rifle at the Forbidden. Shani shifted his shields forward, and the beams shot at him bounced away. This enemy could use any beams they wanted, and the Forbidden would deflect them. Then Shani would slice them up with his scythe and finish the matter. The red machine wasn't one of the enemies he and the others were to take alive, so destroying it was okay.

Tyler, on the other hand, was caused to pause for a moment with how his bolt deflected. It was a second and clearer example of the Alliance's beam deflection technology that Tyler had gotten. Tyler could also understand now why Carlos had compared the Homura Deflector to the Alliance's beam deflection. They both deflected beams well and consistently enough to be reliable in combat. Tyler would argue that the Federation's deflection system was more efficient at the job than the Alliance's version. But there wasn't enough data to have a definite answer to that argument. However, Tyler questioned if every shot deflected had predictable ricochets or if it was random. Should the ricochets be predictable and even calculable, Tyler could exploit that flaw. So, Tyler fired his beam rifle a few more times, paying close attention to the angles the beams reflected at.

Shani started chuckling as his opponent kept doing useless attacks. They could shoot at the Forbidden all they wanted, wasting power as they did so. And Shani could toy with this enemy before killing them, which he would enjoy doing. Unbeknownst to Shani, Tyler was calculating the reflection angle of the beams and planning his next move. And the results made Tyler smile since the angles were not just predictable but pretty consistent, so they could be calculated. From what Tyler was seeing, his beams deflect off at a range of seventy-five to ninety-five-degree angles from the original bolt vector. The other factor Tyler saw was the left shield deflected left and the other the same to the right. Tyler glanced down at his sensor display and noted the one enemy suit was within the reflection angle with the right shield. Tyler brought out one of his plasma cannons, took aim, and fired. The plasma beam deflected off the Forbidden's right shield, bouncing off at a near-perfect ninety-degree angle.

Clotho was fighting the Justice and had quickly been annoyed by his opponent weaving away from attacks. However, an alarm sounded, getting Clotho to glance around, and he found a beam coming straight at him. Clotho had the Raider jerk back to avoid the attack and had a red beam shoot past him, coming far too close for comfort. Athrun had seen the beam zooming past, and when he looked to his left, he saw something bizarre. Tyler was taking on the green Gundam and looked to be doing just fine. What was odd was Tyler used his opponent's shield as a reflection point to send beams elsewhere. And apparently, Tyler had figured out how to aim said beams good enough actually to get close to hitting targets. Athrun couldn't decide whether to call Tyler's method genius or just plain ridiculous.

Clotho wasn't the only one forced to dodge beams flying by, Orga had to do so as well. When he looked in the direction they were coming from, he saw Shani fighting a red machine. The issue was Shani was deflecting beams and unknowingly helping the enemy. Over the radio, Orga heard Shani cackling with glee, saying things about how his enemy's efforts were useless. The Regenerate surged forward. Shani was being an idiot, yet before Orga could call Shani out on the point. Lacus shot forward and swung a beam saber to keep the attention of the artillery wielder. From what Kira and Athrun had said about this machine, it was dangerous. Tyler had provided specs on the machine, which some, including Lacus, had glanced over. It was called the X131 Calamity, built from data invented at Heliopolis by OMNI. It was heavier and beefier than the other two, from what Lacus had seen. The suit had cannons over the shoulders, which looked like a backpack unit. It possessed a shield with a two-barrel cannon built into it. And there was an emitter in the upper torso of the machine for some sort of cannon, was Lacus to guess. Lacus kept the Calamity's attention on her, so they didn't interrupt Tyler fighting the green unit.

At the same time, Athrun was still dancing with the Raider, preventing it from assisting the Forbidden. The specs Tyler had dug up on the X370 Raider machine was made from data from the Alliance's G-Project. It looked nearly identical to the blue and black machine from the Battle of the Republic, just red and black. It did appear to have different equipment than the other. It had what looked like an ancient ball and chain-like weapon, and the specs had said it could increase the striking force with thrusts. It had auto-cannons in its shield, which were similar to railguns supposedly. The cannon was also in the head, a beam cannon with a short range. The Raider was suddenly forced to use its shield to block a beam from the Forbidden's direction and was forced back a bit.

After shooting beams for a bit, Tyler moved forward, storing his beam right and drawing his beam sabers. Shani saw his opponent approaching, to which he moved his shields out of the way and readied his scythe. He swung the scythe hard, but his opponent evaded out of the way in almost a magical manner. Tyler had weaved out of the way on close to the pure reflex of the scythe sent. It came from the spars he'd done with Kurt before now, and that man had been scary with his scythe handling. On top of being pretty blind, Tyler's opponent was no scythe-wield monster as Kurt could be. Tyler parried the attack with one beam saber in response to a second scythe swing. He followed up by swinging his second saber forward and getting a shallow slice on the left shield.

Shani may be mad, but he didn't miss his opponent deflecting his attack and then getting a cut on his left shield. The damage was minor, according to the readings, and the Panzer emitter was unaffected. It frustrated Shani and got him to keep swinging at this irritating enemy. Tyler put away his sabers as he dodged two scythe swings but then caught the pole the scythe was attached to. He gripped it hard so the Forbidden couldn't pull back and waste the opportunity Tyler now had. Tyler grabbed the Forbidden's shoulder several times before sending a knee into the machine's torso. Then Tyler let go of the scythe and kicked the Forbidden hard, sending it flying far away.

Tyler was about to move on to the next machine to help his allies, but his attention was redirected. An alarm began going off, and when Tyler glanced down at the displays in the cockpit, it didn't take long to know what was going on. Tyler's gremlin he'd given Natarle's Dominion had just been ousted from the ship. He knew how it had been done as the gremlin had been made only to be rejected in one way. A full ship system hard reset was the only way to oust the nasty devil Tyler had left. It had been around seven to nine minutes since Tyler had released his fiend, so that was ample time for a mess to be created. And as the majority of the time had the gremlin working in overdrive, the mess would be even more spectacular. Then, depending on how many systems Natarle had tried resetting separately, the damage could be even nastier. Tyler's gremlin doing its work had bought time as he'd intended and, with the damage done, caused other issues. The Dominion wouldn't be operating at full steam, and probably not even half steam, was Tyler to guess.

Tyler resumed his journey toward the Justice, intending to help Athrun send the Raider away and move things along. He could see Athrun had combined his beam sabers as he seemed to prefer what Kira said. Tyler shifted the Aurora into flight mode, began unloading his 90mm Vulcans at the Raider, and fired off two missiles. When the Raider was being hit from the side, Athrun turned and found the Aurora rushing toward him. The Aurora shot past the Raider and shifted back into its suit mode before firing its beam rifle at the enemy suit. Athrun surged forward, attacking with his beam sabers working in tandem with Tyler.

Orga noticed Clotho was having trouble with two enemy units attacking him. That meant Shani was absent for the time being and likely slacking off. Orga didn't want to be in pain again like they had been after their last failure. So, Orga fired at the two he was fighting to get them to back off. Then he turned toward the Raider, aimed at the Justice, and fired his high-energy beam cannons. Next, he used his multi-phase beam cannon at the red machine, forcing both enemies to back off from the Raider temporarily. That was all Orga could manage before the Regenerate attacked the Calamity again.

Lacus had rushed forward again, using her beam rifle to get the Calamity to leave her friends alone. She then stored the rifle and had the "arms" behind the Regenerate's shoulders shift and move forward. The one on the left combined with the Regenerate's left arm giving it a beam sword. The right arm did much the same as the left before both beam swords ignited. Lacus slashed the swords at the Calamity but missed since her opponent dodged. She shifted the Regenerate's legs, bringing out parts with built-in beam guns. Lacus kept swinging her swords and shooting her beam guns at the Calamity.

Tyler righted the Aurora and found the image of the Raider pulling back its ball weapon while facing him. The ball rocketed forward at Tyler, forcing him to dodge with a hair's breadth clear margin. The ball was retracted after it missed, and the Raider shot its shield cannon. Tyler blocked with his shield, but he did have a thought about the battle thus far. The three Alliance Gundams had their specialties, and a competent pilot would be very effective. With that said, their current pilots weren't what Tyler would call competent and just erratic. It wasn't just the erratic quality that stood out to Tyler. There was a growing number of similarities between these pilots and those faced around the Republic. Tyler remembered that those "girls" had been odd in several ways. They were definitely unlike most you meet on any given day, and these guys are much the same in that respect. It made Tyler wonder if they had been altered in some fashion to perform as they were. If so, could there be a limit to how long they can fight at the same level as average Coordinators? The Alliance wouldn't do genetic alterations and would go against everything they stood for. That limited options for improving an individual's performance, and most Tyler could think of had nasty side effects.

Tyler focused back on the Raider and surged forward, meeting in a clash, shield pushing against shield. Clotho tried to push his opponent forward and overwhelm him, but he couldn't gain the advantage even with throttles to the full forward. Tyler shoved the Raider back and kicked it for good measure. Clotho was sent tumbling, cursing as he went and attempted to right his machine. Tyler didn't have time to give chase since the Forbidden suddenly appeared and was coming down with its scythe in a vertical swing. Athrun had seen Tyler send the Raider flying and noticed the Forbidden taking that opportunity to make a sneak attack. He rushed over and caught the scythe on his shield defending the Aurora. Athrun shoved the scythe back and took the chance to kick the Forbidden downward.

Clotho righted his machine and glared at the Aurora with hatred and fury. He zoomed forward, aiming for the Justice to get back at that one first. Clotho would deal with the red machine after he took the crimson one. Shani took the chance to swing up and attack the Aurora again, and he wanted to take that machine down. The Justice and the Aurora moved to be next to one another in a defensive posture. Just before the opposing suits reached them, Athrun and Tyler shot out of the way. The sudden movement was too quick for Clotho or Shani to change their course, so they crashed into each other. The two cursed and went for the Justice and the Aurora again, more determined to take them down.

Tyler would admit their opponents were persistent and dogmatic with how they were fighting. The Forbidden swung its scythe at him again before Tyler backed away and took out his beam rifle. In response, the Forbidden shifted its shields forward, and Tyler resumed using the green Gundam to attack its allies. Shani was close to cackling as this idiot was trying the same useless things over and over.

Orga was forced again to dodge beams coming from a different direction than his opponent. He glanced over and saw Shani was once again unintentionally helping the enemy. Orga was beyond frustrated and mad, Shani was messing up all of them and was cackling about it. He got on a channel to the Forbidden, "Shani," Orga snarled, "Stop what you're doing, you idiot! You're helping your opponent attack Clotho and me! They are using your shields to shoot beams at us, not you! So, stop laughing and stop helping the enemy!" Shani stopped laughing and took a moment to realize Orga was right. The red enemy had been using him to attack the Raider and the Calamity. That angered him as he was being toyed with and blamed by his trio members because of it.

Orga took the chance to line up his multi-phased cannon on the Aurora. However, Tyler deployed his shield's deflector to receive the incoming attack. The beam bounced away from the Aurora's shield, and due to the positioning, the beam shot at the Forbidden. Shani, by reflex, had the Forbidden redirect the beam, which zoomed at the Raider. Clotho jerked back to avoid the beam and glared at the Forbidden. It was bad enough that one of their enemies could deflect beams like Shani could without adding shooting at each other. So Clotho headed for the red machine so he could get payback. Tyler collapsed his shield before noticing the Raider coming at him. Clotho used his shield cannon and his ball to take down this machine. Tyler used his 50mm CIWS to pepper the Raider in response.

Clotho thought his opponent had lost it with such a weak weapon for a moment. However, a beeping got Clotho to glance down and see his power was dropping faster than it should be. Something about the rounds was draining power from the Raider faster though Clotho didn't understand why. Tyler used CIWS to get the enemy suit to retreat due to a lack of power. The anti-phase shift round would do as Tyler had been told. He had confidence in Carlos on that. The draw from the phase shift would drain the enemy's power, and they would have to go resupply.

The battle was one of endurance now, even if it hadn't started that way. Odds favored Tyler and his allies for several reasons. It was four vs. three, and the four had more skilled pilots than the three. The four also were powered by nuclear reactors, where the three were not making a difference in possible operational time. That was the simpler reason the Dominion and its mobile weapons would lose. And though there weren't more reasons, the Astrays who had been working on cutting the cable trapping the Kusanagi finished freeing the vessel. The Kusanagi came around, pointed towards the Dominion, and began attacking the black ship.

Tyler kicked the Raider back, tumbling before he brought his plasma cannons and took aim. He charged the cannons to about half their full power and fired at the Raider. Clotho had managed to the right himself from the tumble but was faced with beams coming at him. He had just enough time to shift his shield and Mjolnir to take the beams for him. Clotho thought he could block the beams with little issue for a brief moment. However, an alarm blared, saying the Mjolnir was warping and wouldn't last. Clotho's shield had the same issue as the Mjolnir with warping, and the beams would puncture them. Thus, Clotho let go of the Mjolnir, ejected the shield, and whipped out of the way. A moment later, both the shield and Mjolnir vanished in explosions. Clotho could only stare for a moment as it sunk in he could have been killed if not for sacrificing equipment. That had also cut down Clotho's weapons from seven to five, but only one when in suit mode. Clotho glanced down at his power readout and saw it was below twenty percent. He clenched his teeth, understanding he had essentially lost in this battle. Should he continue fighting, the odds of him being killed were high. So, he turned and headed back toward the ship to prepare for another chance. With resupply and repairs, Clotho would get another go at these enemies.

Tyler let the Raider go, for it was better to focus on the other two rather than chase the one right now. He joined Lacus, fighting the Forbidden, and the two began working as a team. Athrun and Kira were using teamwork against the Calamity while the other two were doing the Forbidden. Both Orga and Shani could see there were being cornered and worn down by their opponents. With the Raider gone, two against four put them at a disadvantage. So, Shani pulled away first and was quickly followed by Orga heading back to the Dominion. And as Tyler watched, the Dominion fired off flares signaling retreat ending the battle for the time being.

With the battle ended, all mobile suits returned to the respective ships they had been assigned to. And once back on the Eternal, Tyler learned the Strike, Shadow, and Buster had gone into the colony interior, explaining why he'd not seen them on the field. Tyler did ask what reason they had, but the only explanation he got was Dearka saying something about Krystal following Mu inside. There was nothing really to say about what was happening in the colony's interior. Unfortunately, communication wasn't possible for any in the colony's interior, and too much between the spaceport and the inside caused interference or blocked signals. It still worried Tyler that some had gone to the interior, it suggested several issues that none needed. It could mean enemy forces, and ZAFT's could have likely entered from the northern spaceport. And that would be nothing but trouble if it was true, Tyler was sure of that.

A simple sensor readout was enough if Tyler needed any other conformation about ZAFT forces being at the northern spaceport. There were three ZAFT vessels, but they were sitting just outside the spaceport. They weren't showing any notable movement yet, but with the battle ended, they could've slipped mobile suits into the colony. Tyler would've volunteered to go in after the three that had gone off on their own, but he didn't get the chance. Kira really beat Tyler to it and had headed out in the Freedom and entered the airlock system that led to the interior. Tyler had watched the Freedom enter the first airlock and let out a sigh when it closed.

Athrun and a few others, including Cagalli and those from Heliopolis, came up to the observation area Tyler was in. Athrun heard the sigh and smiled weakly, "Wish you could go with Kira to search, do you, Tye?"

Tyler twisted around slowly and found the group that had entered the room. He sniffed in response, "More surprised Kira beat me to volunteering for the idea," Tyler replied. "Now I get to be bored for a day or more, and I thought I wouldn't have to do that for a bit."

Athrun blinked, "What do you mean, bored for hours," he questioned. "The Dominion could come back at any time." Those with Athrun nodded in agreement as they had been told to be ready at a moment's notice.

Tyler waved a hand in a dismissive gesture, "That ship ain't going to be in good shape for a time, I assure you." Tyler then smiled at the thought of Natarle cursing him with gusto, "Not that I would say no to see the look on her face with the mess."

Cagalli moved forward, "What are you talking about," she asked. "How can you be so sure that the Dominion is down for the count?"

Athrun studied Tyler and said an all too familiar smile on his face. Tyler had done something to the Dominion, though Athrun couldn't say what. "You did something to the ship, didn't you," Athrun posed.

Tyler faced his friends with something between a pleased expression and a smirk on his face. "I will neither confirm nor deny I may have left something for its captain to deal with," Tyler remarked. "Take that as you like, but the ship will need time to," he hesitated, "clean up the mess they have."

Athrun was worried about what was inferred by Tyler saying his first sentence. He said it when he didn't want to admit something he did. Athrun exhaled, "What did you do, Tye," he asked. "You did something to cripple the ship and might as well come out with it."

"I may have left a mess on the Dominion," Tyler iterated, "Which I wouldn't doubt Natarle is cursing me for with gusto." Tyler then outlined what he had "done" to the Dominion. Those listening to Tyler's explanation were appalled with what he'd done. Athrun was just impressed that Tyler had done the damage to the ship and not used physical weapons. Tyler had disabled a ship and not put the crew in danger to achieve it. Those from Heliopolis had known Tyler had a knack for computer systems, but not to the extent he was describing. On the other hand, Cagalli was horrified that Tyler could do such things to a ship and was actually willing to do so. As Tyler finished, he had a satisfied smile on his face, clearly proud of what he'd done.

Those in the spaceport kept working and preparing for the next attack from the Dominion. It was hoped that the Freedom and the others would return before the fighting started again. Some were keeping an eye on the ZAFT forces on the other side of the colony. The next few days would be hectic, and Tyler couldn't even predict how it could go.

A/n

I'll leave off for the moment there and pick up in the next Phase. Okay, so much to talk about but not go on for too long that I bore any of you. I expanded Tyler's patrol as I wanted to put forth his thoughts and show how antsy he was at the time. Next thing I want to highlight is the paragraph that involve Kuzzey. I know that in canon Kuzzey leaves during the stopover at Orb, but I changed that. I wanted to show he could have more character than just a side background role. I believe Kuzzey is a good person but doesn't like the violence the war is producing. Thus, I wanted to show he is thinking ahead on what he can do once the war ends. You'll forgive me for appreciating "unsung" characters and trying to flesh them out when I can.

For the battle scene, there are a few points I wanted to go over with you readers. The conversation before the battle is much the same as before even if there is some rewriting with the stuff between. Mu's choice of the "AQM/E-X04 Gunbarrel" striker pack was my choice. It is an unused one in cannon, but after reading up on it I say that is a shame. It gives an interesting arsenal and good thruster power in its package. And with the Federation having done the upgrade, we know it's better than what the Alliance could do with it. Moving onto what Tyler did to the Dominion as I want to go into that. We all know Tyler and Natarle didn't get along, so with karma, payback was bound to happen at some point. Azrael being on the Dominion just set Tyler off which will be explained in later chapters as to why. So, in this fight Tyler made a "gremlin" as you know and I chose that creature reference for what it did. Plus, as you read, Tyler had a "chip on his shoulder" to settle. He wanted Natarle cursing him as he had no intention of apologizing to the woman. On the other hand, I also wanted to show that Natarle is having doubts about OMNI and the leadership of the Alliance. I foreshadowed this in previous Phases, but I wanted to highlight this point. But Tyler screwed with her which caught Natarle off-guard with him being there at all.

As to their conversation, there are some changes to it since I wanted to make it more clear the two don't like each other. I find it amusing that Natarle thinks Tyler is a good solider and potential officer but won't tell him that, I hope you readers do. Her view of Tyler's behavior will be ongoing rest assured, it won't go away as the story goes on. Tyler also makes it clear he enjoys prodding Natarle, and it is implied it is his motivation. Also, his retorts to Natarle like with her change in rank, he does just because he can, and it will get a reaction out of the woman. Tyler's snapping at Azrael is new but I wanted to show there are those that will stand up to the man. And Tyler has good reason to hate the man that is mentioned in the Phase. Tyler did dare Natarle, and I did that for a reason as I wanted to show messing with Tyler comes with consequences. The rest of the Phase stands as written and I hoped you enjoyed it. As I normally do, please some of you take the time write a review and tell me what you think of the story. I do read them and take suggestions seriously even if I don't employ all of them. The next Phase is titled: "The Sins of the Past" and will hopefully be out in two weeks or so. Peace out until then!