Yo everybody! Sorry of taking so very long with my updates. But I found myself drawn to my other stories. Fortunately, I'm back.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs.

Phase Five: Vanishing Gundam

January 25 C.E. 71

Aboard the Gamow

"Dammit!" Yzak shouted. "There was five of us and only two of them! And we still lost!"

Saul shook his head and turned away as Yzak continued to rant and rave about their defeat. Yzak really needed to learn some anger management.

Yzak grabbed Athrun and slammed him into the lockers on the wall. "And what the hell was that stunt?! You had a clear shot! You could have destroyed them both! Why didn't you?!"

Saul had to admit. That puzzled him as well. Athrun had a fairly large window of opportunity to fire upon and destroy both machines in a single blow. Yet, he didn't.

"That's enough Yzak!" Nicol shouted. "The enemy's out there! Not in here!"

Yzak let go of Athrun but he was still pretty pissed off. "It's because of this coward that we lost to two Naturals!"

Saul sighed. "Again Yzak, you're underestimating Naturals. But that doesn't matter at the moment." he turned to face his teammates. "Those pilots weren't Naturals. They were Coordinators."

Nicol, Dearka and Yzak gave looks of surprise and disbelief while Athrun looked away.

"What? No way." Yzak said.

"How can you be so sure?" Nicol asked.

"Simple. The pilot of the Raven told me himself." Saul replied. "And frankly, I can't see any reason to lie about that."

Yzak, if it was even possible, grew angrier. "So it's a pair of traitors piloting those things. Than we'll just have to destroy them."

"Isn't that our orders to begin with?" Saul said, earning an annoyed growl from Yzak.

None of them noticed Athrun's depressed expression. Or were even remotely aware of his secret.

Aboard the Bridge of the Odin

"Bring us towards the Gamow and Vesalius. Hail the Vesalius when we're in range." Diana Kessel ordered as she, Lucius, and Ajay stepped onto the bridge of the Odin.

"Aye sir." Captain Lee said as crew of the Odin followed her orders.

She sat down on her chair as the Odin, it's sister ships, the Einherjar and the Valkyrie, took off towards the two ZAFT warships. A few minutes later, the bridge of the Vesalius appeared on the main screen.

"Ah...Commander Kessel." the masked snake of a man said. "To what do we owe the pleasure of a visit from the 11th Fleet?"

"Someone has to keep an objective record of your colossal failure and incompetence. The failure to destroy a new warship in drydock, involvement in the destruction of neutral, civilian colony, the failure to capture not one, but two prototype mobile suits, repeated failures to capture or destroy said machines and warship and of course, the latest failure. Despite the fact that you had two warships and five mobile suits, you still lost to a single warship, two mobile suits and a lone mobile armor." Diana bluntly said. "Frankly, I don't see how you can escape punishment for all of this. Even with Patrick Zala helping you out."

"We shall see." Le Creuset smugly replied. "Speaking of the council, they've recalled the Vesalius back. I was going to order the Gamow to continue following the legged ship. If you wish, you can take command of the Gamow and try your luck at catching the legged ship."

She knew what Creuset was attempting to accomplish. He wanted her to try and fail like he had. So he could discredit her and the men and women under her command. Of course, it was also a tremendous gamble as well. If she succeed, it would only further show his incompetence. "I'll play your game, Creuset. But first, I require a copy of all of the data of the captured machines and any data on the legged ship and it's mobile suits."

"Of course. I'll have a copy transferred to you momentarily. Good luck, Commander Kessel. You're going to need it with the legged ship now inside Artemis."

"I don't need luck Creuset."

"Oh by the way, Mu La Flaga is on board the legged ship." Creuset said with a smirk. "I thought you would want to know."

Most of the Odin's bridge crew glanced at her. They all knew of her desire to defeat the Hawk of Endymion after he had humiliated her at Endymion. She had been the fifth mobile suit at Endymion that Mu La Flaga had shot down. Though she survived, she had forgotten the humiliation of being shot down by a lone mobile armor.

"I was already aware Creuset. There's only one Moebius Zero pilot left, La Flaga." she said coldly as she stood up. "I will shatter the Umbrella of Artemis and capture the legged ship and it's mobile suits."

Artemis Base

"Well, it seems that you are indeed Lieutenants Murrue Ramius, Mu La Flaga and Ensign Natarle Badgiruel." the portly commander said, turning from his computer to face the three EA officers. "I am Gerard Garcia, Commander of Artemis Base."

Murrue was about to speak when Garcia interrupted, "Sorry about that. But we couldn't be too careful now. After all, you were an unidentified ship being followed by two ZAFT warships. But now since that has been cleared up. I welcome you to Artemis Base for however long you wish to stay."

Murrue didn't like this man. His voice and demeanor was like a bureaucrat's. He didn't give a damn about anyone on board the Archangel. All this man cared about was getting his hands on the Archangel and the mobile suits and the reward he would get for giving them to his superior. "Thank you Commander." Murrue politely said. "But all we need is supplies and we'll be on our way."

"I'm afraid that's out of the question. Although the damaged Nazca-class has withdrawn, the Laurasia-class is still out, on the edge of our sensors. And it's not alone." Garcia said as he typed a command into the computer.

The large screen behind Garcia's desk showed the Laurasia-class and three very distinct Nazca-class warships. Their hulls were dark gray with red streaks running along the underbellies and tops of the warships. On the sides of the warships were a number of red skulls. One for each victory. On the doors of the mobile suit catapult was a black hawk. There were also a number of images painted on the hulls. Skulls, flames, sword, just to name a few. The paint job was solely a means of intimidation. And Murrue had to admit, it was certainly effective.

Everyone there knew what those warships were. ZAFT's dreaded 11th Autonomous Mobile Fleet. The best space-based combat unit fighting in the war. Feared and respected by both sides, 11th Fleet had been present in just about every major space battle of the war. And more often than not, they had been the cause of many of the Earth Forces' defeats in those battles. Originally led by the brilliant John Alaric, the 11th Fleet was known for their extensive use of high-speed and guerrilla tactics. And had on numerous occasions, devastated EA battle groups many times their size. Worse yet, after the assassination of Alaric, the 11th Fleet had become more driven, focused and deadly. As though they sought to prove to everyone that even with the loss of their commander, they were still just as effective and terrifying.

"Damn." Mu cursed. "I hoped I'd never see those ships again after Endymion."

"As you can see, you've attracted a lot of attention. Why would you want to go out with the 11th Fleet chasing after you?" Garcia asked as a smirk formed on his lips. "Here you're all safe. They can't get close to us without us detecting them and activating the Umbrella. And nothing can get through the barrier. They'll eventually get tried of waiting and leave. It happens all the time."

"You've clearly never seen the 11th Fleet in combat." Mu said. "Their reputation is well deserved."

"I have Lt. La Flaga. I was at Endymion. I know just how vicious they are." Garcia replied. "But not even they can penetrate this base."

"Don't underestimate the 11th Fleet." Mu said. "A lot of better Commanders have and died because of it."

"In any case, I suggest that you get some R and R." Garcia said, completely ignoring Mu. "You appear to be exhausted. I'll have some rooms prepared for you."

Garcia pushed the call button on his desk. A pair of guards entered the room. Garcia hadn't said it. But they all knew. The entire crew of the Archangel and their passengers were prisoners. Prisoners of their own allies.

Aboard the Gamow

Thirty Minutes Later

Saul sighed as he made his way down the corridors of the Gamow. With Creuset, Athrun and the Vesalius gone, the Gamow was now for the time being under the command of his sister. He could already feel her whips at his back.

"Hey Saul." Dearka called from behind.

Saul turned to his teammate. "Yeah? What?"

"I'm curious about your sister and 11th Fleet. We're gonna be working with them so I figured I should ask you."

"Well, I don't know much about the 11th Fleet beyond what everybody else knows. But my sister, that's a whole other story. Let me give you the only advice you'll need for dealing with her. Don't lie to her, don't argue with her and do what ever she tells you to do. And you'll avoid castration."

Dearka stared at him in disbelief. "You're kidding, right?"

Saul stared back him with a dead serious expression. "Nope."

"Oh man. She sounds crazy."

"Not really. But she'll kick your ass if you piss her off." he replied. "In fact, she broke a some idiot's arms after he almost got her squad killed during a training exercise."

"Damn. That's one woman I wouldn't wanna piss off." Dearka said.

Saul nodded. "Tell me about it."

"How are you even related to someone like that?"

"Actually, I'm the black sheep of the family. My parents are more like her than me." Saul sighed and added, "Well, we got a couple of hours until the briefing, so I'm gonna take a nap. See ya later."

"See you then."

A few minutes later, Saul entered his quarters and crashed on his bed. He glanced at the bed opposite his. Rusty's bed.

Saul sighed. It was hard to believe that his friend was dead. He found it strange. Just this morning, he had talked, joked and laughed with him, Miguel and the others. And now they were dead. Gone forever. He remembered Matthew talking about how when the war was over, he was going to propose to his girlfriend. He remembered Miguel's reason for becoming a soldier in the first place, to earn money for his sick younger brother. Now who would help his brother? Who ever said 'war is hell' was right.

BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...

Saul groaned. Someone was calling him. He got up and moved to the terminal built into his desk. He pushed the call button. "Yes?"

"A private message from the Odin for you." the Comm officer said.

Saul sighed. It was his sister. "Patch it through."

The screen changed to the face of his sister. "Is this channel secure?" she asked.

"Give me a moment." Saul replied as he typed in a series of commands on the terminal. "Oh. And it's nice to see you too, sister."

Saul had hacked the Gamow's systems within a few hours of coming on board. It had been painfully easy to hack. And so were most normal military computers for that matter. But that was a whole other story.

"Okay. It's secure." Saul said. "What do you want?"

"Any and all unedited records from all operations during the incident at Heliopolis and all the data on the Earth Forces mobile suits and the legged ship. I don't trust the data he gave us." his sister said in her usual cold and blunt tone.

"Is that all? I thought this was going to be something hard." Saul said as he started typing.

A moment later, he transferred a copy of all the data on the mobile suits and legged ship to the Odin. "There's the mobile suit data." he said as he started searching for the rest of the data she wanted. "And here comes the...What?!"

"What is it?"

Saul stared in disbelief at the screen. "All the data on Heliopolis and it's destruction is gone..." he said as searched for some trace of the data. "There's no trace of it. All the data is completely gone."

"Creuset, that sneaky bastard." Diana cursed. "He must have removed all traces of what really happened just in case I'd try something like this. And I almost had him too."

"You really hate Creuset." Saul commented.

"Our parents worry a lot about Patrick Zala." Diana said. "And while Zala is dangerous, he is little more than a mad dog. Wild, angry, predictable. The truly dangerous one is Creuset. The man is a viper hiding in the bushes, waiting to strike upon the unsuspecting victim. A man like that is the one to truly fear."

January 26 C.E. 71

Aboard the Gamow

The top officers of the 11th, the captain of the Gamow and the remaining members of the Creuset Team were gathered around the display table in the back of the bridge. The screen of the table displayed a read out of the Artemis Base and it's Umbrella shield.

There were five officers of the 11th Fleet. It's commander and her four top officers. First was Lucius Raveshaw, the second-in-command of the 11th Fleet. A dark-skinned man of average size and height, clad in a ZAFT red coat uniform. His white hair was cut in a standard military style. His red eyes always seemed like they were studying and analyzing everyone and everything around him.

Standing next to him, was whom many considered to be the polar opposite of Lucius, was Ajay Cortez. Also clad in a red uniform and a toothpick in his mouth, Ajay was a bit thinner and taller than Lucius. Ajay's demeanor and stance were quite different from his comrade. Where Lucius was standing straight and at attention, like a proper soldier, Ajay was relaxed and laid-backed. His long, dirty blond hair was tied into a loose ponytail.

The next officer was a giant of a man, clad in a white uniform. Basque Gideon, Commander of the Einherjar and it's mobile suits. Basque's head was almost entirely shaved bald, expect for a long black braided ponytail and a matching beard and mustache.

The fourth officer was a woman, wearing a white uniform with male pants instead of the female skirt. Lisa DeCosta, Commander of the Valkyrie and it's mobile suits. She had short brown hair and green eyes.

The finally there was the Ice Queen of the 11th Fleet herself, Diana Kessel. Clad in a white uniform with male pants. Her eyes were an icy blue, much like her icy demeanor. She had short, straight black hair.

"The Umbrella of Artemis is a lightwave barrier that blocks any and all incoming attacks. But it also blocks their attacks as well." Lucius Raveshaw said.

"So basically, we can't do anything and they can't do anything." Dearka said. "What a useless weapon."

"Perhaps. But as a purely defensive weapon, it's formidable." Lucius said. "Added to this, is the strategic unimportance of the Artemis Base. Because of it's unimportance, no one has come up with a means to break the shield. However, this works to our advantage as well."

"What? How does that help us?" Yzak asked.

"Simple." Ajay smugly said. "All the guys inside Artemis have grown fat, lazy and complacent. They think that nothing can break through their precocious Umbrella. Which means when we do break it, they'll run around in shock like a chicken with it's head cut off."

"Correct." Lucius said.

"Let's just smash this 'Umbrella of Artemis' already." Basque said.

"Easier said than done." Lucius said. "I doubt anything short of a nuclear explosion could damage the barrier."

"Okay. So what's the plan? Wait for them to come out?" Dearka said with a chuckle.

"Quit joking around Dearka." an annoyed Yzak said. "What will the commander say when he gets back, and we haven't finished this off? Do you want to be the one to tell him that we did nothing?"

"Enough." Commander Kessel said. "The Umbrella of Artemis will fall today."

"And just how are we gonna do that?" Dearka asked. "As long as the shield is up, we can't attack."

"And the only time they turn the Umbrella off is when we're out of their sensor range." Saul added. "But the second we get close to them, they'll raise it back up again."

"There is a way to break that shield and shatter Artemis." Diana said. "The Blitz."

The Archangel

Inside the Artemis Base

Chris was getting annoyed at this whole situation. As soon as they docked in Artemis, the ship had been boarded and they had been arrested. Of course, the soldiers hadn't said they were under arrest. But it was a joke. No doubt, the commander of this base wanted to present this ship and the mobile suits on board to the Eurasian government. And probably get promoted for it.

Now all the civilians and the entire crew, minus Lieutenant Ramius, Mu, and Ensign Badgiruel, were crammed into the mess hall of the ship with armed soldiers standing guard, waiting. And they had been waiting for a number of hours already.

The mess hall doors opened and a fat toad of a man in an officer's uniform, accompanied by a group of armed soldiers.

"I am Commander Gerard Garcia." the officer said. "Who are the pilots of the mobile suits in the hanger?"

"What? You mean the captain didn't tell you?" one of the bridge officers said, Chris didn't know his name. "Or do you just not have the clearance to know?"

One of the soldiers punched the man. "Who are the pilots?" Garcia said in a more forceful tone.

Chris glanced at Kira, who was sitting next to him. Kira looked ready to stand up and admit to being one of the pilots. Lucky, Murdoch was pushing down on his shoulders, keeping him in place. Kira was being an idiot. Couldn't he see that the crew were trying to protect them?

"Isn't it obvious?" another officer said. "It was Lieutenant La Flaga and Ensign Badgiruel."

Garcia smirked. "I don't think so. We were watching the battle. There was a Moebius Zero and La Flaga is the only Zero pilot left. And Badgiruel is a bridge officer, not a pilot. So, who are the pilots?"

No one said anything. Garcia scanned the room, trying to figure out who the pilots were. "Hmm...I wonder." Garcia said as he started walking towards where they were sitting. "The captain of this ship is a woman. So perhaps the pilots are women."

Garcia stopped were he, Kira and the others were sitting. "And perhaps, they're disguised as civilians so we won't suspect them of being the pilots." he said before he grabbed Flay's arm and pulled her out of her seat.

"Hey! Let me go!" Flay shouted.

Sai shot up out of his seat. "Leave her alone!" he shouted.

Garcia backhanded Sai, sending him crashing into the table. Before anyone could react, Kira broke free of Murdoch's grasp and shouted, "Let her go! I'm the one you want!"

Garcia tossed Flay into the arms of a guard. "You expect me to believe that a mere child was piloting one of those mobile suits. Who are the real pilots, brat?!"

Garcia then punched Kira in the face. Or would have if Kira wasn't a Coordinator. Kira sidestepped the blow, grabbed Garcia's wrist and threw the fat commander to the ground. One of the soldiers grabbed Kira, restraining him.

"See!" a panicking Flay said. "He is the pilot! He's a Coordinator!"

Garcia's eyes lit up as he got up. "Then that changes everything." he said, eying Kira. "Who is the other pilot?"

Kira didn't say anything.

"Very well then. Take the two of the them to interrogation. I want the name of that other pilot."

Flay's eyes widened in shock. She opened her mouth to say something. But before she could, Chris stood up. "I'm the other one you want. I'm the other pilot. You can leave her alone now."

Garcia smiled. "You're a Coordinator as well?"

"Would take my word on it or would prefer to prove it by kicking your ass like Kira just did."

A guard standing next to him, punched him in the side of the head. Chris stumbled from impact of the blow but managed to stay standing. He quickly turned to the soldier, slipping into a martial arts stance, he kicked the guard the stomach. Sending him crashing onto the table behind him. Chris then heard the sound of several guns cocking.

'Yeah...I'm gonna stop while I'm ahead.'

Chris sighed as he raised his hands in surrender.

"Now that was too hard." Garcia said as he signaled several of the guards. "Take them to the hanger at once. Bring the girl as well."

Outside Artemis

The Odin, the Einherjar, the Valkyrie, and the Gamow all began to turn around, preparing to leave the area. As they did, the Gamow's hanger opened up and the Blitz launched. A moment later, it disappeared from view and from sensors.

"Mirage Colloid. It seems fitting for Nicol. A weapon fit for a coward." Dearka commented as they waited for their moment to launch.

"Nicol's not a coward." Saul said, defending his friend. "He's the bravest of us all. He chose to go to war when he could have just as easily didn't have to. The three of us joined ZAFT for our own reasons. But Nicol simple wants to protect the PLANTs. Frankly, I don't think that I could ever do what he does."

"Oh? Why did you join ZAFT then?" Dearka asked.

"To get my parents and my sister off my back." Saul replied. "I was fated to join ZAFT the moment I was born. So I'm just going with the flow."

The four ZAFT warship then left the sensor range of the Artemis Base and waited for the Blitz to finish it's mission.

A few minutes later, the officers of Artemis deactivated the barrier. Unaware of the invisible mobile suit approaching.

"So you want us to remove the locks on OSs, right?" Kira asked.

"For starters. But I imagine that the two of you could do a lot more than just that." Garcia said. "For example, you could analyze the designs of these machines and build another or even a weapon that's effective against these kinds of mobile suits."

"Well first off, we're students from Orb. Not soldiers. Not some high-paid military contractors." Chris said. "So why would we even do such a thing?"

"Ah...But the two of you are already traitors to your fellow Coordinators." Garcia smugly said.

"Traitors..." Kira said, stunned by Garcia's words.

"I have no idea what your reasons were. Nor do I care. But regardless, you two did betray your own people."

"That's a lie." Chris said. "Don't listen to this idiot, Kira. We're not traitors to anyone."

"Then why were the two of you fighting for the Earth Alliance against ZAFT soldiers?" Garcia asked, still in his smug attitude.

"I'm not a part of ZAFT or the PLANTs. Not anymore. Nor am I apart of the Earth Forces." Chris said defiantly And my 'people' are those aboard the Archangel. Not those in the PLANTs."

"Very well then." Garcia said, turning to one of his men. "Throw the girl out an airlock."

Kira's, Chris's and Flay's eyes all widened in horror. "Unless of course, you wish to remove the locks."

The two grimly nodded. They had no choice. Garcia had the everyone on board the Archangel as his hostages. Kira and Chris followed his orders and entered the cockpits of their machines and started typing.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise, like an explosion, and a tremor shook the base. Followed by more tremors and noises. Anyone with half a brain could tell what was happening. The base was under attack. Someone had gotten through the Umbrella of Artemis.

Kira and Chris, using the confusion, both pushed the technicians gathered around the cockpits of their mobile suits out of the way and got into the cockpits. The two machines came to life, braking the clamps that were holding them in place.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Garcia shouted.

"We're under attack." Kira said. "What do you think we're doing?"

The Raven knelt down in front of Flay, Garcia and some of his men and extended one of it's hands. Chris wasn't about to leave Flay with that man. "Flay, hop on."

Before anyone could stop her, Flay climbed on the hand and the Raven stood back up. Chris brought the Raven's hand to the cockpit door and opened the door allowing Flay to get in.

"Thank you." Flay said as she squeezed into the space between the seat and wall.

"Don't mention it." Chris replied. "Oh, and don't touch anything."

Chris opened up the comm to the Strike. "Kira, let's get out of here and see what we can do."

"Right." Kira as he loaded the Sword Striker onto the Strike.

"You know, you really shouldn't have said that." he said to Flay.

"What?"

"What you said in the mess hall. You shouldn't have told them that Kira was a Coordinator."

"But it was the truth. And besides, they're our allies." Flay said weakly, in her defense.

"Allies? Perhaps Eurasia is an ally. But that commander doesn't give a damn about us. All he cares about is the promotion he'll get for handing over the Archangel and these mobile suits to his superiors. Hell, he was about to throw you out an airlock if we didn't do what he wanted." Chris said. "The world isn't black and white, Flay. So don't think of everything as that."

Flay didn't say anything as the Raven and the Strike exited the Archangel and into growing chaos of the Artemis Base port.

The Odin, the Einherjar, the Valkyrie, and the Gamow were closing in on Artemis. With it's shield disabled, they had an opening. And now it was time to finish it off.

The Duel, the Buster, the Surge and the custom mobile suits of the 11th Fleet were all quickly launched from the warships.

"Listen up men." Diana Kessel said over the comm. "Team 3, will enter the hanger first. Focus your fire on the docked ships and the base itself. Team 1 will follow Team 3 and attack the legged ship while Team 2 will remain behind in reserve to catch escaping ships. I want the legged ship's engines and weapons disabled. As well as the two mobile suits disabled and captured. If that is not possible, then destroy them. But leave the Moebius Zero to me. Understand?"

Only her brother and the rest of the Creuset Team responded. The men and women under her command were well trained and didn't need to respond. They would follow out her orders to the letter.

"Good. Let us end both Artemis and the legged ship here and now." she said. "For the Black Hawk!"

"For the Black Hawk!" the pilots of the 11th Fleet shouted back before the mobile suits rocketed off towards the Artemis Base and their prey.

Mobile armors scrambled out of the large main hanger, in an attempt to engage them. But they were no match for the aces of the 11th. A hail of bullets and beams tore through mobile armors. Gideon's GINN and the rest of the GINNs of the Einherjar raced ahead of the others. The Team 3 were all heavy weapons experts and were armed accordingly. Several heavy cannons and missiles were fired off, destroying and several warships.

Basque roared as his GINN, Bruticus, charged forward, firing off his heavy cannon and Gatling guns while the rest of his team followed behind. Many of the docked vessels in the front of the hanger were quickly crippled or destroyed.

"Team 1, move out." Diana ordered.

The mobile suits of the Odin and the Creuset team raced in the massive hanger. They split up, searching for the legged ship and firing upon the mobile armors that were vainly trying to defend their base. They were all minor annoyances that were trying to stop them from reaching their objective. Diana fired off a few rounds at one mobile armor, clipping it's engines and causing it to crash into the command center of the base. No doubt, taking the base commander with it.

She quickly and easily destroyed three more mobile armors. That was a problem that irritated her. It was too easy. True, the Earth Forces had numbers. But their mobile armors were vastly inferior compared to ZAFT's mobile suits. Truth be told, Diana was growing bored of the war. ZAFT's technology was just too superior. And without challenging opponents, how could she and her men improve if their opponents were all weak. When she learned that the Earth Forces were building mobile suits, she was actually quite happy. It would finally bring a balance to this war and actually challenge her.

It wasn't long before she, her brother, and his two teammates spotted the legged ship and it's mobile suits. The Blitz was also there, battling the Strike and the Raven. However, much to Diana's annoyance, there was no Moebius Zero. No Mu La Flaga.

"Time to end this." Yzak said he opened fire on the Strike.

Diana, Saul and Dearka all followed the Duel, firing on the two Earth Force's mobile suits. The Raven and the Strike dodged their shots and the Raven returned fire with it's railguns at the Buster and Duel while the Strike threw it's beam boomerang at the Panther. Diana effortlessly dodged the incoming weapon and it's rebound, only to come face to face with the Strike with it's sword descending on her. But she wasn't some novice pilot, she was the command of the best space-combat unit in all of ZAFT. She barely managed sidestepped the attack. Losing her machine's left arm in the process.

"Leave her alone!" Saul shouted, firing his Hakenfaust claw at the Strike.

The Strike pulled back, avoiding the claw weapon. Diana took that momentary distraction to fire off a burst of rounds at the Strike. But her bullets did nothing against the phase-shift armor of the machine.

'Amazing. These mobile suits make even our machines inferior.'

"You alright, sis?" Saul asked.

Diana was about to respond, when she noticed the legged ship was turning around. It was heading towards the open rear hanger door. "I'm fine. Stop the legged ship!"

Huge explosions started tearing through the hanger. The Raven and the Strike were falling to the legged ship.

"You're not getting away this time!" Yzak shouted, firing at the retreating mobile suits.

Unfortunately, at that very moment, a massive explosion tore through the hanger. Creating a fireball that separated them from the fleeing ship.

'It seems Basque and his men were quicker that I thought they'd be.' Diana thought as the legged ship slipped from their grasp.

"No!!" Yzak shouted in rage and frustration.

"The base is coming apart." Diana said. "All forces, fall back. Fall back."

All of the ZAFT forces started fleeing the crumbling base. They had destroyed the Artemis Base, but failed in their ultimate objective. The capture or destruction of the legged ship and it's mobile suits. But as long as that ship was in space, she and 11th Fleet would hunt them. Nothing ever escaped their grasp for very long.

That's all for now. I'm gonna update the mobile suit page and post the next chapter by about Friday or Saturday, unless things get really crazy for me. Until then. Review.