Disclaimer: I hereby declare that I do not in any way own the rights to the anime known as Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, or anything else that falls under the Gundam meta-series itself, this includes story, plot, characters, and mecha. I only own what I have created for the purpose of this story including the story itself, characters, and mecha.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Raising the Black Flag

An Alternative Universe Story, based on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

Written by,

William R. Woods

Aka "Deathzealot"

Or, "Deathzealotzero"

With some ideas and support from,

Seth M. Klein

Aka "Persistent Dreamer"

Phase Two: The Aftermath

Those first days after the event we later started calling the Betrayal found many of the ex-Earth Alliance types onboard the ship both shocked and somewhat depressed at what our fellow members of the Earth Alliance military have done. I personally was sickened and angry at what happened but honestly I wasn't surprised as the others for I had already seen some of the stuff the Earth Alliance can do to not only our enemies but to our own people. I learned that at the Battle of Endymion and a handful of later minor events including HS Mercy Incident which saw Alliance forces firing onto the Hospital Ship Mercy which was picking up both ZAFT and Alliance wounded during the Battle of Nova. However the Betrayal eclipsed it all in my mind for an Alliance force to willingly fire on innocent civilians was something I could not stand for therefore it would come to no surprise that was the first to throw off my uniform coat in disgust...

- Taken from Personal Journal of Mu La Flagga

-o-o-o-

Bridge
AFS Archangel
Heliopolis Nearspace
Lagrange Three, Earth Sphere

On the bridge of the Archangel everyone picked up their jaws from the floor and turned to look at Captain Ramius who sighed before collapsing into the ship's command chair before turning to look at Lieutenant La Flagga who was just shaking his head as he looked over the remains of the three ship before turning his own attention to the Captain.

"What should we do Lieutenant La Flagga for the Alliance will not look past this disaster?" she asked with a frown making the older Lieutenant sigh before looking around at the bridge crew who were all looking at the two of them.

"Well right now I think we should just lay low for now and do some serious thinking on what we should do now," he replied to the woman who closed her eyes with a sigh and rubbed her forehead with the tips of her fingers. Lieutenant La Flagga smiled bitterly at this before turning his attention to the bridge's viewport. Suddenly Murrue looked up at him with an unhappy yet saddened look on her face.

"What about the crew Lieutenant? Some of them have families...careers... How are we going to tell them about this," she mentioned looking over a the still wide-eyed looks from the bridge crewmen making Mu sigh before turning to her but was stopped when the door to the bridge slid open to let in Chief Petty Officer Kojiro Murdoch, the ship's gruff senior surviving non-commissioned officer and head of the hangar crew, who floated over to the captain with scowl on his face.

"Well ma'am it looks like the rest of the crew are downright pissed about this! Heck! I may have a mutiny from those Morgenroete engineers helping my guys out in the hanger," the man reported with a shake of his head making the Captain look over at him in shock.

"What do you mean Chief? How do they know about what had happened?" she asked in confusion and was surprised by the bark of laughter from the man as he floated over to the enlisted officer sitting at the communication station and slapped the man on the back.

"Well it appears that Chandra here piped the entire conversation throughout the ship with the visuals as well for those of us that had screens. Everyone onboard either heard it or saw it happen live ma'am," the man mentioned with a large grin on his face making the others on the bridge look over at the communication officer, one Petty Officer 2nd Class Dalida Lolaha Chandra II, who blinked at this before looking down at his controls for a moment and adjusted his glasses in nerveless tension before sighing realizing what he had done before turning to the officers with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Well that takes care of that Captain," Lieutenant La Flagga mentioned with a laugh of his own before turning give a thumbs up to Petty Officer Chandra who only adjusted his glasses once more with a small chuckle.

"Alright then Chief how is the crew doing with all of this?" the Captain asked with a little tremor in her voice making the rugged face of the Chief Petty Officer soften slightly before sighing and leaning against the communication station eying the Captain.

"Like I said they are pissed but actually horrified for many of the Earth Alliance crew they had heard about the various incidents that has happened were Alliance personal have fired on civilian targets or even other Alliance targets. But they all thought it was rumors or were accidents and this incident has proved that those earlier incidents were not rumors after all. However I have to say that I am not worried about the crew all that much, the Kids however are another matter especially that one," the man mentioned calmly making the others around the bridge listening to nod in agreement before all of them as one turned to look out the viewport at the still silent figure of the Strike which stood there in the middle of the debris cloud it had created. Captain Ramius gasped at this before turning to look down at the CIC to see Ensign Badgiruel looking up at her.

"Ensign, Can you contact Kira?" she asked the other woman who only smiled slightly at this before nodding her head.

"I already managed to get in contact with him ma'am, I admit it did take a bit but I managed it. Should I put him up on the screen?" the Ensign said making Murrue blink at his before shaking her head with a brief chuckle and nodding down at the woman in answer. The Ensign didn't reply and quickly enter a short command into her station bringing up the face of Kira Yamato onto the communication screen where Captain Koopland's face had been only minutes before. Murrue looked up at him noticing the haggard look in the young man's eyes and the tear tracks running down his face making her sigh sadly at this hating herself for having in that cockpit in the first place.

"Are you alright Kira?" she gently asked making him sigh and leaned heavily against the pilot chair.

"Not really Miss Murrue. I really don't know what had come over me. I remember staring in shock at the destroyed Lifepod which I had been in communication with only moments before and then getting angry over the deaths of the people on that lifeboat including my own father and a few others I knew, then I was watching that final ship explode," he explained heavily making more than one person on the bridge inhale in shock at his mentioning that his father had been onboard the Lifeboat before it was destroyed. Lieutenant La Flagga cursed softy under his breath while Murrue's only sighed sadly at this.

"Are you sure Kira that your father was onboard?" she asked leaning forward making Kira blink at this before taking a breath and shaking his head.

"I'm sure for I was talking to Davis Koenig, father to my friend Tolle and he said my father was onboard along with a few others I knew. I did remember you mentioning the Strike was top secret therefore I said I was piloting a Mistral Pod," he said in return making Murrue flinch at the beginning of this comment before blinking at the last half of the comment. Murdoch laughed softly at that one making a few others join him for it was kind of absurd in the scheme of things.

"Alright then are you coming back onboard now?" she asked him and was surprised in turn by the angry frown that appeared on his face at her question.

"No I am going to see about finding that other Lifeboat I found before returning," he mentioned making Murrue nod in agreement for she was kind of worried for that one as well.

"Alright then Kira but do you have the power and fuel for that? Since your Phase Shift is down which means you are running a bit short of power now, and with that battle your fuel should be heading there as well?" she mentioned with a frown while Murdoch nodded in agreement with her eying the still motionless Strike. Kira only blinked at this in surprise before looking down to study his read outs for whispering under his breath for a few moments before nodding.

"I have enough to find that Lifeboat Miss Murrue and I shall return to the ship with it to get resupplied and repaired," he mentioned after a moment making the young Captain nod in agreement before exchanging a look with Lieutenant La Flagga.

"Okay, but hurry back for we are going to see about finding anymore of the damaged lifeboats I do not want to leave them behind for anyone else to do something with them. We should also try to search for any survivors from the Mycale Taskforce as well," Murrue mentioned making Kira nod with a small smile on his face while others on the bridge could only nod in agreement with her.

"Understood Miss Murrue, be back in a bit," he replied with a nod before cutting off the communication which drew the attention of the crew to the Strike itself has it slowly moved off using small puffs of its thrusters to save fuel. The Captain then turned her attention to the rest of the crew who all watching as the Strike pulled away from the ship to search for that wayward Lifeboat.

"Alright everyone back to work I do not want to get jumped by one of those ZAFT ships if they doubled back for some reason or another," she ordered jolting the crew who all turned back to their to their stations while a raised hand from the Captain stopped Murdoch from leaving to head back to the hanger.

"Speaking of sending out parties to search for survivors and any damaged Lifeboats. I was wondering if we have crews to man our Mistral Pods?" she asked the Chief who blink at this before looking thoughtful for a few moments before shaking his head.

"I only have enough properly trained personnel to man two to three of the Mistrals Ma'am," the Chief replied with a frown on his face making the Captain sigh at this before Lieutenant La Flagga cut in with a frown of his own.

"What about the Morgenroete personal we took on Chief?" the man asked making the chief blink at this before nodding and turning back to look at the Captain.

"That should have us manning maybe four or five Mistrals then Ma'am," the burly Chief replied to the Captain who only smiled at this pleased.

"Alright then Chief get to it," she ordered the man who only saluted before turned to leave before stopping and turning back to the Captain who look over at him in some confusion.

"Ma'am that said I think we can also see about searching the colony debris for any supplies we can find for we do have plenty of time before any rescue ships arrive," the Chief mentioned making the Captain to once more blink in surprise before nodding.

"Can you do that plus repairing both the Strike and the Lieutenant's Zero? For I don't want to be a sitting duck if we anyone else appears," she asked making the Chief Petty Officer blink at this before once more thinking about it for a few moments before nodding.

"Yeah it would be tight but we can do it ma'am," the man answered making Captain Ramius nod at this before looking over Lieutenant La Flagga who look also nodded at this.

"I shall head down there in a bit Chief to help out. I need to do a few things up here first," the Zero pilot mentioned making the Chief only nod at this before saluting once more and turning to exit the bridge. That done the Captain leaned to the side to look down at the CIC.

"Ensign can you bring up the civilian emergency channel let's see how many damaged lifeboats there are out there," she ordered the other woman who only nodded at this before leaning forward at the station and started to entering commands. That done the two other officers started to discuss a few things before Lieutenant La Flagga left the bridge to help out the mechanics to repair his Zero.

-o-o-o-

Captain's Office
Rogue Ship Archangel

Lagrange Three Area
Two Hours Later

A little over two hours later found the three senior officers, and Chief Murdoch meeting in the Captain's office attached to the Captain's Quarters. The last two hours had been quite interesting in that they had recovered four damaged Heliopolis Lifepods including the one that had been damaged earlier by the Mycale firing and destroying another of the Lifepods. However what was really interesting was that Mu La Flagga and Ensign Badgiruel had gotten rid of their uniform jackets leaving them both in slacks and the uniform undershirt. While Chief Murdoch still wore the mechanic jumpsuit he had always worn but it was telling in that any patches had been removed.

"Alright first of all how many people did we recover from those damaged pods?" the Captain asked after shaking her head at the other two officers out of uniform, but she didn't say anything for it was something she agreed with therefore was wearing a Morgenroete jumpsuit like the one she had worn earlier when on the Colony.

"Well ma'am, that is about three hundred fifty or so people but combine that with the people we already brought on board earlier that gives us around three hundred seventy or so people onboard. I have the majority of them settled in the main cargo bay for now, but I did talk to them and mention that we are going to take them somewhere where they can hopefully be unloaded and transferred to shuttles to take them to the Orb Mainland," Ensign Badergeril mentioned with a frown making Murrue sigh knowing that it may have been over four hundred if that first shelter hadn't been destroyed by the Mycale.

"Alright then that is good we did manage to recover them. Now what about supplies did we manage to get any from that Drake or the debris of the colony?" she asked turning to look over at Lieutenant La Flagga and the Chief who had been reasonable for that search.

"Well from the Drake we got some needed food supplies and such but we found no survivors onboard. They all had been unsuited and weren't even at battle-stations therefore none of the compartments had been sealed," the Chief replied with a sigh making the three officer flinch both in pain at that but at the same time wondering why they hadn't been suited readied for combat when they arrived in the Lagrange Three Area. They most likely knew that there was ZAFT forces around therefore they should have been prepared for combat but it looks like they a bit overconfident.

"What about any supplies from the colony debris?" the Captain asked after several moments of silence for the lost Alliance personal, like they used to be. The Chief only grunted at this before shaking his head a bit.

"Not much for the debris already has started to expand, and we didn't really want to check out the Benben Resource Asteroid for it is a bit far. However the only good thing we managed was to find a damaged storage container that had a spare Aile Flight Pack in it though it is a bit damaged," the Chief reported making the Captain frown at this knowing the Benben Resource Asteroid was the asteroid that had been attached to other end of the colony. It had made it intact through the collapse of the colony but if she remembered right there wasn't really anything in there anyways.

"What about that intact flight pod from the Mycale that you guys found?" She asked after a moment of thought. The Chief suddenly grinned at that while exchanging a look with the Lieutenant making the man chuckle lightly before getting up from leaning against the wall and stood in front of the Captain's desk.

"Well we had a bit more luck there Captain. Basically we found a trashed mobile suit that was the same type the Mycale had launched earlier. It is pretty damaged from the pod hitting one of the larger pieces of debris after it was sent flying by the destruction of the ship. However what is more important find is that we figured out how they managed to get a Natural-Use Mobile Suit working like those machines where," the man reported making the Captain blink at this in surprise before narrowing her eyes for she had been wondering how they had managed to get around the OS Problem that all of the G-Project Mobile Suits had.

"Well Lieutenant?" she asked with a sigh making the man grin slightly before leaning slightly and setting down a data disk on the desk of the Captain who eyed it with a frown.

"Basically ma'am using data from the development of the G-Project and their own testing to develop a ready-use Natural Operating System," the man replied making the Captain look up at him in surprise before looking over at Ensign Baderguil who look downright shocked at this revelation before shaking her own head. A Natural-Use Operating System had been one of the major problems with the G-Weapons and several ways of had been tried to get around this including a complete AI-Driven Operating System and a few other ways were tried. The results of those various different testing program were used as a basis of an operating system that had been installed on the G-Weapons. It was hoped that those programs would be used as a base for a true Natural-Use Operating System.

"I cannot believe they managed to make their own Natural-Use Operating System and I admit I am kind of upset they used our data to do so when we were struggling trying to make our own operating system," Murrue mentioned with a glare at the nearby wall before sighing and looking down at the data disk now laying on her disk.

"Well apparently it is not fully complete ma'am and is basically for these mobile suits the GAT-00D Long Dagger were introduced, to basically gather further data so they can complete the OS later on," Mu mentioned nodding to the data disk before Murrue looked up at the man with a nod before blinking as she thought of something.

"Then can we repair that mobile suit for your use then Lieutenant?" she asked vocalizing her thought and was disappointed to see the faces of the two men standing in front of her desk.

"We could Captain but it would take all of the spare parts we have currently have from the bits we recovered from Morgenroete before the Colony Collapse and the Flight Pod itself. Instead the Lieutenant has a plan for some of those parts," the Chief replied making the Captain sigh at this before nodding and turning her attention to the Lieutenant who was once again leaning against the nearby wall.

"Well Captain we take the torso section of the trashed mobile suit and make a simulator for our use in training myself and some others in piloting mobile suits. It would be able to link to both my Zero, and the Strike therefore we can do a bit of squad training. As for the Strike I already had the Kid install a copy of this OS onto the Strike just in case we need have myself or another Natural piloting it later on. He also mentioned he believes he can fully finish it streamlining it and maybe even making it better than the Alliance's resulting OS," the man explained making the two other officers blink at this before the Captain frowned at the mentioning of training others.

"Who else would undergo this Training Lieutenant for beside yourself and maybe Chief Petty Officer Neumann?" she asked the man who only shook his head with a sad smile on his face.

"That Tolle kid was interested, so is a few of the other kids including that girl Flay and boy Shinn we picked up from the damaged pod. All of them want to be trained to help defend their friends onboard the ship," the man replied making the Captain lean back in shock before sighing in sadness at this knowing that even more kids would be introduced to the world of war.

"Speaking of that ma'am I have received a series of requests from the other kids, as the lieutenant calls them, along with a few of the other refugees. They want to help somehow and we are kind of shorthanded," Ensign Badgiruel spoke up making the Captain even more shocked before shaking her head knowing that she was quite correct in that they were in fact pretty shorthanded with only enough crew to man the bridge and the hangar for one shift. Not to mention not having anyone in engineering, medical, or damage control. So far it was only thanks to the automatic system of the ship that allowed them to be able to control the ship.

"Alright Ensign how many have volunteered and what are their skills?" she asked the other woman who brought out a small note pad and looked it over for a moment before nodding.

"Well first Sai Argyle is quite good with ECM systems for some reason or another, therefore I think he would be good to help in the CIC. Kuzzey Buskirk had served onboard his uncle's space transport and has some experience in communication from that therefore he should be good to replace Petty Officer Chandra as Chief Communication Officer. Miriallia Haw also has some experience in communications not to mention she has the personality for the mobile suit operations officer needs therefore she would be good as the Mobile Suit Operator in CIC. Then we have some of the refugees, a Doctor Masaharu Hasan and a Nurse Fei Ling have volunteered to run the ship's med-bay. An Ichiro Tamura and his sons have volunteered to run the ship's galley which is good for right now we can't really spare anyone to do. A young woman Mirai Yashima has volunteered to help Chief Petty Officer Neumann on the ship's helm due to her experience in helming an Earth-to-Orbit shuttles. Then we have a few others who have training in some way, either on transports like Mister Buskirk or in other skills we might need. I shall look over them later to see where we can place them in the roster," the Ensign mentioned with a nod of her head making Murrue blink at this before nodding pleased that some have step forward to volunteer. Not to mention she remembered Doctor Hasan for he had been the man who had looked over her gunshot wound earlier after they brought in some people from the Morgenroete Facility.

"Very well then Natarle I shall trust you to do that. Now with all that out of the way does anyone have any thoughts where we can lay low after all this?" she asked having turned away from the other women who had nodded and made a quick note in her note pad before turning her own attention to the coming discussion. Already the monitor on the wall of the office had been turned on and showed a local map for the Lagrange Three Area.

"Well there is the Green Noah Colony here," the Chief mentioned with a frown tapping the indicator for the Green Noah Colony, another Neutral Colony though unlike Heliopolis did not have any Earth-side nation supporting them. Instead it had been the start of a new Colony Cluster for the UN's Space Colonization Plan when the plan shifted towards the PLANT colonies it was left pretty much to itself.

"No it is closer to Artemis then Heliopolis, and we know from the data we took from that Drake that the rest of the Eighth Fleet is based there along with the original Eurasian Taskgroup from the Sixth Fleet that had been assigned there. Therefore it is not really a good idea for if we tried to get asylum there and Artemis found out about it. Then we may see another collapsing colony," Lieutenant La Flagga mentioned tapping another of the glowing indicators on the map making the others in the office frown and nod in agreement with the man.

"Then what else do we have then?" Captain Ramius asked looking over the map herself and seeing pretty much nothing out here in Lagrange Three. Ensign Badgiruel frowned as she leaned over the desk and looked over the map herself. Besides the major colony ports of Heliopolis, Green Noa, and the military port of Artemis there wasn't anything else at Lagrange Three. There were several smaller stations and ports but these were mostly owned by private or corporate interests therefore were not the best places to lay low for a rouge ship like theirs. She still frowned before tapping one the icon of one of these smaller stations.

"There is Snail Station here but it is a Junk Guild Outpost therefore I don't think they will be willing to take us in. Not to mention again it is pretty close to Artemis therefore it is not really a good idea," she said after a moment of thought mentioning Snail Station which is a twin to Barnacle Station at Lagrange Two. It was reasonable for the various Junk Guild operations at Lagrange Three along with anything past the Earth Sphere itself. Suddenly Lieutenant La Flagga blinked before stepping over to the monitor himself and with a few taps of his fingers quickly zoomed the map out from the Lagrange Three area before tapping a finger on an icon representing the Debris Belt which covered much of the center orbital ring around the planet. It was a hazard to navigation therefore marked on a map like this.

"Hephaestus Station should be somewhere in this area of the Debris Belt and they should take us in no problems," he said looking over at the others making them blink almost as one at his statement.

"Hephaestus Station?" the Captain asked with a raised eyebrow before looking over at the other two who was just as confused as she is.

"Yes it is the primary facility of Madorna Workshop and is where I was raised after my parent's death. It is a huge station that should take in not only us but the refugees no problems. Not to mention the Old Man Maxton did tell me if I ever left the Alliance that they wouldn't have a problem taking me in once more. I don't think he meant bringing a whole battleship like the Archangel with me though," the man mentioned with a bark of laughter at the end making the others nod while the Captain sighed before nodding as well.

"Alright Lieutenant then after we finish up our salvage operation we shall head for the Debris Belt and this Hephaestus Station. So Lieutenant please head up to the bridge to let Chief Neumann known and to take command for a bit. Ensign I need to go over some stuff with you therefore I want you stay behind. Then I shall head up to relief you Lieutenant," she ordered looking over at the other three making them all nod with Lieutenant La Flagga leaving the office quickly heading towards the ship's bridge. However before the Chief could leave the Captain raised a hand to stop the older man from leaving the office.

"I did not ask earlier Mister Murdoch but I take you had not been a very big fan of the Alliance before all of this?" she asked the man softly making the man sigh before crossing his arms.

"Yes for I was one of the handful of people who had been saved by the Mercy and managed to survive its destruction therefore I am not a big fan of the Earth Alliance thanks to that ma'am. I sometimes still have nightmares about it," he replied just as softly making the Captain leaned back in shock at this before sighing at this knowing that knowing all about the so-called Mercy Incident where an Earth Alliance ship had fired on and destroyed the United Earth Sphere Red Cross run Hospital Ship Mercy which had been taking on survivors from both Earth Alliance and ZAFT Ships during the end of the Battle of Nova. It had along with a few other notable incidents made many in the Earth Sphere distrust the Earth Alliance, mostly the Atlantic Federation and to a lesser extent the Eurasian Federation.

"You are not the only one who has nightmares about the Mercy Chief," Natarle whispered as she joined them with a frown. This caused both the Captain and the Chief Petty Officer to look over at her in surprise.

"Oh? I didn't know you were there ma'am," the Chief replied making the woman sigh before turning to look at the Captain.

"Have you wondered Ma'am why I am still an Ensign even after the two of us had served on the same ship soon after graduating about the same time from the Academy? Granted you got that one rank promotion to Lieutenant J.G because you are actually a reserve officer but I should at least be a Lieutenant JG myself but here I am still an Ensign," she replied with a shake of her head making the other two look at each other before turning to look at her.

"I had wondered but I thought it because something happening to keep you there," Murrue mentioned with a frown looking over the other woman remembering when she had served with her onboard the Drake Class Missile Frigate Law in Fourth Fleet right before the war. Then they had served together briefly onboard the Nelson Class Cruiser Montgomery, Captain Koopland's previous command, during the early months of the war.

"Yes that is true ma'am for I was the junior tactical officer onboard the Nelson Class Cruiser Paris which had retreated from the final skirmishing around Nova due to damage and we had lost several members of the crew including the senior tactical officer leaving me in control of the ship's remaining weapons. We stumbled onto the Mercy taking on survivors from both Alliance and ZAFT ships. At first everything was quite calm with the Captain of the Paris trying to have the Mercy take on our own injured, however it was then he noticed Mistrals from the Mercy bringing in several life pods from a ZAFT ship. That was when everything went to hell and the Captain ordered me to fire on the Mercy which he believed to be a ZAFT Support Ship and not a neutral civilian ship like they claimed. I followed that order from my commanding officer over the protests from a few other members of the bridge crew and ordered my remaining weapon crews to fire on the Mercy. One Mark VII beam cannon, two Mark V light beam cannons, and the ship's VLS Missile Launcher all opened fire on the ship destroying it in the matter of seconds," the woman mentioned with a sorrow-filled face making the other two go white in shock at this. The Chief had been shocked since the start of her story when she mentioned the name of her ship, while the Captain had only been confused but gotten a sense of doom when she mentioned the Mercy. Now the two where white-faced in shock for Natarle had admitted to killing the six hundred man crew of the Mercy, including around two hundred or so civilian doctors, medics, and nurses, along with a further two hundred or so survivors for both ZAFT and the Alliance ships.

"It was only after I gave the order that I realized what I had done, not to mention the ECM Officer yelling in my face about it. That was the last time I ever blindly followed orders from a commanding officer. Afterwards I and the other officers of the Paris were taken into custody by Alliance Security were after a few days of being detained we were given the verdict by the special investigation panel were the Captain got docked three months' pay and two weeks in the brig I was given a slap on the wrist along with an extension on my next promotion board. A few weeks later I was approached by Captain Cassius my old Academy mentor who wanted me to be on his crew for the Archangel which I accepted for it would get me away from everything in the Earth Alliance," she bitterly continued with a deep sigh before looking over at the Chief to see him collapsed against the wall of the office staring at her with a shocked face before he blinked slightly before sighing and rubbed his face.

"Ma'am I really want to hate you but I cannot for I see how much that single choice has haunted you. That said your old commander is fair game for my hate along with those High Command and Security Pussies who supposedly investigate the incident. Also if you want to talk about it along with getting drunk afterwards I am fair game," the Chief mentioned after a few moments of internal thought making Natarle only smile weakly in agreement. Captain Ramius watched this with a relieved sigh before shaking off her shock.

"With that Captain I shall see where we are with the salvage operations. With your permission Ma'am," the man mentioned turning to salute Murrue who only softly smiled at this before nodding her head.

"Permission is given Chief, and also get that simulator up and running as soon as possible," she replied with her own salute watching as the man nodded before leaving the office behind heading for the hangar. Murrue then turned her attention to Natarle who had recovered from those memories.

"I like to extend the same invitation to you, without the drunk part of course, if you need it Natarle," Murrue mentioned with a soft smile on her face making the other woman smile back before straightening up and just like that Ensign Natarle Badgiruel was back making Murrue nod with a small smile on her lips.

"Alright then Ensign you have any thoughts on where we can use those volunteers?" she asked making the other woman nod before bringing out the small note pad once more and started to mention her thoughts on that question while Murrue leaned back in her seat with another soft smile on her face. For things were starting to look up for ZAFT weren't on their backs and they weren't in the custody of Alliance Security. The next weeks were going to be quite interesting she believed as she nodded as she listened to her XO. Yes quite interesting indeed.

-o-End-o-

Post Chapter Notes

Well that was interesting wasn't it folks? The question of what in the world is the HS Mercy Incident is answered in this chapter. Basically I came up with this incident to make the Earth Alliance Command look like more like monsters this early in the game. Since bar the Cyclops at Endymion the Earth Alliance didn't really do anything that resemble war crimes therefore the Mercy Incident. While my reasoning to have Natarle part of it is remove the pole out of her ass sort of speak for she didn't really do anything about the Alliance's corruption till only minutes before her death. She followed along the Earth Alliance line no matter what happened, therefore I needed a way to make her joining the Archangel in leaving the service of the Alliance.

I also answered the question on how the Earth Alliance managed to develop their own prototype Natural-Use Mobile Suit Operating System. Basically using the development and testing data taken from the G-Project and their own testing to develop this prototype OS. It is not really complete but is enough for Naturals to pilot, not really well but still enough to make the mobile suit move fully. That is the reason the Alliance introduced the GAT-00D Long Dagger that had been the mobile suits launched from the Mycale last chapter. That said I went with this route instead of my usual AI-Driven Operating System because I admit I was kind of tired of using that and decided to do something a bit different.

We also get a mentioning of Madorna Workshop and its Hephaestus Station which to those fans of the Gundam AGE series will get an idea where this is going. However this version of the Workshop is different for it only has been customizing mobile suits for different clients and only recently have been producing their own mobile suit line. Therefore we shall get a better look at them in the next chapter along with the mobile suits they have produced and let me tell you it is not the design you are expecting.

Alright I do believe that is it and I shall see you all in the next chapter. Now for an Omake for you all to enjoy!

-o-Omake-o-

Bridge
AFS Archangel
Heliopolis Nearspace
Lagrange Three, Earth Sphere

Onboard the Archangel the three senior officers, the bridge crew and everyone watching the exterior video feeds piped throughout the ship could only stare in shock and horror at what happened in the last few seconds. An Atlantic Federation warship had fired on innocent civilians and killed them in cold blood. The majority of them knew that the regular Colony Lifeboat like that one destroyed could carry up to eighty people which was only the drop in the bucket compared to other tragedies like the Bloody Valentine Disaster, HS Mercy Incident during the Battle of Nova, and a couple other similar incidents but still that was eighty innocent people dead right in front of their eyes. That didn't included anyone that were killed when the other life boat held by the Strike was sent flying along with the mobile suit.

On the screen the figure of Captain Koopland stared off-camera for a moment, most likely through his own forward viewport before he shook his head with a frown before turning attention back to his pickup. Both Mu La Flagga and Natarle Badgiruel had shook of their shock and was now staring up at the screen with anger clearly displayed on their faces. However both the man started to speak Lieutenant La Flagga shot a look to the woman next to him who only nodded before starting towards the CIC snagging her wayward headset along the way.

"Well that takes care of that. Now Lieutenant Ramius are you going to have your crew stand down or am I going to have to disable your ship and tow it back to Artemis?" the man ordered staring down the camera at the remaining two officers not evening caring about the anger and disgust displayed on the face Lieutenant La Flagga, and the growing anger displayed on the face of Lieutenant Ramius.

"CAPTAIN! You just killed innocent civilians and that is the only thing you can say!" she finally said exploding anger making the Captain reel back in shock before his face went in anger and he leaned back down towards the camera with a snarl.

"Yes Lieutenant for they don't really matter for I did warn that young man, and even then I was trying to target the Strike to disable it not the Lifeboat. This ship and crew are still new therefore there should be no surprise that there is still some bugs that need to be worked out. Besides Lieutenant I don't have to answer to you about this," he replied making Murrue only shake her head in shock at this before the man raised a hand to signal something and everyone on the bridge gasped as they saw two of the main guns on the Mycale swivel around to target the Archangel with one actually pointing up at the bridge of the ship were they currently are standing.

"Now Lieutenant I shall ask again are you going to stand down or am I going to have to get a little rough and disable your ship directly," the man mentioned making the two officers glare up at the screen however before they could do anything Captain Koopland was distracted by a shout from off-screen.

"Captain! They are targeting..."was all the officer managed to say before once again the viewport flashed white as the twin large "Gottfried Mk71" High Energy Beam Cannons that where still armed and out of their protective coverings, fired onto the smaller Earth Alliance Ship. The four large beams of high energy particles quickly flashed towards the Mycale which speared through the hull of the smaller ship not even caring for the anti-beam coating on the ship's armor, which had become commonplace on many ships, and out of the other side of the ship. One of the beams had pierced directly through the ship's bridge immolating Captain Koopland and his men before destroying the entire superstructure of the ship in the aftermath. After the beams fired at the ship it paused briefly with the holes from the beams sparking before the ship exploded showering debris onto the flanking frigates but they didn't last for long as the "Valiant" Linear Cannons on the flanks of the Archangel barked firing their own deadly payloads at the two smaller ships. While not as powerful as the larger beam cannons they didn't have to be with the small missile frigates which possessed hardly any armor to speak of to protect the ships from the linear cannon slugs. One of the slugs cored through the front of the Drake Class Missile Frigate Davis utterly destroying it while the other slug only skimmed along one side of its sister ship the Gates shredding hull plates and opening the ship to space before burying itself into a large piece of debris behind the ship. This thanks to the last second firing of the ships emergency thrusters but it didn't help the ship at all for it sent the ship into a collision with another piece of debris which slammed it the other side of the ship destroying the bridge with it. The remains of the Gates slowly spun as fires and wisps of oxygen bled from the wreck along with the bodies of the crew.

The bridge of the Archangel was dead silence in shock at this before Natarle Badgiruel calmly floated up from the CIC and looked at the remains of the Mycale Taskforce before shrugging and looked over at the other two officers.

"Opps,"

-o-End-o-

Well this omake is one of the alternative takes on the destruction of the Mycale and its escorts. In this version Natarle was reasonable and ordered the ship's weapons to open fire on the other ships. Mainly due to much of the weapon controls fully automated at this time. This came about after I remembered one of my favorite scenes in the Honorverse where Shannon Foraker did something similar against a State Security Superdreadnaught Squadron riding herd on the regular Navy Fleet she was assigned too during the Ninth Book. Her only response to that was Oops which ends this scene as well. I scrapped this scene for while Natarle in this story is not the rule-binding officer she is in the series itself, it would have taken a bit more for her to all out wipe out the other Earth Alliance ships like that. Still an interesting take on the battle.

That said I shall see you all in the next chapter! Till Then…