The Archangel's entry into the Artemis satellite installation had been without difficulty, though as soon as the doors closed behind them, the crew noticed something out of place. There were dozens of armed mobile armours and troop transports mobilised to the ship, and the bridge crew was met by a detachment of armed troops.

"Sir, what's the meaning of this?" Murrue demanded, clearly intimidated by the sudden an unprovoked show of force.

"Your vessel is unregistered with us, we only have your word that you are who you say you are, until we can confirm your identity, it is questionable as to whether or not you are our allies."

"This is a momentary detainment, and we will allow you and your crew to rest and reprieve before acting out our orders." The officer stated promptly before giving her a salute.

They were left at uneasy by this development, but they didn't want to aggravate their situation, these officers most certainly didn't seem like the ones who would use force the restrain them. They subsumed and resigned themselves as the ship was docked into the port; their ship was locked down by mechanical arms.

XXXXX

Within the time they were docked, the officers were gathered up and taken into the stations interior while the rest of the crew were carolled into the mess hall with the civilians. Ray was already there when the whole mess began, he didn't want to have to get dragged out of his room by the armed soldiers, and also because he wanted to pass a little bit of knowledge onto the kids before he was taken.

"Ray what's going on?"

"Not much, I was eating a snack when this all began, been waiting here for you guys."

"Apparently we don't have an identification friend or foe code because this is an experimental warship."

"Is that really a big deal?"

"Apparently so."

"It would be if this was the case."

"Do you know why they're holding us here?"

Ray replied with a smirk.
"Politics."

"What?" They said in surprise at the topic.

"I'm probably guessing that you guys know everything there is to know in the Alliance right?" He asked them aloud.

"Yeah, the Earth Alliance was established for the sake of creating a unified front for all humanity to stand together within."

"It's only out of convenience; the Earth Alliance was originally on the verge of collapsing prior to the development of Coordinators. The sudden surge in Coordinators turned the situation around rapidly, with the hatred and anger of the global situation turning on its heads thanks to genetically altered humans."

The group looked a little concerned at this revelation.
"The whole issue was that without Coordinators, the Earth Alliance would be in shambles and power blocs would be fighting each other rather than just a specific enemy. Of course with the joint forces battling against Coordinators as a common enemy, the trouble was that each power bloc hadn't forgotten about previous political tensions or beliefs."

"So what does this have to do with us?"

"A lot actually, the Atlantic Federation dumped a lot of resources and technology into developing this ship along with the G-weapons, to capture it would be a major boon for the Eurasian Federation, which is why they want to capture it so badly. It's also been co developed by the Orb Union, which is another thing why the Eurasian Federation wants it so badly."

"Orb was responsible for building this ship?"

"Yeah, I do work in the Special Forces, and I had friends in a few places who told me about whatever knowledge they had on this secret project. In any event, the ship was built as part of a military initiative, and the Union and the Atlantic Federation was involved."

"Wow that really puts things into perspective." Sai said with surprise.

"Are you serious?" Tolle exclaimed as he couldn't believe his ears.

"In any event, what does this mean for us?"

"The Eurasian Federation would likely try to use this as leverage against the Atlantic Federation, either that or keep this knowledge to themselves and try developing independently. That wouldn't come as a surprise to me."

"Is that what's going on in the EA?"

"I'm a Special Forces operator; it comes with the territory to know these things about the internal workings of the organisation you're supposed to be working for. I just happened to be better versed in understanding aspects of politics; it's not surprising how things have turned out. But regardless, you can see the conundrum this places the ship in." He told them.

"So what's going to happen?" Sai asked intently.

"Depends on circumstances, they might detain us indefinitely for knowledge, or they might negotiate for our release, regardless, this entire situation is uncertain, we'll know soon enough." Ray said as they saw a cloister of men discussing something.

"What should we do?" Kuzzey asked his friends uncertainly.

"In an uncertain or unexpected situation, I'd say keep on the lookout for information, and if you come to the conclusion in which your life is threatened for the interest of those who seek self-gratification for their own cause or goal, fuck em. Never bow your head, I'd rather fight and die than give in so readily. But, that's just me." Ray said with a shrug.

"What about those of us who are caught up in this mess for nothing?"

"What can I say; it's all probability and circumstance." Ray replied promptly.

"What about Kira? Isn't he in danger of getting found out?"

"They'd label him as some kind of defector or traitor wouldn't they?"

Kira stopped then and realised the implications of his situation, despite being a citizen of the Orb Union, he was indeed a target of concern, thanks to the fact that he could pilot the Strike, and his integral knowledge would certainly draw attention, regardless of his status as a neutral citizen. He was involved, whether he liked it or not.

Ray grabbed Kira by the shoulder and shook him out of his momentary pause, looking him dead in the eyes, Ray said with a great sense of certainty. "No matter what they say, you're still human kid, don't ever forget that, and don't buy into the bullshit some people say about you to make themselves feel better, you're worth more than their words. You have a cause, and you have reason, keep following it, and you'll find peace of mind. If not, then you'll probably end up like me before making peace with your decisions, if that ever happens, I owe you a drink."

As he finished, a group of men entered into the mess hall, with guards.
This was the vice commander in charge of the installation, Commander Delton or something, he waited patiently with a posse of armed troops waiting by the entrance.
"We're looking for a Special Forces operator by the name of Ray Hyung, he's been requested by the base commander."

Ray didn't bother letting anyone try stopping him, seeing as he was someone who could speak, and he knew what he was doing.
"I'm here." He said voluntarily.

"You're Warrant Officer Ray Hyung?"

"What gave it away?" Ray said gesturing to the emblem on his dark grey pattern uniform.

Ray had made the emblem of his old uniform and tweaked it for the EA's version officer uniform; he had his markings standout clearly.
"So you're the pilot of the fighter craft located in the hangar correct?"

"Yeah."

"That's yes sir, to you warrant officer."

"Yes sir." Ray straightened up and said promptly, betraying no emotion.

The commander then gestured to him.
"Your presence is required so we'll get going."

"Ray!"

"I'll be fine, I'll see you kids around, don't worry." Ray said as he followed after the base commander.

XXXXX

The base officer led him into the interior of the ship, the trip taking him aboard a small transport shuttle with barely enough room to spare; there was also the noticeable number of non-crew members currently scurrying aboard the ship. As they got to the nearby airlock and boarded a transport over to the port, Ray admired the detail of the interior; the circular cylinder interior was filled with scaffolding and docking berths for ships and mobile armour.

'How many ships did they shove into this thing?' Ray asked himself as he looked at the fleet within the station.

Once arriving at the docks, he was taken from the shuttle to the interior with haste, they ultimately arrived a half hour later, after passing through two elevators and a few junctions. They arrived in the private office of Rear Admiral Garcia, the tubby piece of shit who had in the series, managed to survive near death incidents.

The interior of the office was darkened, illuminated by a series of vibrant screens which almost seemed to make the room lively with green lush forests and grasslands along with flowing rivers of water. It was of course false, as it was mostly about Garcia engaging in his own passions of Earth, using display screens to give the impression of calm.

The man smiled as Ray approached.
"So you are the Special Forces operative on the ship? Warrant Officer 1st Class, Ray Hyung, Alliance Special Operations Warfare division." The man said while looking at the file obtained from the Archangel.

"That's me sir." Ray said promptly.

"Surprising turn of events, I must say, for a man of your skill and profession to end up on that ship unannounced, not to mention from a branch I haven't heard of, or at least none that I know of." Garcia stated calmly.

Ray replied calculatingly. "The Special Operations Warfare branch is very careful in what information it releases, as for the nature of my presence on the Archangel, I'm pretty sure that Lieutenant La Flaga has made it clear that my arrival was by pure incidence, and that I decided to join them, in order to return back to HQ."

"Yes, yes, I've read the report, though I don't quite understand is why a technical combat specialist is doing all the way out here with an advanced prototype machine, one which has no production markings or have any declared origins." The officer said promptly while looking over images of the Eventide secured in the ship.

"That's part of our charm, deny everything, if you're fishing for information you're barking up the wrong tree Rear Admiral Garcia." Ray said promptly with his eyes still locked on the man.

Garcia didn't react as much, his eyes narrowed at Ray. "So you know who I am?"

Ray elaborated. "I've read a few reports on military personnel and officers who have been in active combat throughout the war, I know about the battle at Grimaldy, don't need to know more than that."

"You're well informed; you've got quite a way of getting around without anyone knowing more about you." The officer said before leaning back in his chair, hands folded together.

"There's no need to beat around the bush Commander, I do have a way of telling when someone wants something." Ray panned; he hit the mark pretty quickly.

"Straight to the point, like a good soldier." Garcia seemed to twitch at Ray's observation.

"The project's goal and aim is different from that of the G-weapons project, if you're wondering. But I'm assuming you've already discerned my reason for being involved?" Ray asked him casually remaining aloof of his involvement.

"We were informed by Captain Ramius on the incident, and we understand you were thrown into an unexpected situation." Garcia stated.

Ray knew that Garcia was a greedy pig, aiming to further his own goals, and gain a greater position within the Eurasian Federation by presenting them with viable results from stealing secrets from the Earth Alliance Forces. He had also known that Garcia was an arrogant fool, who believed that he and Artemis would be able to stay out of reach of anything that could harm them.

But he knew better than that, Nicol in this timeline was most certainly no coward, he was smart, and he was somewhat analytical, a very sharp minded young man who could exploit a situation in his favour. No doubt the man was planning his attack right now, it was only a matter of time, it was now just a matter of getting Garcia to take his bait.

"I'm guessing you're after the G-weapons data." Ray said promptly.

"How did you pick up on that?" Garcia said questioningly.

"Alliance Intelligence suspected you might be up to no good, though they never had solid evidence to prove that. You've been sitting on top of quite a few machines here in your facility, including a few prototypes, there was some rumour you were even planning on calling upon a few special pieces of equipment." Ray elaborated clearly. "It's kind of suspicious for an installation to take such materials and equipment when it had no reason to, a facility with little strategic purpose?" He said as he looked at Garcia.

Garcia definitely twitched at that response.
"So you've already figured it out?"

"I won't bother with the haggling, but I don't have the data for the G-weapons project which I have no doubt you want. However, I do have something else which I figure you could use."

"Is that so? And what information could you possibly give me that'd be worth letting you go?"

"I know of a smaller backdoor project that the Earth Alliance contracted a few companies to look into, mobile suits with a standardized natural use OS."

This certainly got Garcia's interest as well as his aide's.
"You're joking right? A natural operated OS for mass produced mobile suits under Alliance construction without anyone knowing?"

"It's true, seeing as how most of you have been caught up with attempting to steal the G-weapons, the Alliance's private development groups have been hard at work for potential candidates for mass produced units. G-weapons were only supported thanks to Halberton."

"Show me then."

Ray produced a card small enough to fit into a person's hand; he placed it onto the desk. Garcia took a look at the small data chip, placing it into the console; he brought up the data on the card. Garcia's eyes turned to surprise and wonder, the data was on the 105 Dagger units, which also included data on the variants.

"These are." He continued to look, but the rest was password protected. "What's this?"

"Unless I have a guarantee that you'll let us on our way and you're going to resupply the ship, I won't let you look into that further." Ray stated coldly.

Garcia didn't seem to appreciate this sentiment, especially from someone of lower rank, but Ray was Special Forces, his position in the Alliance was high. Garcia looked interested alright, the value of gaining access to a human OS along with a viable mobile suit design which could utilise it. This was a gift wrapped in a box, and the man could tell.
"What do you want for it?" Garcia asked seriously.

"Limited restriction, you lift your custody of the ship in 24 hours and resupply the ship with the necessary materials we need, and let us off. And I let you keep the OS and the base design mobile suit for the Alliance's mobile weapon's project. Though it wouldn't look like much, it will be put into mass production soon." Ray told him.

Garcia thought about this, he knew that getting the full OS on the Strike plus the combat data would be a real challenge, considering how stubborn Captain Ramius was and the crew. But he could always backstab Rayleigh, and take the data anyway; in any case, he'd kill two birds with one stone.

Though he wasn't sure about where Ray stood, the man was from the Special Forces, detaining him longer than necessary might be a good way to get into more trouble than it was worth.
"Very well, we'll begin to resupply your ship with necessary supplies, though be warned, we'll supply you over the course of the time allotted over 24 hours."

Ray saluted the man who returned it. With the data given, he knew it would convince the Commander to allow small amounts of supply transfer; it would give the ship a temporary boost in the right direction. Not only that, but the Eurasian Federation would be able to produce mobile suits to rival the Atlantic Federation, something which would throw the two powers into conflict with one another.

He then gave Garcia the password access.
"Insert code Sierra, seven, six, zero, seven, five."

The password was accepted and the Commander looked upon the data provided.
"Marvellous, we'll begin the transfer of supplies as soon as possible, till then you'll be escorted back to your fellow officers in the designated lounge and we'll have you transferred back to your ship at the earliest convenience."

"I do look forward to it." Ray told the man.

The guards escorted Ray out of the room, leading him down the hallway and to an officer's lodge which was located several levels down, it was some distance from the ship, but still there.

XXXXX

Ray entered the officer's lounge in a hush, closing the doors behind him; he was greeted by the others from the ship.
"Warrant Officer, I see you're doing well."

"Yeah, no thanks to this guy." Ray gestured to Mu.

"I thought you'd have better luck than us. Seeing as you did work for intelligence on this matter."

"I got to speak with Garcia; he's about as readable as anyone is." Ray said while he took a stroll around the room.

"So not a particularly resounding impression?" Murrue asked.

"Not that I could think of." Ray replied as he looked through cabinets located around the room.

Ray paused as he found a glass framed wooden oak cabinet with ornate handles; he opened it up and then said.
"He's pretty determined to get information on the Strike and the ship."

"So what did you tell him?"

"I deferred to an agreement in which we could all benefit from."

"Such as?" Mu said with a curious expectation.

"The plans for a natural use OS system with a mobile suit schematic." Ray said with a shrug.

"WHAT?" Natarle exclaimed in shock.

"I offered something else just as valuable so that he'd let us go sooner." Ray justified so casually while he carefully searched for a bottle of brandy.

"And what was that?" Murrue asked intently, clearly she wasn't patient with his issue breaking a lot of regulations off the bat along with confidentiality.

"Data on a secret mobile suit project, Code Named: Gladius, a mass produced mobile suit with OS meant for natural pilots. I told him I'd give him a copy of the entire project if he let the Archangel go sooner." He explained to them.

"You did what?" Lieutenant Badgierul said in surprise, still reeling from all this new information.

"I fed him a bunch of bullshit, the data I gave him was on a single machine which hadn't even reached the prototype stage, it's all theoretical right now, and he doesn't have a clue it's all simulated. The actual project was to lighten the armour design on a suit based on the Strike by removing a lot of abilities, like using phase shift armour, they're only outfitted with a limited amount of armaments and they don't have particularly good power systems." Ray said while he removed a shiny burgundy bottle.

"Seriously?" Mu said as he was now clearly surprised at this revelation.

"When was this project proposed?" Murrue asked.

"I can't say, I think it was right before the original G-weapons project plan was approved, the committee in charge had to make a decision, though with Admiral Halberton, they supported it, out of mutual interest." Ray explained.

"The plan was to rush production with cheap mass produced units which they could field against ZAFT, I'm sure you've all familiarised yourselves with quantity versus quality right?"

"So the project that Earth Alliance HQ had planned is meant to just swamp the ZAFT forces with numbers and hope to win?" Mu inquired while trying to wrap his head around the planning.

"Originally yes, though this was put onto the back burner after the G-weapons project took precedence, funding was shifted and the division in charge was given only time to go through simulations and theoretical project parameters, which means that the crap I just gave Garcia would need a lot of refinement and evaluation before it even got into production."

"Wouldn't that be enough though?" Natarle said insistently.

"No not really, the project ran into multiple issues, one being weight, the armour they used for the suit prototypes proved cumbersome so they were planning on stripping it down. Another problem was the lack of flexibility thanks to the limited power systems; they kept running into trouble with output and eventually decided to change the specifications." He explained. "It'll probably be grounded the moment they try doing it themselves." He shrugged.

"So what do we do now? Do we sit and wait for him to keep his promise, even though he has no reason to?"

"I didn't give him false data for no reason, I do have a plan to make a hasty exit when things go topside."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Garcia's arrogant, chock full of himself, he thinks that he's safe behind the shield of Artemis and it's umbrella, and his plans don't involve more than getting recognition and a better position in the Eurasian Federation. I read the asshole's profile." Ray said while looking at the bottle of liquor in front of him.

"So what about the transfer of supplies?"

"They're proceeding, albeit at a limited pace, we should be at least have the basics within 24 hours, though I haven't a clue as to what they're loading first."

"Warrant officer, you must understand that you've intentionally leaked information, and what you've said about this main is that he intends to steal the data from the Strike, there's no guarantee he'll release us the moment he gets what he wants." Natarle restated.

"I know, and I'm betting on a few things right now."

"What, could you be possibly betting on?"

"What could possibly factor into all of this that would enable us to escape sooner?"

"On this installation, do you think that these folk are truly safe from ZAFT?"

"What are you talking about?" Murrue asked with a raised brow.

"Think about it, our enemy is Rau Le Creuset, do you think he and ZAFT are just going to roll over when they have the opportunity to wipe out or capture the Strike and the Archangel all in one move?" Ray asked as he poured himself a glass of brandy.

"You think he's going to attack?" Mu said with a critical look.

"I'm betting on it, ZAFT's calling in reinforcements as we speak, of course Rau's force will act before then, I know from the reports that they're smart, and they'd be able to pull off an attack given their resources and ingenuity. And because they have the Blitz."

"You know about the Blitz?" Murrue said clearly surprised.

"I work for the Alliance Special Forces, and I have contacts with some people in the Intelligence community, it's not hard to hear a bit about some stuff, I got told of a mobile suit which could turn invisible, something which I assume was related to the Blitz."

"Mirage colloid armour?"

"What's that?"

"The Blitz can emit a type of particle or material which coats its armour while not using Phase Shift and essentially turn invisible or transparent for a limited period of time."

"How did you know that?" Murrue looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a tone of suspicion.

"I told you I heard things, I don't have the technical knowhow, but I did get some information through people who knew about the G-weapons project." Ray said as he downed another cup of brandy. "In any event, the Blitz will probably launch a surprise attack the moment the installation drops its guard." Ray tried to defend his position.

He knew that this was utter bull, but he had to work with something, the thing is that rational thinking worked in his favour as the Alliance was wrought with politics, and he was logical in his analysis. No one outside of the crew knew that the Blitz possessed the ability to turn invisible, and Garcia had no clue.

"Do you really think that?"

"It's a matter of perspective, and from understanding tactics."

"I'm thinking from the perspective of Rau's force, he's no idiot and considering his men infiltrated Heliopolis, they've got a keen sense in launching infiltrations, they know how to hit a target. The base's commander is lax and the installation doesn't keep the barrier operational all the time, there'd be no point, and Garcia doesn't know what it's like fighting Rau so he thinks he's safe."

"So the moment he lulls in attention, ZAFT comes running in, with all of us still aboard the station?"

"They'd take out the barrier emitters and then launch a full scale assault with ships and mobile suits."

"Are you sure this is the likeliest outcome?"

"If that doesn't work, I do have a contingency."

"A contingency?"

"A virus, I uploaded it into Artemis's computers the moment Garcia asked for the transfer, if Garcia doesn't release us in 24 hours, the whole station's command system goes berserk and we escape in the ensuing chaos."

"Is that even possible?"

"Yeah it's very much possible, I already mapped out the place in my head and I did bring along one of my tools."

"What's that?"

"A mini-tool, I can use it to guide us back to the ship and unlock doors along the way, I always hide it somewhere in my body."

"That was in your mouth?"

"Yeah, I know it's not the best place to be putting tools, but it works."

"How can you be so certain any of your plans will work?"

"Through observation and critical thinking, those on this station are inexperienced and lax, they don't understand the dangers they're in and they think they're safe. They're still military, but thanks to having no enemy to fight or being under constant threat of attack, it made them ill prepared to fight against a real threat. We could push right through without much difficulty."

"But do you honestly believe that this would be the most likely course of action?"

"If they don't I'll eat my own words, but seeing as we're up against Rau, there's a certainty that the man will take any measure to win, which is how imagine his mind works." Ray said while he looked over at the clock on the wall.

'Rau's heading off and he's leaving Yzak and the others in charge of their force for the time being. My estimates suggest that they'll attack within the next few hours.' Ray thought as he examined the clock.

XXXXX

Ray wasn't wrong, at that very moment; the Gamow had begun making preparations to leave the area, preparing the Blitz for its run to Artemis. Inside the ship, Nicol was having a moment to himself; the green haired young man was looking into his suit's primary stealth function, with the time given. He had a window of approximately 43 minutes before the mirage colloid field dispersed upon use.

As the ship continued on its course the crew observed the situation making sure to check upon the installation to drop the barriers. This action would ensure a suitable entry option for the Blitz. Nicol hummed a tune he remembered from playing his piano, the music in which his passions had lain were all so entrancing.

The young man indulged in his pastime while waiting for a chance to bring swift and devastating justice upon his enemies at first opportunity. Meanwhile Kira faced his own difficulties, one being the protection of the crew and his friend's safety, not to mention his own, his life hung in the balance thanks to circumstance.

Kira had been faced with a difficult situation, being escorted by the station's commander along with his subordinate so they could have him unlock the Strike's OS for them; it seemed like a difficult situation to be put into, but he had no choice. Flay had foolishly disclosed Kira's nature and told them about his heritage, which pretty much ensured that they would be able to do whatever they wanted to him.

"So you want me to remove the locks on the OS?"

"Oh of course, but there's so much more you could do couldn't you?" Garcia said with a smirk.

"Huh?"

"You can decipher the OS of the Strike and make more powerful machines couldn't you? Or maybe you could learn the secrets of that machine." He gestured at the Eventide. "Perhaps tell us what it holds within." The man said with expectant glee.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're a traitor to your people, having sided with the Alliance, and helping out Naturals." Garcia told him to his face.

"But I'm-."

"Word it whatever way you want, it's how they perceive you is it not?" Garcia said gloatingly.

Kira's mind flicked through to the times, he had spent with his old friend, meeting him again, all the words exchanged during their time as friends. This was grating on his mind as he was forced to work on breaking the OS, he then felt something ebb back to him, the feeling of someone reaching out to him, shaking him out of his negative stupor.

Ray words came back to him.
"No matter what they say, you're still human kid, don't ever forget that, and don't buy into the bullshit some people say about you to make themselves feel better, you're worth more than their words. You have a cause, and you have reason, keep following it, and you'll find peace of mind. If not, then you'll probably end up like me before making peace with your decisions, if that ever happens, I owe you a drink."

He wasn't sure of what Ray's advice meant until he met the commander of this base, while he was forced to unlock the OS of his machine, Garcia casually remarked on Kira's ability to create better machines and the way he was perceived by the other Coordinators. Kira was seen as a traitor, at least in the eyes of Garcia.

The words stung, but Ray's words reminded him that this was just the perception of the base's commander and those who didn't understand his situation, he couldn't be held responsible for being thrown into this situation and attempting to survive it. In any case, he had little choice in dealing with his situation, and keeping his friends alive was important.

As he continued to work, he didn't realise it, but the opportunity was coming for him and those around him to get going, and leave this place behind.

At that very moment, the station's shields had been disabled, and the Blitz had entered into the immediate area of the station, carefully navigating its way forward, seeking out an opening to begin the attack. The first targets had to be close to the port, it couldn't risk missing a big window of opportunity to sneak into the port and attack the Archangel and Strike while they were docked.

In the midst of working, the station was suddenly rocked by a series of explosions, gaining the attention of everyone. Garcia had to go get a situation report while Kira took the opportunity to kick the guard watching him, in the stomach and throw him out of the cockpit; he quickly activated the suit's power systems and chased the scientists and technicians inside of the cockpit, out.

"What the?" Garcia exclaimed as his attention was drawn to the Strike moving.

"We don't have time to be sitting around, the enemy's coming here." Kira yelled over his com.

"Damn kid…" The base commander muttered in annoyance before storming off.

Garcia and his men immediately went back to their shuttle, Garcia doing so to figure out what was going on, and to get out of harm's way of the boy in the suit. No doubt there was a lot more to this mess, but until then, he'd have to settle for getting the situation under control as soon as possible.

The station was put onto full alert as attacks continued throughout the station, the Blitz was coming and it was coming in fast. But they didn't have any choice; Kira was taking the Strike out of the Archangel. Manually opening the hangar controls using the Strike, Kira entered into the ship's launching bay.

He launched from the emergency exit and out into the open, his vision was filled with the interior port brimming with activity, but his attention was drawn to the oncoming black mobile suit. His mind drifted back to the words of Garcia, coordinators thought of him as a traitor, a traitor to his own people.

But Ray's words kicked in. "It's your responsibility…"

Kira knew that he couldn't take back what he had done, not anymore… He pushed the accelerator on the Strike as he rushed forward to meet the Blitz, his mind was in chaos, but his goal was clear. He wanted to keep these people alive, his friends, and these people who he had sheltered within the ship.

XXXXX

The station came to life as the attack began, the Blitz appeared within the boundaries of the station's barrier perimeter and disabled the defences, and each emitter it disabled left a detonation which rocked the station. It devastated the shield emitters and collapsed the barrier in moments, and it didn't take long for it to punch through the surprised defenders who were still awestruck at this sudden and devastating attack they were under.

From within the interior of the station, the lounge was kept relatively quiet, aside from the gentle rocking they began to feel, which was abruptly followed by a large amount of shaking and alarms going off. Ray sipped down the last of his brandy, savouring the taste while the other looked around perplexed at the source of the alarms.

"Right on schedule." Ray said as he set down the cup of brandy onto the table and clapped his hands. "It's getting lively again."

"So the Blitz is attacking?" Murrue said listening to the explosions.

"Pretty much." Ray said as he removed the multi-tool and put it into his hand and looked at the door, picking the lock carefully.

"We better make our move now." Ray said as he pulled out his multi-tool.

"How do we do this?" Mu asked as he came up behind Ray.

Ray replied in a relatively relaxed fashion. "Simple I take right, you take left, and we're out of here before anyone knows better."

Opening the door, he took out the guard on the left side while Ray downed the man on the right before he could raise his weapon, once they had disabled the guards; they were freed from the lounge.
"So where next?"

"We just go through the way we came, the others on the ship will probably know the drill, and with the potential risk we're all at right now, they'll be retaking the ship." Ray said as he gestured to them to follow.

They continued on their way back to the ship, meanwhile the station rocked repeatedly from attacks launched by the Blitz, impacts were concentrated upon the areas around the station's docking bays. Undoubtedly the mobile suit piloted by Nicol would attempt to break in and find the Archangel as soon as possible.

And if his guess was right, then the Strike should be getting ready to leave the ship at any moment. They passed through one junction after they had taken the lifts, entering the station's hangar bays, they didn't have any issue getting through security seeing as how everyone was in a panic, few people bothered to step in to stop them.

"Come on let's take this one." Ray gestured to the shuttle sitting abandoned.

They piled into the shuttle haphazardly, with Ray leaping into the front, the others following behind, Mu took the controls, and before they knew it, they were exiting out of the hangar and heading towards the Archangel.

XXXXX

As they got into the ship, they were greeted by the crew having retaken their ship and manned their stations, Ray was down in the hangar getting back to his machine, and he was glad to see the work crew had managed to break free and was busy preparing the Eventide.
"Hey Ray, we were wondering where you had gone." Kojiro said as he greeted him.

"Oh you know the usual, I'm guessing the kid's outside the ship?"

"Pretty much, from what we can tell, it's utter chaos outside."

Ray closed the hatch as he entered his cockpit, securing himself into his seat, he got Alice to guide the Eventide to the launching bay. As he did so, the intercom lit up and allowed him to see Miriallia seated and ready.
"Warrant Officer, you're back!"

"Yeah I'm back. Anyway, sitrep." He said as the fighter prepared to launch.

"Siterp?' Miri said confused.

"Situation report." He clarified.

"Oh, Kira's currently in the Strike engaged in battle with the Blitz, they're in melee, but it looks like a tough battle, I'm getting reports that the Duel and Buster are currently entering the harbour's interior right now." Miriallia said as the shaking continued to grow.

"Alright, I'm heading out now." Ray said as he got his machine onto the catapult.

"Eventide launching." The machine was once more catapulted into open space.

After a moment making a quick course adjustment, Ray was speeding off through the interior of the docking bay, his fighter having to navigate through the shower of debris from damaged or destroyed craft floating around. He was thrown into the little cluster fuck of a situation, but he was on target, his fighter lanced through the void, rushing around the chaos.

The Strike and the Blitz were engaged in a duel, the Strike managing to keep pace with the blitz with tenacity and ferocity, the melee between the two was a hectic haphazard slugfest. The two weren't exactly optimised for this but Kira had the disadvantage of not having in depth training, but he was a quick study and remembered to keep his defences up.

The Blitz exchanged blows, one after the other, they were unable to one up the other, and with Kira's sword Strike pack, he was capable in the close quarters of the station's dock, giving him some advantage in the sense the Blitz couldn't use its armaments to their full effect due to the sheer amount of crap now clogging the battlefield.

Firing randomly would waste ammunition and energy, and Nicol knew this better than any of his fellow pilots, so he didn't press his luck and held back waiting for the others to come. Meanwhile Ray made his way over to the other side, where the Duel and Buster was utterly wrecking the collective ass of the base's defenders.

Garcia must have been shitting his pants when he realised that his defences were utterly useless in this scenario. Ray couldn't help but laugh at the idiocy of the commanding officer, he was certainly unfit for the position of a military commander if said commander didn't even know how to maintain discipline and professionalism.

They spotted him in a second, it wasn't like he was attempting to hide his approach, and he unleashed a burst of Lancer fire, but made sure it was aimed at the Duel. His shot was on the mark, and struck the Duel's shield, which was raised the moment it spotted him. It forced the Duel back and allowed him a moment to draw its attention.

He didn't need to wait for a reply as the Buster lay down a barrage of blasts against him, littering the area with beam shots, tearing apart sections of the dock, scaffolding, docking clamps, anchors and even ships which had been destroyed during the initial attack or weren't ready were blasted into pieces.

A haze of debris now coalesced over the port, ruined sections of the port cluttered about, and there were pieces of ships and mobile armours drifting aimlessly around. This worked well for Ray, as he knew that this junk field to obscure shots, of course the downside was that it also obscured a path for him as well, as debris would block sections off.

Regardless, the Buster and Duel were hell bent on settling the score, no matter the cost; the two machines tried their utmost to gun him down. Blasting through debris regardless of how much more they caused with it, it didn't help that Ray goaded them, popping in and out from cover to draw them to attacking.

Ray was making an utter mess of this battle, Eventide's movements were restricted, but so were theirs, they could manoeuvre a hell lot better though, the neat thing was that Ray had more than a few tricks up his sleeves. As he made manoeuvres around the bend, he dispatched a pair of decoy dummies filled with gas.

He set them off on timers and made sure to fire off a few dispersal canisters to blindside the two machines, close quarters might not be his strength, but he wouldn't allow them the advantage either. He let the dispersal canisters eject a large amount of black chaff, which would blind sensor feeds, for the most part someone with a special type of sensor would be able to see through something like this, but none of the Gundams possessed such features.

At least none that he knew of, in this timeline, the simplest tricks were the ones which worked surprisingly the best, if only for a time. Yzak and Dearka were uncertain, but they learnt quickly that the chaff could be partially dispersed if someone caused an explosion, which then pushed the particles away from the point of impact.

Of course Ray knew this as well and made a great effort to use the chaff as a covering screen while he harassed the two machines from all position, letting lose one shot after the next. His shots were precise and accurate to the point that he had forced the Duel and Buster into a corner, but the two didn't give up.

The Buster launched an all-out assault with its missile pods, scattering fire across the entire area, dousing Ray in a shower of shrapnel and fire, the Eventide managed to avoid damage. But the attack had scattered debris around the entire port, and it cleared out quite a bit of the chaff he had laid out across the area.

The battle was a close one, and by close, it meant that the number of machines attacking him was as expected; Duel and Buster went up against him for the second time already. The two pilots he was accustomed to fighting by now, the moment they spotted him, the two machines opened up and attempted to down him.

Of course fighting them in close quarters was difficult, thanks to the limited amount of space available, the best he could do in this situation was to dodge. Each attack nearly glancing him, but he was able to dodge and weave through the attacks. Eventide wasn't able to return fight as easily though, the shots made by the two machines kept him at a distance, but he stayed always a step ahead of them.

It was then he received an alert from Alice.
"Ray, the Archangel has finally broken free from the anchorage, they're attempting to make an exit."

"Time to get going." Ray said as he looked for an opening.

Ray figured that the two might attempt to corner him if he ran, and had dispatched a few traps to keep them preoccupied, micro incendiary plasma canisters, intended to deal with lightly armoured targets or to force back mobile suits. As he swung around from the low following the surface of the station's dock, he fired a set of canisters into position from his missile pods.

As they were secured, he made a hasty withdrawal and let the Duel and Buster close in, Duel looked as though it was going in for a kill, at least until Yzak came within firing range of the canisters. The area was quickly engulfed in balls the size of baseballs, which then ignited, soon engulfing the mobile suit in a sea of what looked like blue flames.

Yzak was surprised by the fires.
"What the hell?"

"Yzak, pull back, the heat those things are putting out are above the threshold of your suit's armour protection." Dearka warned.

The Duel immediately rolled away, some areas of its armour still burning with trails of bluish fire, the shield was pock marked and damaged to the point that Yzak dumped it.
"Damn it, what the hell was that?"

"Looks like our mystery machine, got a few tricks up its sleeves." Dearka said with grit.

The two realised that they couldn't pursue the Eventide now, the plasma screen would damage their suit, regardless of the PS armour they had, plasma would damage the suits external armour through sheer thermal exhaust rather than kinetic impact. Yzak swore and he signalled a withdrawal. Meanwhile, the Blitz was knocked back as Strike managed to find an opening, thanks to an unexpected explosion knocking a section of scaffolding around them.

As the Blitz was forced back, the Eventide was able to make its exit, slicing through the explosions, it ripped out across the port, chasing behind the Archangel in a trail of plasma exhaust.
"Did I miss anything?" Ray asked with a smirk as he appeared from behind.

"Ray, good to see you've made it back."

"Yeah, no worries here, I got the Duel and Buster tied down, we should be in the clear for now."

"Hopefully you're right."

"Come back aboard, we're making our run out of here." Mu informed him.

As Ray came back to the ship, he noticed the Strike, staring forward.
"Hey Kid, something on your mind?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Kira replied as he turned his machine to the hangar of the ship.

"Bad liar." Ray muttered aloud as he looked to the waiting boarding bay.

'Then again, I guess we all are.' Ray thought to himself as he looked back at Artemis.

For now, Artemis lives, it'll live for quite a while, and he knew that he'd leave a parting gift, one which would help to shape the course of this world, in what direction, he wasn't sure. But none of the stupid childish Saturday cartoon villain nonsense, he wanted to see the potentials for bringing invariable potentials into a complex scenario.

XXXXX

AN: The story has taken a dive here for obvious reasons, I was on vacation, and now I'm back, and I'm sick with a cold. So yeah, this sucks, I'm hopefully going to get back onto track ASAP. As for the chapter, I'm seriously hoping that this works out for the time, being as I've had to play catch up.

In any case, if there are issues with the chapter, voice them so I can clear them up ASAP.