Chapter 4 – Stars Falling in Space and Burning Clouds of Sand!
Disclaimer: As I've said before I do not own GS/GSD and some characters in this Fic belong to Gundam Seed Dark Destiny as I've said before (I hate disclaimers), in this story other than Krane and a few members of the Dark Celestials including their Mobile Suite designs nothing belongs to me.
February 13th, C.E. 71, 11:00pm; Agamemnon-Class Carrier: Menelaos, Meeting Room
"I have invited you all here to help each of you understand the enemy that is following us; the Dark Celestials are the strongest and highest ranked members of ZAFT that we have ever come across, they are better trained than even some of the Aces and are the best that ZAFT Academy have ever ploughed out before such training, all of ZAFT's Elites their Commanders are the most frightening and mysterious while led by a man who hasn't come out into the open…going by the Codename: Lucifel the Morningstar" explained Admiral Lewis Halberton as he looked at the display of a few Black Mobile Suites that had been piloted by the Supreme Ace "what we do know however that he is on good terms with Le Creuset and Patrick Zala, but that's not the worst part, they are heading here!"
"It seems that they intend to stop the descent of the Archangel and have brought an entire compact fleet to complete that objective" growled Captain Hoffman as he looked at the map "I have all units on Level 2 Battlestations!!"
"I predict that they will be here in about three hours, once they arrive, the fleet will be bombarded with enough fire power to take out a Colony!" announced Murrue Ramius as she pointed to the map "they do, after all, have six Cuzco-Class Heavy Destroyers!"
"We can only be prepared for battle" shrugged Admiral Lewis Halberton "I expect you best during that time!"
"Yes sir!" saluted all the officers in the room, Kira meanwhile just simply looked at the Neo-CGUE and the weaponry it was equipped and using in the images.
12:30pm; Near Orbit: Pre-Minerva-Class Heavy Battleship: Varda, Bridge
"It seems that they are desperate to get that ship to Earth, they are grouping together in what seems to be a sacrificial position, they are desperate to the extreme it seems" pondered Krane as he put on his mask "how much damage would we do from long range bombardment?"
"If we fired from here we could damage the rear forces in their fleet however to be really effective, we should concentrate our firepower on their flanks, if we damage the enemy ships long enough it could lead to the withdrawal of a few of the enemy ships!" announced Renaldo as he looked over the tactical display, a screen with Rau's face on it watched the display from the CIC monitor.
"That would be very unfortunate, if a single enemy ships gets away, there is a chance that it would come back again in the near future to bother our ranks!" announced Rau as he looked at the display through the transmission "the Varda has the capabilities to enter the atmosphere on its own, does it not?"
"True, if the Archangel enters the Earth's Atmosphere then we should be able to pursue, we have to rise the chances that the Archangel lands in ZAFT Territory!" nodded Krane as he pondered the attack "I will remain aboard the Varda until I pretence it necessary to launch!"
"Agreed" nodded Rau before his screen cut off.
1:00pm; Archangel-Class Assault Ship: Archangel, Kira's quarters
"Him…who is he!" growled Kira as he ran a hand through his mane of brown locks in annoyance.
'It seems that you've gained the SEED, an ability, which could rival my power'
"Who are you!!?" groaned Kira as he though of the voice and his battles with Lucifel the Morning Star.
'Destiny continues to link us together, doesn't is?'
"Destiny…?" asked Kira confused, true that Lucifel and he had bashed heads in a few battles but Destiny was going a bit far.
'If the world is made up of Light and Darkness, me and my Celestials, will be the Darkness'
"Light and Darkness...their nothing more than points of view or are they two half of the same whole" pondered Kira and Kira felt the voice fill with humour.
'Very perspective, but no, they are both of the above and neither! Endless human suffering has created the strongest form of Darkness ever imaginable, tell me, will you use you Gundam to cut through the Darkness and meet him on the other side'
"Him?" pondered Kira as he thought "who is he?"
'Think before Athrun Zala, who was your one and only friend, I see you remember him and his face but you can't put a name to his face…can you'
"No" answered Kira sadly, a face of a boy from his childhood, his first friend.
'When you understand who that person is, the shackles will shatter my dearest Yahweh and will awaken the God within you, you will be a full fledged Newtype with the potential to face against me and…him'
"What is a Newtype?" asked Kira however the voice refused to answer.
'The answers you will seek will be found on Mendel Colony, I see that you're staying with the Archangel, be weary of Flay Allster! She will use you to fight the Coordinators, in truth, it doesn't matter who you betray so long as you don't betray yourself!'
Kira was about to think more in the direction of the voice however the red alert seemed to flash on at that exact annoying moment, the voice detached as his side got ready for battle and so Kira headed off to the Strike to prepare in earnest, Kira had a sinking feeling however that things were going to soon take a turn for the worst.
1:45pm; Above Orbit, Battlefield
"Our long range attack was a great success, their forces are pulling back on the side of their formation making the front of their formation collapse in an attempt to defend their Flagship, how very typical of them" smirked Zake as he charged in while firing the CGUE DEEP Arms' JDP8-MSY02 directed thermal energy cannons which destroyed two Moebius Mobile Armours that were heading in his direction "Asuzur and Jake, lead your teams for the main Drake and Nelson Clusters, Krane left me in charge!"
"Yes, my lord!" saluted the two Devil Commanders before making a bee-line for the Nelson and Drake-Classes on the left and right flank which were falling back from the front to defend the defenseless sectors.
"These guys are pathetic!" laughed Nicol as he fired his "Trikeros" shield system's beam rifle to snipe down Mobile Armours that passed by to get behind their enemies.
"This is like an Ant hill, the Supreme Commander expects us to break through this!?" questioned Dearka as he fired the Buster's 350mm gun launcher which destroyed all the missiles that were making a bee-line in his direction.
"Where is the Strike!" shouted Yzak as he looked around, he dodged the shots and missiles of the Nelson-Class before flying past it while firing his "Shiva" 115mm railgun and 57mm high-energy beam rifle which led to the imminent destruction of the Nelson-Class Battleship "the Strike better show up, or this pain…or this pain I feel will never go away!!"
Meanwhile; Pre-Minerva-Class Heavy Battleship: Bridge
"They haven't launched the Strike or the Moebius Zero? Well, well, it seems that Halberton has finally made his biggest mistake!" smiled Krane as he looked at the tactical out of the corner of his eye before looking towards the view point that was facing the battlefield "all Dark Celestials are to mop up the Nelsons, Drakes and Moebius units as quick as possible, we can't give Halberton the chance to change his mind!!"
"Yes, my Lord!" saluted Renaldo before he got back to giving out commands "move the ship in closer and command all other forces to do also, we are to provide support to our Mobile Suites, Mobile Suites are to ignore the frontline Ships but as they pass they are to paint them as a target for our ships, prepare Beam Cannons for the enemy ships and CIWS are to target enemy Mobile Armours!!"
2:10pm; Above Orbit, Battlefield
"We'll move in through this side and…" however the Moebius Wing Commander couldn't finish as he was shot through the middle as the Beam Rifle equipped CGUE flew by, Asuzur laughed as the Moebius units couldn't keep up with his CGUE as he unceremoniously blew them up one at a time as they came near the frontline where their ships were pulling away from.
"All ships on the Frontline have been painted, it is time we pierced into their heart!" announced Krane over a transmission as the Varda moved to the front of the advancing ships with the Vesalius and Gamow not far behind, all ships fired their cannons and impact the ships withdrawing from the frontline, all of the ships were destroyed.
"Useless!" growled Zake as he fired the CGUE DEEP Arms' two JDP8-MSY02 directed thermal energy cannons at the side of a remaining Nelson-Class causing it to explode.
Meanwhile; Agamemnon-Class Carrier: Menelaos, Bridge
"Attacking retreating ships!? You're a damn disgrace Le Creuset, or maybe, this was your doing Lucifer!" muttered Admiral Halberton furious as he watched his ships destroyed, he knew the Angel name Lucifel had been destined to fall to become the Devil King: Lucifer.
"We're connected real-time with the Archangel!" announced an Officer and Murrue Ramius' face appeared.
"What do you want?" asked Admiral Halberton as he looked at his ex-student's face.
"I am requesting that the Archangel begins its descent to Earth now!" announced Murrue and while Halberton looked surprised, Captain Hoffman looked furious.
"Are you people trying to save yourselves!" seethed Captain Hoffman and Murrue gave him a poisonous glare.
"It is most likely that we are their target, if we stay where we are then the whole fleet will be destroyed, we must move away from you to protect the fleet!" announced Murrue in desperation "Admiral!!"
"Very well, go ahead, Captain! I want a fleet wide transmission!!" announced Admiral Halberton "this is Admiral Lewis Halberton, the entire of our energies will now be focused on defending the Archangel as it prepares for Atmospheric re-entry phase and therefore we mustn't let a single enemy though, with our determination and courage we'll show ZAFT the power of the 8th Fleet!!"
3:00pm; Pre-Minerva-Class Heavy Battleship: Varda, Bridge
"My Lord, the Archangel is beginning to accelerate and…descend!" announced Dylan and Krane growled "no Earth Forces Mobile Suite or Moebius Zero yet!!"
"Halberton that Bastard, does he intend to sacrifice his fleet for that one ship? Ades! We need to close in now, it is imperative that we stop that ship before it completes its Atmospheric Re-entry!!" came Rau's voice over the transmission to the Vesalius.
"Right" came Captain Fredrick Ades' voice as the Vesalius began to increase its speed however the Varda was under siding all the 8th Fleet as it made a bee-line for the atmosphere.
"So be it, Renaldo! Prepare my Neo-CGUE for launch, it seems that Halberton has forced our hand, tell our forces to annihilate the 8th Fleet this very instant!!" commanded Krane as he floated through the lift doors.
"Yes sir!" saluted Renaldo as he concentrated on keeping the ship between the atmosphere and the 8th Fleet while still continuing on towards the Archangel's predicted course.
4:30pm; Enclosing on Orbit, Battlefield
Black and Purple GINN High Manoeuvre Types fired their heavy artillery at the fleet's ships either causing a Drake-Class to crash into a Nelson or destroying the fired upon ship all together, Asuzur scowled before firing his CGUE's beam rifle right into the bridge 0f the nearest Nelson-Class and watched as it fell towards the atmosphere while breaking up in crimson flames, Zake and Jake were easily destroying Moebius units that dared to try and approach their Mobile Weapons before moving on to the inner circle of ships around the Menelaos. The Duel and the Buster however bypassed the Menelaos completely as they made a bee-line for the Archangel causing Krane to sigh at either their bravery or stupidity, probably the latter, they were expendable anyway as unlike their parent; they were not loyal to the Newtype cause.
"Commander!" announced Dylan over a transmission.
"What is it Dylan?" asked Krane as he fired his unit's beam rifle at a Moebius that had been courageous enough to actually get near the atmosphere, shame that the pilot hadn't known who he was dealing with, Dylan's answer was to remotely open a map that showed to signatures launching from the Archangel.
"There you are, Strike!" growled Yzak as he dived towards the atmosphere in which the Strike was rising from, the Gamow however was heading towards the Archangel and the Menelaos which was moving to stop the Gamow's advance.
Krane watched all this with interest, the Duel fought the Strike while the Moebius Zero jetted off and fought against Dearka and the Buster, the Moebius Zero pulled away for a moment to open fire on the Gamow to stop it from surviving the gravity of being that close to the atmosphere, Dearka meanwhile had gotten caught in the gravity and was getting pulled down towards the surface. The destruction of the Shuttle put the Strike too far out of reach from either the Archangel or the Duel allowing Krane to finally clash beam sabres with the Strike as they continued to fall.
Meanwhile; Pre-Minerva-Class Heavy Battleship: Varda, Bridge
"This is as far as we can go, report that to the Commander and to meet us along a similar descent point, we'll be landing in the Mediterranean Sea North of Alexandria!" announced Renaldo with as sigh as he watched the Neo-CGUE fighting 'this is what you wanted, right, Krane?'
5:00pm; Archangel-Class Assault Ship: Archangel, Bridge
"Murrue!" announced Mu as he pulled himself onto the bridge while ignoring the G-Forces that were pulling them down.
"What is it?" asked Murrue but showed a scared glow when she noticed the fear on his face.
"Kira is awhile away from the Archangel and he's fighting…that man!" announced Mu as he pressed a button on CIC and the large screen showed the Strike evade a blue beam from the Reverse Engineered Scylla Cannon "we need to do something!!"
"Move the ship under the Strike and prepare for a crash landing!" announced Murrue and the Archangel did as Commanded.
Meanwhile; the Earth's Atmosphere, Battlefield
The Neo-CGUE let out a full burst which the Strike dodged away from as they came close to the unit, the Moebius Zero had returned to the ship awhile ago since the gravity's increases had forced the Zero to reach it's limit of combat, Krane had to admit that the gravity was getting to him also however Kira seemed to be weaker than usual especially after what had been reported during the defeat of Yzak in the battle before.
"Tch, you seem tired Kira, I guess I'll lay off you this time!" announced Krane as he withdrew and jetted through the atmosphere to where the Varda's bridge waited for his imminent landing, the Neo-CGUE landed easily enough before turning to face the Strike which was standing on the top of the Archangel, above however, the Gamow and Menelaos exploded as gravity and damages took their toile.
14th February, 4:30pm; Pre-Minerva-Class Heavy Battleship: Varda, Command Room
"It seems that we landed at Valletta in the Mediterranean, fortunately it is under our control, there is no point carrying on until we're resupplied so we will wait for a Space drop of our arsenal of forces as well as repair forces from Gibraltar before carrying on to Banadiya where we will meet up with the Desert Tiger" explained Renaldo from where he stood at the back of the Command Room "the supply and traveling means that we will get to Banadiya tomorrow afternoon at the latest!"
"I understand, such a shame, make sure that Zake, Jake and Asuzur make it down" announced Krane as he opened a long-range camera view of his forces observing the battles in Northern Africa "it seems Kira has finally achieved a basic form of Newtype powers, about time"
15th February, 1:30pm; Banadiya Mansion, Entrance Hall
"Welcome back Andrew, was the Strike everything you thought it to be?" asked Krane as Andy walked in and was stunned for a moment when he saw the Supreme Commander standing before him.
"It was impressive, it gave me a sense of accomplishment in having my forces being able to challenge the impressive unit, I have yet to get the chance however testing the enemy before me I have to admit that it will be a challenge" chuckled Andrew as he shook the legendary Supreme Ace's hand "the Strike pilot seems to be a kind of…berserker, due to his dramatic and reckless attacking capabilities!"
"Regardless, soon the Dark Commander and the Desert Tiger will combine their forces and strike down the Archangel and capture the Strike" nodded Krane before turning to walk further into the mansion "if that is all Jenova Ensign, I will withdraw to my quarters"
Andrew smiled until he noticed something 'did he just say capture?'…
Info – And so Krane continues his hunt after the Archangel and being the kind guy he is lets Kira go for now (you try defeating a Gundam and hauling its remains back to your ship in a Gundam designed from a outdated unit), Krane will mostly not be seen on the battlefield until the night after Andrew attacks the resistance's village, he will make a surprise attack on the Archangel while the Strike will be occupied. Review!