Chapter 03: Black as Knight

Neo Roanoke, moved his Exus, through a mirage of beams being fired by both the Impulse, and the GuAIZ R, and several others that has just joined up with them both being Rey Za Burrel, and other GuAIZ R's. However, Neo has had a lot of training simulations, and actual experience in using his type of mobile armor, as the gunbarrels detached, and four of them emitting their own beam sabers from the sides. Alex dodged one, however one of his allies were not so lucky. The blade of the saber from the gunbarrel severed the main Torso from the GuAIZ R's Legs.

Alex dodged the incoming beams from different directions, until in one direction exploded. Rey's ZAKU Phantom was the one that did it, turning the Barrel to scrap. The remaing three then went for the Impulse, "Those others are not really that important, we should capture this one as well, for my own use." he mused, as the beams emmitted going after the Impulse, however Shinn was good enough not to get hit, but not good enough to strike back, despite having mock battles with Sagira, and Courtney, who was once the pilot of the Chaos.

"Shinn!" Rey called out, as a beam went right for the Impulse's core Splendor, where its pilot was located, however the Phantom got into the path, its shield blocking the attack.

"Rey!" Shinn called out surprised.

Rey cued his radio, "Shinn, what are you doing?" he questioned with concern. "If you zone out, you are nothing more then a target!" he told him.

The Exus dodged another attack, as the silver GuAIZ R, tried to shoot down the main flyer, as taking that out, will stop the multidirectional attacks. Alex Strassmeier, like Neo, and Rey hold a rather high standard of spatial awarness, which was high enough for others like him, to sense him. "This pilot." Neo thought, fighting the GuAIZ R, one on one. "Even with that outdated machine, he keeps up with me, do I know him, no can't." Neo concluded. "Perhaps I may get to meet him someday, that is if neither of us die here." he thought. "I doubt he will live long enough."

Alex on the other hand, dodged the other two beams, as he returned fire at the Exus. Alex, was calm and almost emotionless as he fought, waiting for the right moment's to attack, and when not to. "Two senses, that means that two of these people are like me." Alex thought to himself. "And I have no doubt my opponent here, is one." he added. The Black Knight, known as the Spider dodged a railgun slug, from the Exus itself. Unlike Impulse, his machine had no phase shift armor, a downside, however it is an upside as well, giving his machine a longer operation time then a non Nuclear Gundam. After the Railgun passed him, he returned fire with a pair of his own. "Unlike number Twelve, you don't have phase shift."

Neo quickly dodged the attack, as he charged right on past the mobile suit, only to be shot at from behind by the older mobile suit. "You sure are a persistent one." he told himself, as he went into a barrel role.

Meanwhile, Sagira had her Zephyr ZAKU clash beam tomahawk with the beam sword of the METEO arm of the Aneritto Blitz of Shaai's. "Just who is this?" Shaai wondered, as her stronger machine began to force the mobile suit back. Sagira's machine however had something hidden for itself, as the DRAGOON's moved into a position, and fired their thrusters, giving the mobile suit more power to its thrust, forcing the stealth use mobile suit. The two machines were in a deadlock, as the thrusters on both were being in equal capacity.

Sagira, scowled as she looked at her monitors, "This mobile suit is actually keeping up with you Zephyr?" she questioned. "Not while I pilot you." she said forcing herself back, causing the blade of the METEO pack to slash in nothingness. With that, her DRAGOON's sprawled around her, and fired all in one direction.

Shaai saw this, and activated her machines shields from her Maraolos offensive shields systems, Geschmeidig Panzer energy deflection systems. The green beams bent around the woman's Blitz like mobile suit. After the beams stopped the METEO pack fired its missiles at the mobile suit. "I believe this will a good addition for the commander to use." she admitted, emitting two beam swords, and flew towards the ZAKU. Sagira saw the beams coming, and went down, having the beam go over her machines head, and then to the right, as the right beam of the METEO unit nearly hit the shoulder shield. With this, the Zephyr ZAKU sped forward, shoulder shield, smashing into the Gundam's chest. "Oww, that wasn't good." she admitted.

"Well, this is surely good." Sagira said with a smile, until her machine got an alert. "What the?" she questioned.

Behind her, two dark green mobile suits appeared, they were the Nuclear Dagger Ninja's firing their beam rifles. The Zephyr quickly stopped attacking the Zephyr ZAKU, to dodge the incoming beams. "Damn I am really hating Colloid particles." With that, six pods left her machine, and went for the N Dagger N's. The two machines dodged the attacks, even if they are grunts, they are still much like the original.

Just then, one blew up, from two beams that went through the Torso. Just then, something in the shape that was the same as Chao's mobile armor form came through space. It was ZAFT's only Mobile Armor, the Proto Chaos. With that, its two gunpods reattached to the armor. Inside, the blonde haired, Courtney Heirmous flew right on pass them. Jess Rabbles OutFrame not far behind it, shooting the battle from inside his machine.

The Proto Chaos flew infront of the Zephyr ZAKU. "Commander Marusu, I'm here to help defend this place." Courtney told her.

Sagira smirked, "So, Chaos' test pilot has arrived." she told herself then hitting the radio. "I get the black Blitz, you get that last green one." she told him.

Courtney nodded, "Right." he said, racing towards the machine, all four gunpods firing in a circular motion. While Sagira, took a beam to her shoulder shield, which did not activate its second function. Instead she returned fire, with two beams from the left and right of the Blitz.

With that, the shield that was hit, ejected her beam tomahawk again, as she grasped it, and threw it towards the Aneritto Blitz. Shaai tried to dodge, however the beam severed half of the giant engine on the mobile suits back, turning it into scrap, and the tomahawk floating into space. "Damn it." Shaai notioned.

Neo took notice, "Shaai." he said calmly, as he dodged a pair of beams coming from both the White ZAKU Phantom, and silver GuAIZ R. "These two. . ." he began, as he dodged the beam, and fired, however his shot destroyed a GuAIZ R, that came from the Mendeleev.

"Burrel, take him from Orange side, I'll take Indigo." Alex ordered, as he flew up, firing away with his beam rifle, only being dodged by the mobile armor. "This is not right, a mobile suit is in all aspects, superior to a Mobile Armor." he noted, as he dodge a pair of double beams from the pods.

Rey nodded, as he went to the right hand side of the mobile armor and fired, having the machine dodge, and the Exus dodged again.

Minerva Bridge:

"Fire Control systems are all green, Minerva's stations are all ready." Arthur called out, as he was looking over the assault ships data information.

Talia nodded, "We need to know what our foe is now, go for a wide scan of all ships in the vicinity, find out where our mobile suits are!" she ordered.

Burt turned his head, "Two unknown ships are detected, one at Indigo fifty three, Mark 22 Bravo! Distance 150" he finished.

Durandal seemed quite surprised, "So they have two ships out here?" he questioned. "Must be quite good ships to be able to get this close to a PLANT." he added. "So they are the mother ships."

Talia just continued to look out the bridge viewport. "Input their data into the database. From now on, they will be known as Bogey, refer to each as bogey one, or two." she ordered.

"In the same area." Meyrin the communications and mobile suit supervisor, the red headed Meyrin Hawke began. "Sector One fifty seven, Mark eighty, Alpha, Impulse, ZAKU and Zephyr are engaging enemy forces. Two Machines!" she called out.

"Are you able to contact them?" Talia asked the girl.

Meyrin shook her head. "Sorry mam, Negative on that. Radio Interference is too, severe. I am unable to contact any three of them." she finished.

Talia got a stern look on her face as she began to get worried. "What are their enemy, and do we have any allies in that area?" she questioned.

"The Mendeleev is currently engaged, its top pilot is out there now, the four units of ours are now engaging a new Mobile suit, along with. . . a Mobile Armor!" she called out.

Outside Alex dodge the several beams that were being fired upon him from what was left of the Exus gunbarrels, as the lone mobile armor continued to fire death all around him. "If only I had some of these, then I'd show him how to really use those things." he admitted, that was when his eyes widened a bit, as two of the Gunbarrels came at him, with their beam sabers spread out, trying to bisect him.

That was when Rey's ZAKU Phantom came in, and fired two shots at the main ship, only for Neo to ease on the throttle having the beam miss him, infront, as Rey fired where Neo was going to be. The Impulse was alone watching the fight, "Rey, Strassmeier!" he called drawing a beam saber, and heading for the three way fight.

"No, Asuka stay back!" Alex called out, however Neo noticed the last G-Weapon, and had the pods go after Shinn instead, as the beams fired at the machine. Shinn was not as good, as the other two, do to the fact he was not like his opponent, or other comrades. He was able to stop the beams from hitting him directly, but one grazed the ankle of the Impulse. With the statistics of the Impulse's Frame with the ankle turning yellow on Sagira's screen.

"Shinn, not now." she whispered, dodging a strike, but had to block a beam cannon blast. However the golden shield glistened, as the beam hit, a few moments later, the beam reflected back.

"What a cheap trick." Shaai said with sarcasm, as she dodged her own beam attack. She then emitted her beam sword, and flew towards the Zephyr ZAKU. Sagira though, flew upwards, and fired off two of her DRAGOONs along with her beam rifle, which destroyed one pod of missiles on the mobile suit, however the other two beams missed. "Me Damaged? Just great, Auel will have fun with this one." she snorted.

Sagira smirked, as her DRAGOON's reattached to her pack to recharge, and moved in to attack with her other hand which held her beam tomahawk, and came down with a vertical strike, only to miss the black Gundam, which phase out of existence do to Mirage Colloid. "So that technology, I should have known." she smirked, wondering where the black machine would strike from next.

Minerva Bridge:

Talia looked out the viewport and nodded. "We will attack the ships, to give their machines a reason to retreat." she began. "Lower the bridge, all crew to battlestations!" she ordered. With that, the bridge began to lower into a more reinforced area. "Our Course, Indigo Delta, increase thrust by twenty percent!" she continued, and now defenses, "Ready Signal Flares, and anti beam cartridges." she called as the bridge touched down, in a dark room, where the ships helmsman and Fire Control officer, were stationed. The FCS Chen Jian Yee, and Malik Yarbirds the helmsman, waited for their further orders. "Arthur, hurry up, and take your position!" she ordered, as Trine was still looking over Meyrin's shoulder.

"Yes Mam!" he said snapping back to attention. He may be Talia's aide, but he lacked her experience in a battle ship. "Launcher Eight, load missile tubes one through four with Neidhart Missiles, Tristan one and two, Isolde, activate now!" he called as the weapons began to get ready to fire. "Our Target is to go after Bogey One." he ordered.

"Contact the Mendeleev if you can Meyrin." Talia ordered her.

"Right." Meyrin began, as she tried to contact the ship, "Captain, I got one, sending to screen now." Meyrin told her.

Lia Ramius face appeared, "Talia, good to see you, so the Minerva has launched, I think we may need your help." Lia admitted. "Send bow down twenty percent, Maximum thrust!" she ordered, as the Mendeleev went into a nose dive, as Asgard's Gottfrieds blasted over the ship.

"Captain Ramius, allow us to handle the other ship, you can handle that one can you not?" Talia asked.

Ramius nodded, "Yes Gladys, we can handle this one, just keep that other one off of my thrusters." Lia told her, as the screen went black.

Talia nodded, "Proceed to engage Bogey One." Talia ordered.

Durandal looked over to her, "Excuse me captain, not to be rude, but shouldn't we be trying to rescue our own machines first?" he asked.

Talia nodded, "We are doing that sir." she told him turning to him. "By attacking the Mother ships, their forces will need to return, so they can live to fight another day." she concluded.

Battle:

The Exus did a barrel role past the silver GuAIZ R, and the said machine blocked the incoming blade of the Exus' Gunbarrel's beam saber. "Well, your plan was good, keeping ZAFT's last two machines, my peche." Neo smirked, as he fired beams from his remaining Gunbarrel's, which showered over the GuAIZ R, however they stopped, as the ZAKU Phantom began to open fire. "Argh, you again, when will you just go away?" he asked.

Rey just stared at his monitor, keeping his own cool, as he replace his energy clip in his beam rifle, and opened fire some more. Alex on the other hand, moved and fired, but to be blocked by the Aneritto Blitz, which took off once again, as the Zephyr came on through. "Commander, I think these four are a bit to much for us, today." Shaai called, as she got to his machine, with the two of them, looking at the four enemies.

With the group, Sagira just stared them down. "Everyone, how is your power?" she asked them all.

"I still have fifty percent of mine." Alex told her, in calm voice, as his Machine floated not far from the Impulse. "What about you kid?" he asked.

Shinn just got a snarl like look. "I am almost out, and Don't call me Kid!!" he shouted back.

"Undisciplined kid." Alex snorted, as he looked over at Rey's Machine. "How about you?" he questioned.

Rey took a quick look, "I'm almost out, we need to end this soon. Commander what about you?" he asked the only female of the quad group.

"I'm still good, but my DRAGOON's are running low on power themselves." she added, as the Zephyr ZAKU not being Nuclear powered which is a must for the DRAGOON units, instead a few extra battery packs were found within the Blossom Packs backpack. But they only provide power to the DRAGOON units. "Well now, it seems the Minerva, is up and running." she pointed out, as she began to pick up the Minerva's ship ID code.

Asgard:

"Mam, we are detecting heat source, its a battle ship, barring, 00154, its heading for the Girty Lue!" the electronics warefare officer informed his boss.

Matisse Aducarf turned to him, "The new one?" she questioned.

"Yes mam, its the new warship, that they planned on unveiling tomorrow." he told her.

"Bastards, their new ship at a time like this." she cursed. "Contact Ian, we need to forumlate a plan against this new foe." she told him.

Girty Lue:

Ian looked at the main monitor, which showed a closeup, of ZAFT's warship the Minerva, as to his left, was a closeup, of the Black Nazca, the Mendeleev. "So, it's the new battleship." he noted.

"Yes, it is." Matisse, said via comlink.

"I see, Lady Aducarf, take care of the black Nazca, we will handle this new ship." Ian told her, as he sat calmly in his chair. "Ten Degrees to Starboard. Increase thrust by thirty percent. Prepare Igelstellungs!" he commanded. He then turned, to his mobile weapon observation officer, "What about the Exus, and Blitz?" he questioned.

Outside, Sagira and Neo began to dance with their own beams against each other, however Sagira using her energy sparringly, only sending out four of her units, which exchanged fore with Neo's neither one hitting their mark.

The three others, were going after the Blitz, still in its Meteo package, however, with the three machines, after her at once, she was only defending, that was until she got under the Impulse, and manage to cut the right leg off. "Damn it!" Shinn called out, as his machine's status, having its leg, lose its color, indicating the leg was gone.

"Calm down Shinn." Rey told him.

"Its only the leg so far." Alex assured, as the two Silver/white Machines, fired at the same time, only to have their beams bend away. "Must be that colloid based system, the Earth Forces made up for Shani's machine." Alex concluded, as another of his beams bent away, then having himself block the incoming beam.

With that, one of Sagira's DRAGOON's scrapped one of Neo's Gunbarrel's into Shrapnel. "Damn. . ." he cursed. "This person is good, guess I'm getting a little too greedy today." he added. "And greed does not bring about the best results." he finished. "Shaai, its time, we're leaving." he told her.

"Oh, but I was having fun, and are we not suppose to bring back those machines?" she asked.

Neo smirked, "We got three out of five, we won here today." he told her, as the Exus, with two gunbarrels, left flew towards the Girty Lue, while at the same time, the Aneritto Blitz, took off the same.

"But I was starting to have fun." she told him, as her Machine went under Mirage Colloid.

Neo smirked, "Well dear, we will have fun with them again, in the future, because if I am right, they will be coming after us." he noted.

As the two spoke, the four Machine's stopped, and watched as their foes left, the four different machines, hovered there. With that, the four Machines took notice of signal flares, from their respective ships. Rey, was the first to speak about it, "The Minerva?" he questioned, as he saw the ship.

Shinn breathed heavily, from his first real combat, fight "A retreat signal. . . but why?" he wondered.

"Your energy is low Shinn, its time to head back." Sagira told him, as she turned, and went for the ship.

"Damn, and they are in our grasps too." Shinn moaned.

"Orders are orders Shinn." Rey told him, as he followed Sagira, and soon did Rey.

"So the kid can follow orders." Alex noted, as he went to follow them.

Ship Battle:

"Neidhart Fire!" Arthur yelled, as the Mierva fired its missiles.

"Fire Beam Cannons now!" Lia ordered, as the Mendeleev, fired its pair of beam cannons at Asgard.

"Evasive Maneuvers!" Matisse, and Ian roared at the same time, as the Asgard, flew to the side, to have the twin beams pass on by, while the Girty Lue, turned slightly and fired its underside Igelstellungs, to destroy the incoming Neidhart Missiles.

"Target their Engines!" Talia ordered, from within the Minerva, as the ship flew across space.

Lia on the other hand, went for something else, "Send Decoy attack, fire Missiles at Vector six, then maneuver, and fire our beam cannons at their underbelly!" she ordered, as the Mendeleev's VLS missiles fired, heading to the above area of the ship, as the ship itself went down.

"Evade that!" Matisse ordered, as the ship moved, firing its CIWs at the Missiles, while dodgeing the pair of cannons.

The Minerva on the other hand, fired its Isolde, the slug weapon of the ship, as the three shots went for the Girty Lue, which just opened its hangar's to retreive both the Exus, and Blitz, with the bungee cables. "The Exus. . ." the soldier began, as the ship shook from the Isolde's detonation rounds exploded. "And Blitz have just arrive." he finished.

"Lee, inform Matisse, we are retreating!" Neo ordered, still in his machine's cockpit.

Lee nodded on screen, "Increase thrusters, to maximum!" Lee Ordered, as with that, the Girty Lue, and Asgard began to take flight, to get away, from its two fast pursuer of ships.

Minerva:

Burt, informed his command about the situation, "Bogey One and Two are retreating, Bearing Yellow 71 Alpha!" he informed them.

"What about our Machines?" Talia asked Meyrin.

"They are returning." Meyrin told her, "Commander Strassmeier, is asking to come aboard." she added.

"Let him." Talia told her. "No need for feeble squabbles about what he is doing right now." she admitted, as the four Machines began to land inside the Minerva. "Join with the Mendeleev, and have weapons target Bogey One and Two, we will combine our forces, against their ships." she ordered everyone. "Set course to follow them, increast thrust by fourty percent!" she added.

With that, the Minerva fired its Tristan's and Isolde's at the Girty Lue, while beside it, the Mendeleev fired its beam cannons at the foe ships. However, both the Girty Lue, and Asgard went in opposite directions to dodge the onslaught of beams.

On the Girty Lue, Neo came onto the bridge, not far followed by Shaai, who was wearing a strapless Blue shirt, and her mask, along with a pair of black pants. "Commanders." Ian said, turning around.

"Sorry, but we seem to have stuck around for to long." Neo told Ian, coming over.

Shaai nodded, "Besides, this party is getting boring, lets leave." she told them, going over to an empty station, and putting on a headset, while Neo went over to Ian.

"Enemy is closing in!" a soldier called. "Barring Blue 0, Distance, One Ten!" he informed them.

Ian leaned back, "Both of them, are rather fast ships." Ian concluded, "The Nazca, and this new one." he added.

"Captain, incoming Missiles!" a soldier called out.

"Evade to Port, return Fire!" Ian ordered, as the rear CIWs took out the missiles, while the ship, went in that direction.

Neo grimaced, as the explosions were nearby the ship, "Jettison and detonated both the Starboard and Port side propellante tanks!" he ordered. "We can get rid of the wings too." he added.

"Have Matisse do the same, the bigger the better, with two ships on our tails." Ian added, trusting in his commander's orders.

Shaai smiled, "As you wish sir." she told him, hitting the buttons at a pace, of what only a coordinator could. "Time for a shot to the face." she added.

"Helmsman, at the same time, steer thirty five degrees to port, and role ten degrees!" Neo ordered, as he looked straight ahead.

Within a few moments, the two tanks were jettisoned, floating in space behind the ship, as Asgard, the purple version of the Girty Lue, did the exact same thing, and began to target them with the rear mounted Igelstellungs. While the Tristan beam cannons, and Nazca's Beam cannons still fired missing the ships and tanks.

On the Mendeleev, Lia wondered what they were doing, as the tanks floated there. "Damn, they are using them as Mines! Raise bow by forty percent, full reverse thrust!" she ordered.

On the Minerva, "Bogey One and two just jettisoned portions of their hull's." With that they saw the same thing, Lia did.

"Hold your fire!" Talia ordered. "Ten degree's starboard! Full Speed!" she commanded, as Malik did just that, moving the ship out of the direct path of the four tanks.

Soon, all four tanks exploded, not far from either of the ZAFT ships, earning screams, from both crews, as they felt the vibrations, while at the same time, both the Girty Lue, and Asgard went under Mirage Colloid.

Down in the Infirmary, as Cagalli was being patched up, Ahmed slammed into the wall. As he caught Cagalli who was heading that way "Damn." he called.

"What the hell is going on?" Athrun wondered, as he grabbed ahold of the handle above him.

In the Hangar:

Alex and Sagira, grabbed ahold of a railing, as the ship vibrated, whlie Rey picked up a communication phone. "What is going on?" he questioned the phone. "Bridge, what is going on?" he tried connecting. "Dammit." he said, as he got no answer.

"Shit." Shinn called as he held on.

"Each Station, report your status!"

Minerva Bridge:

"Bart, what's the position of the Enemy Ships?" Talia questioned.

Bart worked hard, "Captain, give me a moment, that explosion fried our sensors!" he told her.

"Activate CIWs, and anti beam Deph Charges, if they are still here, we need our defenses up, they'll be targeting us next." she informed the bridge crew.

"I found their trail." Burt began. "Red Eighty Eight, Mark Six, Charlie!" he called out. "Distance 500, they are pulling away." he said, wondering, "Are they actually going to get away?" he questioned, as the bridge's hatch opened, with Rey coming in, and immediately took notice of Chairman Durandal, sitting there.

"Chairman." Rey whispered, as he saw the man just looking at his adopted son.

Talia touched her forehead, "I have to hand it to them, getting away, with such a move." she admitted. "Such an unorthodox manner."

Durandal nodded, 'Hmm, I wonder, does Sagira know about these people?' he wondered, thinking to himself. "They seem to be a tough opponent." he admitted.

Talia turned to him, "All the more reason not to let them get away." she told him, turning her chair to the chairman. "We can't let those units get into the hands, of the Atlantic Federation, or that of Blue Cosmos." she told him.

"Yes of course." Durandal replied, as he thought on things, about the attack, and just a day before the unveiling, and who could of done it.

She nodded, "Even though sir, I believe Lia, would agree, that you cannot disembark at this point, is that, even with you here, we should give chase to the two vessels we had just fought." she admitted. "If that is alright with your Chairman?" she questioned him.

The Chairman just gave her a light smile, tilting his head. "Please, Captain, just pretend I am not even here, this is your ship after all." he told her. "If we do not give chase, we will be pouring Gasoline onto this spark, which would turn into a blazzing inferno, if we wait to long." he told them, as he had earned the look of all the bridge crew. "Currently, our Prime directive and top priority is the capture, or destruction of those stolen units."

Talia nodded, "Of course sir." she told him. "Meyrin, contact the Mendeleev, we are heading out, the Chairman, will be watching our first performance with this ship first hand." she ordered. "Malik, alter course, to chase those two ships, and have the Mendeleev, keep up with us." she ordered as well. "As of now, this ship will continue on course, and its pursuit of Bogey One, and Two!" she informed everyone, "Bearing Yellow, Alpha Engines at maximum thrust!" she commanded.

"Bearing Alpha Yellow, Engines at full." The helmsman Malik relayed, as soon, the Minerva, and Mendeleev began to go at full thrust, after their two intended targets.

Ship in General:

"Notifying all Ship personnel, this ship, and the Mendeleev, will be pursueing, both Bogey One and Two, even with our unexpected Maiden battle."

As down in the hangar, Sagira, came from in her Core Splendor, "So they are chasing it?" she questioned, as she floated out. "Madd, keep working on the Mobile Suits." she ordered, as rather her pilots unfiorm, she was in a scadley dressed Red Uniform, with no shoulders, just straps around her upper arms, and white Gloves up to her elbows, and a Faith Symbol on her left wrist.

"Yes mam." he said. "Alright, hurry up and get these things fixed, we will likley need them, in the upcoming sorties." he ordered, his tech crew.

"This Mission is of the upmost importance, work to the best of your abilities to achieve success in this shps first campaign." Arthur continued, as in the Hall, Alex, wearing a black version of the ZAFT uniform, with a gray for the shoulder and chest plate, while his Black Knight helmet underneath his arm.

He smirked, as he continued on, "So, they are going after them, Lia probably is not far behind them then." he added.

Bridge:

"Raise the Bridge to its normal position, and go to condition Yellow, until the situation changes." She continued. With that, the crew began to relay the message, as the bridge began to rise again, "Please sir, you can get rest, using the captains quarters, sir." she told the Chairman. He looked at her curiously, "Even with both the Nazca and Minerva as fast ships, the enemy vessels are also quite fast, and have had a head start. We probably, have some time, until we can catch up with them, so you should get some rest." she told him. She then turned to the ZAFT pilot that was among them, "Rey, please guide the Chairman, to the proper quarters." she ordered.

"Yes." he said, as he turned to the man.

Durandal nodded, "Also, please inform, miss Marusu, to come meet with me." Durandal, told Talia, as the captain nodded, wondering why he asked to meet with the Mobile Suit commander.

"Captain." Came Lunamaria Hawke's voice over the intercom, and visual image on the display screen.

"What is it?" Talia asked her.

Luna nodded, as she held a paper in hand, "Because of our small battle, I'm late in reporting this. Two ZAKU Warriors came aboard, one with Gunner Equipment, and we discovered, that the two units, were being used by civilians, while we were launching." She confirmed to her captain.

"Civilians?" Talia questioned.

"Yes mam, we restrained them, as soon as they touched down." she told her, "One of them named them selves, as the Orb Union, Chief Representative, Cagalli Yula Athha, and her two Bodyguards, They've requested treatment, for her wound, and to meet with the Chairman." she finished.

"Orbs Representative?" Talia questioned.

Durandal was surprised as well, "So all three of them made it on the ship as well?" he questioned.

"Yes, and during the battle captain, we have dressed lady Athha's wound." Lunamaria noted.

"Alright Lunamaria. Please escort them to the officers lounge." Talia told her, as Luna nodded, with the screen going black. "Guess things will be changeing." she commented, as Talia just nodded.

Minerva: Officers Lounge

Athrun, Ahmed, Cagalli, and Lunamaria, had gotten to the officers lounge, as the three civilians sat down. "Ahh man that was bad." Ahmed said, as he layed back on the seat he had taken, and kicked off his shoes, and layed on the couch like seat.

Cagalli, had her hands together with her elbows on her knees, as she nodded. "I agree, last time I seen something that bad was. . ." she began.

"Heliopolis." Athrun finished for her, as he then heard the door begin to open, with him looking over in that direction. The door opened, and soon came Alex Strassmeier still in his pilots uniform, of black, courtesy of his position as the second Knight. "Alex." Athrun said surprised, as the other three occupants turned to see him. Lunamaria, gave an immediate salute, to the newcomer.

"Well its been a while." Alex admitted, seeing him, and turned to the lavender haired girl. He returned her salute, "Alex Strassmeier of the Ramius team, mother ship Mendeleev." Alex reported to her. "I was told to be here to meet with Captain Gladys'" he told her.

Lunamaria nodded, and returned to a more comfortable position. Soon, Alex noticed that she did not wear the standard military skirt in her uniform. "Yeah, I'm assigned to keep an eye on each of you." she said sarcasticly. "I just hope my ZAKU is fixed soon, as we are going after Bogey One and Two." she admitted.

Alex let out a hard to break ice smirk, when she said that in such a tone. "I see you are eager to fight this new foe." he commented, as he floated over. "However, I do have some information about our foes, which I will tell everyone that is coming here."

Cagalli just looked over, "Information about the attackers?" she asked.

Alex turned to her, and nodded some confirmation to her. "Yes M'lady." he told her, in a tone that could creep someone out beyond belief. Just then, the sound of the door opening behind them, as Talia Gladys, and Gilbert Durandal. "So the Chairman is indeed on the ship." Alex said in his normal tone, but in reality was quite surprised.

Soon, both Alex and Luna gave a Salute to the higher up officer Talia. "You both can stand down now." she told them, as Ahmed just continued to lay back.

Durandal came over to Cagalli, "Miss Athha, I should apologize, for everything you have just been put through." Durandal apologized to the Orb Noble.

Cagalli nodded, "Don't worry, I have my fare share of battles." she told him, as he nodded. "I know Alex has some info to share about this foe, but do you know of anything about them?" she asked him.

Durandal shook his head no, "I am sorry but we have no information." he informed her, "However, we must stay ontop of this situation." he told her.

She nodded, "Yes, we fought and lost too many, during what this could lead to." she told him, as Ahmed nodded, agreeing with the girl he care so much for.

"Yes, I have to agree on that Cagalli." he told her, as he turned to the member of the Black Knights. "Well, representative of the Mendeleev, and the Rondo Mina Sahaku Black Knights." he stated. "Please enlighten us, about these people we are currently chasing." the chairman told him.

Alex nodded, as he went over to a screen, and inserted a data disc, and activated what was on it. "This is information, that I did not acquire myself." he admitted, "This info, was retrieved in the Black Boxes of two fellow members of the Black Knights."

Soon came up one of the foes, which was the new blitz. "This Machine as we saw earlier." He began as the second image came up with its special pack. "Is a new mobile weapon, we have classified as Blitz Two, do to its resemblance to the GAT-X207 Blitz Gundam, once piloted by ZAFT Red Coat, now Junk Guild Member Nicol Amalfi." he began. "Do to what it seems, is that the Machine is equipped with Mirage Colloid, and seems to have the same defenceive abilities, as that of my fellow Black Knight Shani's own machine." he told them, as a small video played, showing the Machine bend beams away from itself.

Cagalli, remembered the battle of Orb, and clips of Kira having so much trouble against Shani, do to the said system, Alex refered to. "Is it Earth Forces?" she asked.

"Unconfirmed." he told her. "The next is this." he told them, as he shot an image of the Girty Lue, appearing, just as it snatched up the Double X's METEOR unit. "From this here, we have pin pointed that, the equipment package the Blitz Two, now uses, is a new Striker pack, derived from the METEOR's specs." he confirmed.

Ahmed gulped hearing that, as he remembered those things power, when Athrun and Kira used them, during the final battle of the last war. "Are you serious? How modified is it?" he asked.

"Scaled down." Alex told him, as Luna was taking this all in. "All in all, this Machine is a heavily modified Blitz, with more offensive power, and defensive abilities." He noted, changing the screen, to the Testament. "This was taken with the previous battle." he began.

"Number Twelve." Luna admitted, studying the Machine back at the Academy.

Rey nodded in agreement. "That would be it." he commented.

Alex nodded, "We have received reports of the machine of being taken by the Earth Alliance, however now, this group, showing only mobile suit designs, of the Earth Forces." he commented. "With this, we can only assume that they are with the said group." he added. "Now this." he said, showing the image, of Bogey One and Two. "Are the two ships, the blue one, has only been seen, twice, and this battle was the first time, the dark one, had been seen." he commented. "We can assume, that the stolen mobile suits are onboard the first one, and the second likley has more powerful Earth Forces Designs, within its hull." he confirmed.

Talia nodded, "So, even with the Mendeleev, helping us out, this will be a fight, that will be quite difficult for all of us." she commented.

"Yes Captain Gladys. However, this is all the info I have." he told them.

Athrun nodded, "Sure is better then what we had." He concurred, as Alex took out his information.

Alex looked over at the body guard and nodded. "This concludes my report Chairman, Captain." he told them both.

Talia nodded, "It was good of you to share it with us." she told him, as Durandal nodded.

He then stood up, earning a look of surprise from Cagalli. "Well that is enough, about this for now." he announced, "Captain, how about we give each of these four a tour of the ship." he noted.

"But Sir, do you think its wise to show a couple of civilian's the ship?" she asked. She looked at Alex, "I can accept, Strassmeier here, but them?" she asked, as she looked at the three members of Orb.

Durandal nodded, "Well, they are on the ship now, and it would help them, so they don't get lost on here." he told her. "Besides, we have nothing to hide from them, they have already been brought into this mess." he added.

Talia, did not want to go into a verbal argument with the chairman and conceded. "Very well." she told them. "Rey, please come with the Chairman and I, in giving them a tour of the ship." she told the blonde haired pilot.

"Mam." he said in a salute.

Talia then looked over to Lunamaria, "Miss Hawke, you can have some off time, do as you wish." Talia told her.

"Yes, thank you mam." she told the captain with a salute, and left the room.

Girty Lue:

Soon, after saying good night to his love, Shaai, who had fallen asleep in her and Neo's quarters, he came back onto the bridge. "Now, that was one hell of a fight." Neo said coming onto the bridge. "It sure did tire, Shaai, out offly fast." he admitted.

Ian nodded, "So it seems commander." he admitted, as both ships flew not far from each other. A good distance ,to prevent a collision even when needed to Evade. "What of, the pilots?" he asked.

"Sleeping like little babies in their cribs." Neo informed him, as he floated behind his own chair. "Everything is fine with them, besides one thing." he added, as he looked at Ian. "Auel, used Stellar's black word, and well, you know what that means."

"Is it wise, we use people like them on the battlefield?" Ian asked, as he looked ahead.

Neo shrugged, "I don't know, but at least these three are better then the first bunch, at least these ones can follow orders, and are harder to heal." he told the guy, as the last part, was refering to, the Black Knight former Druggie.

"But are they better then the ones in South America?" Ian asked. "Those three their fell too one M1 Astray."

Neo shrugged again, "Who knows, all I know is that M1 fell apart, within moments after defeating them. A body was never found." he finished.

Ian nodded, "That is what scares me." he concluded.

Neo just nodded, "So what is the word, from the beautiful Matisse?" Neo asked. "What over her two G-Weapons?" he asked.

Ian looked at him, "The damage on the Testament was small, and the other unit is able to take part in the next battle." he informed his commander. "Those two pilots, they remind me of reports I read about the first three." he added.

Neo nodded, "I agree, and I met one of them before, psychotic that one was." he concluded.

Asgard, Commander's quarters:

Soon, the pilot of the Testament, came into the room and slammed his hands on Matisse's desk, as she was looking at the battle before hand. "Who do you think you are, ordering me here!" the pilot yelled, as looked at her.

"A sorry piece of Coordinator trash is all." she told him.

"What did you just say? Say that again bitch!" he told her, as she shot a glance at him.

"And what would you do?" she asked him. "Go crying to my brother?" she asked.

"YOU!!!" he began, as he then felt a barrel of a gun on the base of the back of his neck, and heard the bullet, being ready to be fired.

"Down, you foolish three eyed freak." came the voice of a man behind him, with light blue, with a gray streak in his hair.

Matisse smiled, when she saw this, "There, that is much better." she told them. "Now, I may actually start calling you by name, if you acted more like Ile De Llorar here." she told him, as Ile forced the pilot down onto the chair, and took the gun away. "Now, I asked you here, is that, we may be going into battle again, soon, and a contact of mine, has given me a grand idea, to help Logos, bring this war a new." She told them.

"Contact?" the harsher pilot asked, as Matisse nodded.

"Yes, I've already gotten, some 'friends' already in on the plan." she began, as she told her two pilots.

On the Minerva:

Ahmed, Alex (Athrun), Cagalli, and Alex, walked down the hall following the Chairman, the ships captain, and one of their top mobile suit pilots, to the elevator. "I must say, quite the impressive ship." Ahmed commented.

"Indeed." Durandal began. "Quite the design it does indeed have." he told the young African. "However, this final stop, will show the ships true backbone, in battle." he told her.

Alex smirked at that, "The Mobile Suit hangar." he concurred, as they all nodded.

Soon the Elevator opened, as the group saw who was in it. It was Sagira Marusu, wearing what she wore, before all hell broke loose at Armory One. "Chairman." she said surprised, to see him, her visible eye wide.

"Ahh, Sagira, its good to see you." he said, turning to others, "Everyone, I like you to meet the one who is in command of this ship, and its mobile suit forces, Sagira Marusu." he told them.

"The Mistress of Aries." Alex said, almost as though he had something get caught in his throat. 'This woman, is not trust worthy' he admitted. 'I don't know why, but something about her, just doesn't feel right.' he continued.

Sagira tilted her head, to look at him. "The Spider of South America I see." she said. "I heard you were quite cold, but not as this much ice." she told him.

Athrun let out a small almost unknown laugh. However, he then noticed, the look Sagira just gave Cagalli, almost like it was one to worry about.

"And this must be the chief representative, that has replace Athha?" she questioned, in an almost scornful tone. "Hmhmhm, such a pretty one." she added.

"Excuse me." Cagalli began, however she was stopped as Sagira brought up her palm to Cagalli's face.

Sagira turned to the Chairman, "It was good to see you again sir, but I must be going." she told him, walking off.

Cagalli, had an angered look, as she saw the ZAFT pilot leave. "Just who does she think she is?" she questioned.

Durandal smirked, looking over to her, "She is the best pilot ZAFT has now. She has gotten machines that we were having trouble with, to really work out." he told her. "Before she came along, the Zephyr ZAKU and its Blossom Pack, were unable to do much, but then, well, you'll likley see again in the future." he told her.

Alex snorted at the best pilot thing, however, he did fight beside her, and saw her prowess with the Zephyr.

Ahmed then was the next to speak, "Yeah yeah, she maybe the best, but can we actually continue rather then standing here baffled?" he questioned, walking into the elevator.

"Ahmed, show some respect at least, you do have the leader of the PLANTs in your pressence." Athrun told him, as Ahmed shrugged.

"Sorry, but at times, a Ship seems too confined for me." he admitted, shrugging, soon, the others all joined inside as well.

Soon, they came in, seeing the room they were all in before. "This is where we keep our mobile suits, and our top of the line units." Durandal told them, as the four could see the machines. Three GuAIZ R's one of which being Alex's, Three ZAKU's, a ZAKU Phantom, and the two Core Splendor units.

Talia nodded, "With the units, you three brought aboard, the ship is filled to max capacity now." Talia concurred, as she looked over the machines, all being back to being fully operational.

Alex nodded, "I saw on your roster, you have four Reds, and two greens for your mobile suits." he commented, as he looked over seeing all the green mechanics. "I also wonder how all your peoples maiden voyages is, quite the first battle." he admitted.

Cagalli, just looked around, "Just stronger, and stronger machines." she noted. "I understand the use of having weapons, but the stronger they get, the more provocation of war." she said, looking over the machines. Unknown to her, a former Orb civilian, clenched his fist, hearing the voice of one of the most hated people in his life. The red eyed, Shinn Asuka, with his eyes closed, just trying to hold back his anger. "These Machines, are what led to the attack. And the same back for Heliopolis."

"Its just like the Athha's, to make up excuses." came the voice of one of the red pilots. Alex looked through the corner of his eye, to see, the twitching of the body, of the said pilot. "Are you just idiots or something? Your Ideal's, are nothing, and yet, your peace talks."

"Oh yeah, and what do you know?" Cagalli began. "I know war kid. I have fought in many battles, and I know what we need weapons for." she told him.

"And you kill others, however fail to protect your country." Shinn told her. Ahmed, looked down.

"And who do you think you are?" Ahmed called out.

Durandal, just looked back and forth of the pilots. Alex, just shaking his head, hearing the bickering, as Athrun, just looked to the side. "Someone who has lost more then you know." Shinn told him, as he turned away. "If you truly knew war, you wouldn't need two, or three body guards around, and be fighting the Earth Forces, and Blue Cosmos." he added.

"Bogey Two has been detected, all stations go to Red Alert." Meyrin's voice called out. "I repeat, all personnel to their stations, all going to red alert" She called again.

"Shinn." Rey called, however, Shinn was already gone. "Sorry for you all to hear that, I will see to it, that he is properly disciplined." he told them with a salute, and left.

"Captain to the bridge." Arthur's voice called out, as Talia nodded, and left the group.

Durandal looked over to Cagalli. "I am sorry for you to hear that." he told her, as they just could see Sagira fly in, and through towards her machine, wearing the proper ZAFT red flightsuit. "Shinn, is an Orb Immigrant." he told her.

She then, had a bit of shock in her eyes, hearing that. "What. . .?" Ahmed asked.

Durandal looked over, "From what I heard, he lost both of his parents, during the battle, and his sister disappeared, during the final month of the war." he added.

Alex then nodded, "I can see why he is so disfunctional then." Alex told them. "I would not be the exact same way, but I would have some thoughts the same as he would." he admitted.

Cagalli looked over, hearing about his sister, from Sam, at times. She then looked over to the Core Splendor as Shinn got into it. "So he lost all he loved, and is now hardened." she commented.

Core Splendor One:

"Shinn." Sagira's voice came over, as he saw, that Alex left the group, and flew over to his GuAIZ R.

Shinn shook his head. "What is it?" he questioned leaning back.

Her face came on screen, her hair still over her eye, however the rest to the sides, and the back of her head. "Don't let that conversation cloud your performance out there, got that?" she asked him.

"Yes mam." he told her, as he saw the four others leave the hangar. "Argh, I hate them." he added, as he then shook his head, taking that conversation out of his mind.

Girty Lue:

"Well well, seems like they are taking the bait." Neo spoke, as his ship was hugging over the surface of an asteroid. Ian just nodded in agreement, "Go into battle status, have our pilots all get ready, even the children." he told him.

"Sir? Sending them out in those Machine's already?" he asked.

Neo just nodded, as he looked over at a station, which had the specs of the stolen machines shown up. "Yes." he admitted. "However, have the kids and Shaai, hide, while our Dagger L's head out on the front. We know of four Machines these ships have. Lets see what else." he added.

"Yes Sir." Ian said, turning. "Go to level one battlestations, have our pilots ready, for battle." he called out.

Neo smirked, "Remember, We don't want to lose what we have by being greedy." he told him.

"Yes sir." Ian told him, as he turned ahead.

Neo smirked, "The day is coming when everything will begin for real... and we'll be the ones in charge." he stated.

Down in the Pilots Ready Room

The three, not normal members of the ship, finished zipping up their uniforms. Sting, slipped on a Dark green pilots suit, while Auel wore a light blue, and Stellar a pink uniform. The Pilot suits resembled closely of what the druggies wore back during the last war, but with their own personal colors.

Behind them, Shaai, just stood there, with just her body suit, of the flight suits, while the three younger pilots, held helmets in their hands. "I can tell you three are nervous." Shaai spoke out.

"What, are you talking about?" Auel questioned her, with a smirk on his face.

Sting looked at her, "Commander, we are not some newbies at this." he admitted. "We know our Machines a bit better now, so we will be able to beat those two machines this time." he added.

Shaai, just thought to herself, "That pilot, in the modified ZAKU, was really good, the person was. . . No, I can't think that." She told herself. "Yeah, your right." she told them with a smile.

Stellar, looked over to her. To Stellar, Shaai was like a big sister, or mother to her. "Shaai." she said a bit shy like.

"What is it darling?" Shaai asked her, caressing her hand with blue nail polish, over the blonde girls face. Stellar just looked a little scared, "Don't worry dear, no one will hurt you, I will make sure of that." she told her, as Stellar looked at the older woman with glossed eyes.

"Ok, enough of the mushie mushie, lets get to our Machines, and take those two down, for good." he snorted, heading out, Sting following him closley, and soon the two girls followed.

With that, the two Dagger L's launched, with the Girty Lue, firing a Rocket Anchor, bring itself, closer and closer to the Asteroid, and was like as though it was just hovering over the large piece of space junk.

On the Minerva, the main hatch opened, as Durandal, and the tree guests came in. "Chairman, you should be somewhere else." the captain told him.

Durandal just looked over to her, with a kind look. "I thought it be a good idea, for the veterans of the last war, to see how well this ship performs in a full combat situation." he told her. "If you would allow it captain." he added.

She nodded, "Alright Chairman." she issued. "Alright, take the bridge into the lower position, prepare all weapons." she called out, as the bridge began to lower itself. "Have Luna, Shinn, and Sagira go out, while Rey stays on ship. Also allow Alex to head out as well. He is still under jurisdiction of the Mendeleev, so we have no right to keep him onboard." she ordered.

Meyrin nodded. "Lunamaria, and Alex Strassmeier, please report to Starboard and Port side Catapults." Meyrin told them, as down below, the Red ZAKU Warrior.

Luna nodded, as her machine was fitted with the Gunner Wizard, which was the same weapon Ahmed used back at Armory One. A weapon of firepower, and ranged efficiency. "This is Lunamaria Hawke, ZAKU heading out." she called, as she lowered her nodded in her visor, with her mobile suit heading out into space.

Alex, lowered his visor, of his black helmet. His silver GuAIZ R, with a etching of a spider web on its left shoulder, and the mono red eye glowed, "Strassmeier here, GuAIZ R, heading out." as it launched into space. Not long after that, two normal colored GuAIZ R's launched as well. Piloted by fellow Minerva members, Shawn and Dale.

The Mendeleev, launched a pair of ZAKU Warriors, both equipped with Blaze Wizard packs. While Durandal sat in a chair, which was closer to the bridge's main viewport. "I wonder." he began, earning the looks of the three guests. "I wonder, what their true names are." he added.

Cagalli nodded, as she never thought of that earlier. However, deep down, she did know they had their own names, unknown to them. As she looked at the viewport, to see the ship known as Bogey two to them, however to the other side, it was known as Asgard.

"A name, is what tells someone that they exist. If they go by a fake name, does it mean they are a fake, that they don't truly exist?" he asked, as he turned to Athrun.

As down in the hangar, the Impulse's Core Splendor got ready to launch. "This is Shinn Asuka, Splendor One heading out!" he called out, as his unit took off. Behind it, the chest flyer, leg flyer, and finally the blast silhouette launched behind him.

Then came up, the darker version of the Core Splendor. "Sagira here, Splendor Two, heading out." she called as soon, a ZAKU chest flyer, and ZAKU Leg Flyer and the Blossom Wizard, with its DRAGOON Flyer.

Back on the bridge, Durandal smirked, as the two Gundams outside combined into their true forms, and their packs, as the Impulse took a different look then its two previous forms. Black and a light green, took the colors of the Torso, and the lines of the certain parts of the machine as a light green. "A name reflects its owner's nature. But, what if a name is merely a fake? If something goes by a false name, wouldn't it mean that thing is fake? False by nature? Is that what it would mean? Alex... or is it Athrun Zala?" he questioned.

A/N: So, the first battle ended, and second one is about to begin. Asgard, Girty Lue, Vs Minerva and Mendeleev. Shinn has showed his hostilities, and Sagira is showing something mysterious about it. What is in store for the world of Destiny, with the Spider, and the Mistress, in the mist of battle. And where is Samorei? Only time can tell.

Till next time, Nuke Dawg, Lets do this guys!