Chapter 2.

A young lightly brown skinned boy sat in his room, he was around 13 and seemed to be sulking when a knock came on the door, "go away!" he shouted but the door was opened anyway to show a beautiful girl she had the same brown skin and grey eyes as him but she was at least older by four years, she stood frowning at her with both hands on her hip, he glared at her, "I told you to go away", she sighed and sat next to him in silence for a while then spoke, "what happened Clyde?" , the young boy, Clyde hoso looked at her his eyes were wet with tears, "he said I was a monster, he said he never wanted me and because of me mum died," the young woman looked at Clyde as he shook helplessly, she could see through him, she knew how much he hated being the only co-ordinator in the family and so she pulled him to her, "Clyde mum loved you," she said making the boy look up, "she wanted you and so did dad, even if he is liked that now he wouldn't want anything to happen to you, Clyde blinked and frowned then said, "he hurts me," the young woman stroked his hair gently, "I know" she responded, "I hate it I didn't want him to keep attacking me so…" the young woman pulled him closer into her embrace so he could not see her helpless tears, "I'm sorry Clyde, I know and I'm sorry I cant do anything," though Clyde could not see her he could here the tremors he knew she was crying, he hugged her hard and spoke sofly, "I love you Relia," the young woman pulled back and smiled then hugged him tightly, "I love you too Clyde".

"…Clyde" "…Clyde?" , Clyde opened his eyes and saw Dan frowning, "are you okay man? You were mumbling in your sleep…" Clyde blinked and stretched before giving Dan a small reassuring smile, "im fine Dan, just great." He got up from bed and was leaving the room, Dan called out, "where are you going!" Clyde waved back at him walking out, "the dining hall!" he left and the door closed behind him, Dan looked at the door for a while then shrugged grinned mischievously, he called a room from com-link, "hey Christy, wanna come over rooms free and im feeling a little lonely," A young brunette with a pony tail and wearing an engineer uniform smiled at him, "I'll be right over."

Clyde was sitting in the dining hall, he sat in the corner thinking about the dream he had about his sister, he had forgotten all about that time, his sister had been the only one in his family to accept him, she had worked hard so he could go to the plants, no one else was so kind to him, the only co-ordinator in his family, his mother had apparently secretly had his genes enhanced for reasons he could not understand.

Meyrin noticed Clyde deep in thought and walked up to him, she touched his cheek with cold drink and giggled when he jumped, his eyes widened as he saw her, she smiled, "how are you Clyde? You seemed tired after returning."

Clyde tried to speak but when he couldn't say anything he just nodded, and dipped his head to hide his embarrassment, he had never been good at talking to girls but when Meyrin talked to him he was always pulled in by her pace making him incredibly uncomfortable, Meyrin sighed and frowned a bit but sat in front of him and ate, he then began to study her, she was pretty, her hair was in twin tails, and she had dark blue eyes, he had admired her since they first entered the Minerva II she had been nice to everyone, she was without a doubt the most popular person on the ship, what impressed him most was that she was one of the few women on the ship that paid no attention to Dan, his friend had always been able to win girls even in the academy, at one point even Tia had liked him.

Meyrin had noticed that Clyde was watching her and she felt her face flushed, she began toying with her fringe, she was about to say something when, "hey you guys mind if I sit down?", she frowned and turned to see a very pretty dark haired girl with pink highlights smiling cheerfully, Clyde smiled, "hey Tia, sure we got a few seats to spare…" waving his hand lazily at the empty bench, Tia Ellemera, she had been friends with Clyde and Dan since times in the academy, amazing student gifted with beauty even for a co-ordinator, she was smart athletic and rich, the only daughter of a prominent military family. Needless to say she was the source of envy among the female crew members, Meyrin watched as Clyde and Tia laughed at a joke they made, then she sighed, what do I have to do to get you to be like that with me, she thought as she watched Clyde laugh unreserved.

The three of them finished eating and were walking to their rooms, they dropped Tia at her room and then much to Meyrin's annoyance Clyde turned back to his usual reserved self, they reached his room and they stood there in a moment awkward silence, Clyde looked around awkwardly while Meyrin toyed with her fringe, after a while Clyde said, "well thank you for the company miss Meyrin," and retreated into his room.

Meyrin sighed and was just about leave when suddenly, she heard a scream and Clyde ran out the room wide eyed, he stared blankly at the wall then the door, Meyrin watched him confused, "Clyde?" she called and he jumped then relaxed slightly when he saw her, then a girl ran out wearing a bright green mechanic uniform, Meyrin knew her and her eyes widened, "Christy!" the girl froze and her face paled, "hi, Meyrin", Meyrin looked back and forth between her little cousin and Clyde in shock.

Clyde was sure she was misunderstanding so he quickly raised his hands defensively, "NO! you have the wrong idea, she was here when I got there with…" before he could finish his door open and a handsome blonde young man walked out with a pleased grin on his face, he didn't leave the door just stood there watching the three of them, Clyde and Meyrin glared at Dan while Christy escaped she didn't want to be involved in what she knew was coming next, "HOLD IT!" the mechanic froze and turned to see her cousin pointing at her while her eyes were glaring fiercely at the blonde boy, Clyde noticed Meyrin's death glare and moved away quickly, the twin tailed woman took deep breaths and said in an icy cold voice, "Ensign Dan Marksman, will you please explain why my little cousin and one of the ships mechanics is in your room breaking protocol instead of in the hangar maintaining your mobile suits?" Dan's smile dropped at that, and was going to respond when suddenly the ship shook.

Onboard a black warship, "commander we have spotted Minerva II", the commander a masked man with short blonde hair chuckled, "well well, lets play shall we Minerva?", he got up, "fire a warning shot and prepare excellion, I am going to have some fun,"

Meanwhile, Faith HQ…

Kira is sorting out documents when a soldier rushes into his room, "Commander!" kira looked up and raise an eyebrow, "something wrong?" the man quickly jumped to attention, "sir an unidentified ship is closing in!" kira frowned, calculating the possibility of a unknown ship advancing this far, this will be tricky he thought, "call Elsman and Asuka prepare them for launch, and prepare the strike freedom for launch!" the man smiled and saluted relaxing visibly, if the strike freedom was launching the commander is going out himself, and with the vice commander and our ace, he ran to relay his orders and kira made his way to the hanger.

Minerva II…

Lacus was sleeping in her uniform when she was woken up by a blast, she rushes to the bridge to see everyone was already in position, Meyrin turned to her and Lacus nodded then turned to her XO. "Status?" the man looked at her, "no damage! They just grazed us, all pilots are in place." She nodded absently, no damage? We were completely unaware how would they miss, she frowned at the thought and she said, "be on guard everyone something is not right!",, she nodded to Meyrin and the girl turned to her station, "All units to launch, Be on guard!" the pilots responded, "Roger!" then proceeded to launch.

Faith HQ MS hanger…

Kira stood in front of his MS wearing his blue black and white piloting suit with the faith emblem on the left side of his chest, Strike freedom had undergone some changes, it's colour was still the same however, he had it polished silver and on the left shoulder it now held the faith symbol, the same polished silver outlined with gold, "looks like this will be our first time in a while freedom look after me," the Gundam gleamed as if acknowledging him and Shinn along with Dearka salute him, "We are ready!" both wore there pilot suits, Shin wore Black and red, while Dearka wore army green, both had the faith emblem on it, Kira nodded at them then entered his MS, the others followed and made there way to the Launch Bay in their MS.

Dearka was first, in his new MS, it was an Upgraded Buster Gundam, it had basically the same weapons as the original buster, but where as the original was quite bulky and blocky, the upgraded version is more round than square, it had two rifles, and the colour was Army Green and Black, it had the faith symbol on it's shoulder, Dearka grinned as he activated phase shift armour, "Dearka Elsman! FAITH 2-Buster Blaze! LAUNCHING!" he launched out dethatching from the buster from the bungee line holding it.

Shinn followed with his new MS, it was a new model of destiny, now the same size of the freedom, it now held the destiny's strength in a more compact size and his long range beam cannon was now dark blue, the faith symbol on its shoulder, his face was set in determination, "Shinn Asuka! Faith 3-Destiny Impulse! Launching!" he propelled his MS out and followed the Buster.

Kira now was in position, he was checking his OS and he remembered suddenly what he had been told by a man he fought what seems like a long time ago, kira pointed his gun at him and he laughed, "you cannot change anything, this is the true face of man kind, even if you kill me now another will take my PLACE," he laughed manically and Kira pulled the trigger.

Kira felt his face harden, resolute he said, "Kira Yamato! Faith 1-Strike Freedom! Launching!"

Inside the approaching ship a man smiled, "well Kira Yamato, shall we begin…" the man sat inside a grey MS waiting for his launching orders battle adrenaline filling him…