Growth of a Seed

"Speaking"

"Radio"

'Thoughts'

Location

Chapter 4

Planet: Earth
System: Sol
Sector: Unregistered
Region: Unknown Regions
Support Ship Eternal

Kira walked onto the bridge of the Eternal, where he was greeted by the ship's captain, Andrew Waltfeld, who was standing over a newly installed tactical board.

"Hey, kid," greeted the senior officer in his usual relaxed manner as he sipped some coffee. "What are you doing up here? I'd thought you'd be on the moon with Lacus." He took a small sip and smiled appreciatively, "Mmm that is some good coffee."

"I would prefer being back on the moon, but because of the recent development everyone's been put on alert. Didn't you get the orders?"

"Of course I did kid; I even received the data on current ship positions and mobile suit strength. I just figured that with Lacus being the Supreme Chairwoman and you being in charge of her security…" Waltfeld let the thought trail off. He didn't need to say anymore, and it would have been reasonable for Kira to stay with her.

"Security in Copernicus City is as tight as it's ever been, so Lacus should be safe there without me. We decided that my skills would be of better use here near the Freedom. Now what's the situation?"

Andy put down his cup and called up a presentation he already prepared that showed the information he had just received.

"Since the arrival of our first visitors, most military forces here in space began moving. Currently the two largest forces are the Eurasians at Artemis base, and the Solomon asteroid base that was built during Durandal's administration. After that everyone is pretty spread out. ZAFT has ships patrolling the entire Earth Sphere; Orb currently has four ships stationed here at Copernicus City with another two at Ame-no-Mihashira; the Republic of East Asia and the South African Union are spread throughout the L4 region where they've been trying to bring some of the abandoned colonies back online. The Atlantic Federation, well that's not looking good."

"They got hit pretty hard in the last war didn't they, so what do they have left?"

"About a single fleet's worth, most of which are scattered around the AF's supply bases that are here on the moon, the ones that are being overhauled to make up for their lack of a central base."

"What about the Terminal fleet?"

"As if you didn't know," said Andrew as he brought up new statistics. "Most of the ship's that attacked Requiem returned to their home fleets, though each nation did send us a handful of ships and mobile suits, crewed and piloted by volunteers. The biggest donator of course was President White, after his investigations turned up all of those secret LOGOS storehouses hiding all of those ships that were supposedly decommissioned after the first war to adhere to treaty limitations. However, while we got the ships and mobile suits, the AF kept the mobile armors and that Girty Lue-class battleship they found."

Planet: Earth
System: Sol
Sector: Unregistered
Region: Unknown Regions
Corellian Corvette Tantive IV

The Tantive IV was currently flying above the surface of the moon several kilometers out from Copernicus City. Aboard the rebel ship, the crew was going through diagnostics of the engine to ensure they were ready to head out the following local day. Currently, everything seemed to be going just fine with the Earth-made parts and they were on schedule, so they were heading back into dock. All in all, Antilles thought it was a good day. Until the sensor officer spoke.

"Sir, I'm picking up Imperial ID beacons! Seventeen military ships have just appeared in-system!"

Antilles felt like growling in frustration at their luck, but being the professional soldier he kept his personal opinion in check and began considering options. 'Seventeen ships, that's taskforce size. A large taskforce but not as bad as it could have been.' "Sensors, are they within line-of-sight?"

"Yes sir, the Imperial ships came out of hyperspace near the estimated entry vector and are currently decelerating. At their current rate they'll be here at the moon in an hour."

Antilles considered the options for the ship and immediately discarded any that involved direct combat. The Tantive IV was a diplomatic ship and retained only two duel turbolaser cannons that were more for scaring off pirates than anything else. They also couldn't run because the princess was still in the city, and it would make them look bad to the people of Earth. That left only one viable option where they could be useful.

"Get us back to the city ASAP! And get as much information about the Imperials' ship composition! The least we can do is provide them with as much information as possible on what those ships can do and possible weaknesses to be exploited!"

Planet: Earth
System: Sol
Sector: Unregistered
Region: Unknown Regions
Star Destroyer Venomous Fang

The Imperial ships jumped out of hyperspace and began deceleration at a rate that would allow them adequate time to get sensor readings of the system. After a fifteen minute scan using long range sensors, Davros was scowling in frustration as he was given an overview of the situation.

When preparing for this action, Davros had expected to find some backwater, sparsely populated if not uninhabited world, where the only source of technology and hyperdrive-equipped ships belonged to the rebels. In other words, the kind of planet favored by the Rebel Alliance to be used as a military base. Add in a few frigates, corvettes, and maybe an old cruiser that the rebels had managed to scrounge and make serviceable again, not to mention several squadrons of starfighters, and you had the perfect place to trap an old Victory Star Destroyer.

Because of the seeming communications blackout around the system and the successful elimination of an enemy ship, the rebels had no reason to evacuate till the probe droids entered in system. Given the amount of time that had passed, he suspected that the rebels would have been preparing either a second trap or, more likely, an evacuation that Davros's ships would have jumped into the middle of.

Either situation would have worked for Davros's plan. And that was to have the four Imperial Star Destroyers and the Lancer move in as the main attack force under the cover of a screen of fighters. While the Star Destroyers would form the main space attack force, a group of troop and vehicle shuttles, under the protection of a squadron of fighters and bombers and the three Strike cruisers, which were configured for ground assaults, would move onto the planet and attack the rebel base once it was found, and they would destroy everything that remained. The remaining ships and their starfighters would form a perimeter to prevent any rebels from escaping.

But that plan was currently moot since that was not what they found.

Instead they found a fully inhabited system with hundreds of artificial constructs orbiting the planet which was virtually unreadable to the sensors beyond the life form detectors (completely useless in this sort of situation). One of his ships found traces of a particle trail left from a ship and the analysis said that whatever was flying around did not use ion engines. All in all, it was bewildering and Davros hated to be bewildered. Now he had to think up of a new battle strategy.

'This society is pretty built up, but they've had no contact with the Empire. And if that analysis is right, their technology isn't up to our level. So any ship analogue won't be comparable. Considering what happened to the Mangle, which was likely the rebels' doing, I could begin an invasion. I'd set up a forward base, and then send a runner out for additional troops and supplies. And the perfect location would be whatever is on their moon that is generating such a large power signal. However, the bureaucrats wouldn't be happy if I didn't at least try a diplomatic approach first. So I'll begin with talks and if it doesn't go the way I want, I'll take action.

Davros gave the command, ordering the ships into new positions for their run on the moon. Though as the taskforce made the course corrections, he was alerted that five corvette and frigate-sized vessels were approaching the formation.

"Send the Behemoth to intercept and keep them away from us as a rearguard. There will be no hostile actions until I give the order, unless defensive in nature."

Planet: Earth
System: Sol
Sector: Unregistered
Region: Unknown Regions
Support Ship Eternal

"Well, good thing we were on alert." Said Waltfeld as he went back to sipping his coffee while listening to the system wide alert. He took a look at the tactical board as new data was inputted. "ZAFT forces from Solomon and all military forces here at the moon have been ordered to intercept. Looks like we'll be moving out too."

"With the Sol Council assembled, they'll probably want Terminal to take command," said Kira. He briefly scanned the tactical board before touching an icon representing a group of military ships which were currently the closest to where the new arrivals appeared. When the information came up, the name of one of the ships stuck out at him. "That's the ship Shinn's assigned to."

"Really?" asked Andy as he took a look at the info, noting that the ships were currently a part of the Terminal fleet. Their composition was made of two Nazca, an Agamemnon, and two Nelsons. Then he saw the name of one of the Nazca. "Yeah, it sure is. It's also the one Lunamaria is on."

After the second war both Gundam pilots volunteered their services to Terminal, and thanks to Lacus, they retained possession of their mobile suits after the transfer. The two made a good team so they were kept together, though the Impulse had since been modified so that it could launch as a singular mobile suit. "Think they'll keep to the directive?"

"It's not them I'm worried about, it's Shinn. He means well but he can still be a bit hot-headed. But he should follow the directive to not take any action unless attacked first. So I expect he'll keep his cool."

Shinn growled in annoyance as he flew the Destiny back and forth between the imaginary borders that separated the Terminal taskforce from the trailing ship of the Imperial fleet, a monstrously huge ship that the new database identified as an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, which was deliberately flying to position itself in front of their own ships, even if it so far kept its backside to them. And if the Terminal taskforce tried splitting up then their path would be blocked by groups of those small, ridiculous-looking mobile armors of theirs, those TIE Fighters.

There were a lot of them and they kept flying around the Star Destroyer in V-shape formations like birds. Though, personally, Shinn thought they looked more like a bunch of buzzing flies.

Shinn would have liked nothing more than to take his Arondight sword and slice the interlopers to pieces, but that would be going against direct orders.

"Man, this is annoying," he grumbled.

"Well there's nothing we can do," said Lunamaria as her Impulse slid up alongside the Destiny. "As long as they don't initiate any hostile actions, we're not allowed to do anything that could lead to conflict."

"Yeah, I know," replied Shinn. "Still, the waiting is really getting on my nerves. I mean what if that whole 'talk request' they're broadcasting is just a hoax to get close?" He asked in reference to the periodic repeating message that was being broadcast from the fleet in such a manner that just about anybody with any sort of receiving equipment could pick it up.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But it gives us time to gather the fleet, and if it is real, it may prevent a war." Though that was what she said, there was no real conviction in Lunamaria's voice. In the time since the rebel ship had come into dry-dock; no one had tried to prevent the crew from mingling with the residents of Copernicus, though they were discreetly watched at all times. Because of that, word was spreading about this battle between the Empire and the Rebellion. And everyone was getting the distinct impression that any interaction involving those two organizations would get bloody and that anyone caught in the middle had to pick a side.

It was a situation no one liked, but at least the Rebels had been polite and were playing by Earth's rules. It was time to see if the Imperials would play ball.

Dozens of kilometers above the surface of the northern pole of Earth's single moon two fleets stood off from one another several kilometers apart.

The size and composition of the fleets varied drastically. On one side were dozens of native ships arrayed in a grid formation. On the other were just seventeen ships, most of which out-massed the ships of the other fleet, ten times over in the case of four of the ships.

Between the two fleets, starfighters and mobile suits flew as interdiction barriers between the fleets.

Aboard his flagship, Admiral Davros waited for the promised transmission from the leader of this world. As the appointed time drew near, his comm. officer spoke up.

"Sir, we are being hailed."

"Put it through."

The communications holo-projector lit up, the blue tinted light taking form. The form of a young woman. When Davros saw this, his eyebrow cocked in curiosity as to who this is.

"Greetings, Admiral Davros, I am Chairwoman Lacus Clyne, the chosen representative to speak with you."

Davros scowled as he answered, "What is this? I requested that this planet's leader be presented to me."

"Our world has several leaders, Admiral, among whom I was selected to represent us."

Davros twitched as he tried to reign in his annoyance. "This is ridiculous. If you have multiple leaders than I demand to speak with whoever has seniority. I can't even imagine why someone like you would have been chosen in the first place."

Flashback

The world leaders had reconvened in the chambers of the Sol Council, hotly discussing the latest development.

They were trying to decide how to proceed with the Admiral's request to speak with the planet's leader. Should they go as a group or select one as a representative?

Eventually, President White turned to Princess Leia, who was present as a consultant and asked, "Have any suggestions?"

Leia didn't even need a moment to think before she explained, "The Admiral would probably respond best to whichever man here leads the strongest nation. I can't guarantee that he will respond with respect or courtesy, but that would be the sort of individual he will respond best to."

That came off a bit confusing so White asked her to elaborate on why it wouldn't simply be the leader of the strongest nation.

"Palpatine's New Order has a noticeable doctrine of discrimination against non-humans and women, especially in the military branches of the Empire. While I can't say anything about this Admiral's beliefs, it is best to err on the side of caution. Also, many Imperials respect the distinction of merit."

"Is that so," muttered White. "If that's the case, then I nominate Lacus Clyne to represent us."

"What?" Princess Leia asked in shock at how the president of the AF just put forward a nominee that pretty much went against her suggestion. She wasn't the only one to voice such confusion.

"It's really quite simple," he said. "It would be easier to gauge the intent of this admiral if we were to present him with a situation that, if the princess is right, should put him on edge. Though I fear that if pushed, he will attack, such an outcome is one we were prepared to accept should the Empire be as the princess has told us."

His reasoning was sound to the others, and though they disliked the idea of a battle they knew their respective forces were prepared for one. This upcoming meeting could very well be the test that would determine which side the people of Earth could take arms with should they choose to involve themselves in the rest of the galaxy.

Princess Leia then led Lacus to the Tantive IV where they could use the holo-comm. to make communication easier.

Flashback End

"Be that as it may, Admiral," said Lacus sternly, "I was the one chosen for my capabilities. By our standards, I am the best suited for this job, so the decision of my appointment is final."

Davros snorted in annoyance at how he was addressed by a girl that couldn't even be half his age. "Very well then, 'Chairwoman' was it? I am here concerning the matter of the Mangle, a ship that is currently in distant orbit around this planet in ruin with what appears to be your ships guarding it, and the rebel vessel it was chasing. And before you answer, Chairwoman, I should warn you that because of the state of the Mangle and the presence of your people in this system, this allows me to make certain assumptions which allow me to order an invasion of this planet. Which I will, if the outcome of our talk is unsatisfactory. In fact it should be noted that a considerable portion of the men under my command have become a tad twitchy over the condition of their compatriots, and without shields your vessels won't be able to defend against the power of mine."

"That sounds like a threat, Admiral. You should know that it was the captain of your ship that fired on my people first."

'Of course he did.' "Take it however you will, Chairwoman. The fact remains that you have become highly involved in Imperial military affairs. As an admiral of the Imperial Navy, I hereby demand that you order your people to stand down so that we may retrieve our personnel and that you hand over any criminals you are harboring."

The Chairwoman didn't say anything for a few moments, giving the admiral the impression that she was being fed lines.

"The governments of Earth do not recognize your Imperial authority here. We are not harboring any criminals, but we will allow you to rescue your people stranded in this system under the condition that you leave immediately afterward and leave us in peace."

Like a hunter that had caught his prey, Davros smiled and bared his teeth. "You just made a mistake Chairwoman. As soon as we were close enough we tagged the ID signal of a ship on your moon, hidden from our sight. Currently the name and vessel type is restricted from us, but that's only possible if the systems had been given illegal modifications. And that's something no loyal and honest son of the Empire would ever do. I warned of what would happen should I be dissatisfied, and I really hate being lied to." With a subtle gesture he signaled the gunnery control officer who relayed a preset order to one of the turbolaser control stations.

Within moments one of the forward turbolaser batteries let loose several volleys of deadly green energy directed straight into the heart of the enemy fleet, only for the turbolaser bolts to impact harmlessly against a grid of energy deployed from an array on one of their smallest ships.

From the holo-projection, Lacus Clyne sighed and looked depressed. "I was hoping that this could be resolved peacefully. I am sorry if my words displeased you, but you've gone too far with your hostile action. If you do not leave and leave us in peace, we will be forced to defend ourselves."

Davros was too busy to give the chairwoman more than a glance as he kept an ear to his officer's reports on battle strength and positions. "Hmph, I don't know who took out the Mangle. But you'll find battling my fleet will not be the same as taking out a single old Victory-class, captained by a man that was less than competent. I suspect that I'll be seeing you in person soon, Chairwoman, as I accept your offerings of surrender." With that parting remark, he cut off communications and turned to the emerging battle.

A fleet-wide communiqué alerted the Earth fleet to engage in combat using their current battle plan. They were aware that the mobility of their mobile suits and the power of their beam weapon gave them an advantage against the Empire's starfighters, which numbered over 350, and against the larger ships. So the mobile suits would be charged with front-line combat against the Imperial forces. However, avoiding attacks from so many direction while trying to bring down the shields would be a real pain.

Their own ships would stay in protective clusters centering on positron reflector equipped Drake-class escorts acting as a protective barrier to provide the mobile suits support and resupply, with the faster more powerful ships running between groups to take pot shots at the enemy. Thanks to the data they had, they were aware that the Imperial ships not only had shields, but also were faster than their own and more heavily armed. While a mass ship attack could defeat one of the Empire's, they would lose more than a few lives.

Unless a ship had laminated armor it wouldn't take very many turbolaser blasts to compromise hull integrity, and without a positron blaster cannon it would simple take too long to bring down the shields. So ships such as the Archangel and the Izumo-class battleships would be the only ships venturing beyond the protective positron reflector barrier. Otherwise this battle would be in the hands of the mobile suit pilots.

Kira Yamato flew as a vanguard in the Strike Freedom, Athrun and the Infinite Justice alongside him. Though neither had done any fighting since the end of the last war, they were still amongst the best, and their Gundams kept just ahead of the slower, less powerful mobile suits.

As the first wave of TIEs approached, Kira launched the Freedom's DRAGOONs and unleashed an attack with the mobile suit's Full Burst mode. The Gundam's numerous beams clipping just as many TIEs, while the Justice destroyed another handful. Though over twelve of the starfighters had been taken out, Kira became unhappy when he saw how attacks that would have disabled a mobile suit caused these machines to fly out of control until they crashed into something or exploded on their own.

'They're too fragile for me to fight the way I want. So be it then.' It was time to switch to plan B. "Athrun, can you deal with these TIEs while I go back for the METEOR?"

"No problem Kira," replied Athrun as the Justice kicked a TIE out of its way like a soccer ball.

With the mobile suit's speed, it didn't even take a few minutes for the Freedom to get back to where the Eternal was stationed, and the METEOR unit was already being undocked.

"Figured at least one of you guys would be coming back for one of these." Said Waltfeld, always a step ahead of others.

Kira gave his thanks as he docked with the high-mobility heavy weapons platform, immediately rocketing off with the three DOM Trooper mobile suits following him as an escort. Kira's target was one of the four Imperial Star Destroyers that was trying to batter down one of the positron deflectors.

With Hilda Harken, Mars Simeon, and Herbert Von Reinhardt watching his back Kira didn't bother worrying about the TIE's buzzing about as he took aim at the top of the massive ship's main body, unloading the METEOR's 77 Erinaceus anti-ship missile launchers and four high energy beam cannons into the massive battleship. The Star Destroyer's shields had already been weakened from a long-range missile bombardment and completely collapsed from Kira's attack. But Kira wasn't finished with just that. Activating the METEOR's massive beam sabers he flew down from above, ramming the energy blades through the ship's armor. Like he did to the O'Neal colonies at the end of the Second War, he flew along the surface, neatly bisecting the ship. Explosions trailed his blades as they severed power connections and other sensitive equipment beneath the armored surface of the ship.

Completing his pass, Kira took off taking one last work at his handy work. The ship was still in one piece, if barely, and the majority of the forward section had gone dead from loss of power, with visible fluctuations in the lighting system happening throughout the rest of the ship.

At that moment the three DOMs attacked the stern of the damaged ship, systematically reducing the primary shield generators and engines to little more than melted circuitry, blackened slag, and disassembled particles.

With one major threat down, it was time to move onto another.

The moment the signal had been sent from the Admiral's flagship, Imperial pilot Lieutenant Kial began his mission. Gathering his squadron, which included a total of eight TIE Fighters and 4 TIE bombers, he led them in a steep dive towards the moon's surface at a near reckless speed. Once close to the surface they kicked in their repulsorlifts which bounced them away from the moon's surface and keeping them from crashing. Now only half a dozen meters away from the surface of the moon they began terrain flying maneuvers. Their destination was whatever was producing the large energy signature on the surface.

The Imperials weren't sure exactly what it was because at several hundred kilometers even long range sensors could only tell them so much. But with so much energy it had to be important.

As the squadron traveled along the moon's surface, several weak signals appeared on the sensors, grew stronger, and then faded, indicating that there were other energy sources that were better shielded. But there were only cursory concerns; their orders were to attack the large and obvious source.

What that source was became apparent as it appeared on the horizon. It was a large dome, its purpose Kial could only guess at. "Decelerate and arm weapons," the lieutenant ordered. Glancing over at his instruments and frowned seeing how the majority of his external sensors were useless. 'Though with a target that large and that close, we probably won't need a targeting lock. But if something could get the jump on us. Best finish this fast.' "We'll be using standard strafing procedure. Bombers soften the target with concussion missiles, and then pound them with proton bombs. Fighters go after targets of opportunity and stay on your wing. Bombers fire on my mark… three, two, one Mark!"

Firing two missiles each, eight concussion missiles raced out ahead of the bombers trailing a quickly dispersing propellant smoke. These models were high-yield nuclear warheads that were far more destructive than a single turbolaser shot with armor penetrating tips.

However Kial and his pilots found that no sooner had the order had been complied with than projectors rose from the metal supports of the dome, emitting positron energy.

The concussion missiles struck the energy barrier with surprisingly small explosions for missiles of their caliber.

Kial didn't have the time to ponder why the warheads did not go off, not as he saw the machines gathering near the base of the dome. There were close to twenty gathering, most humanoid, some with blue torsos, some that were grey and had large crests on their heads, and one larger machine that looked like it was modeled after an insect. 'They must have been alerted by their fleet.' "Fighters, evasive maneuvers. Bombers get over that dome and use proton bombs. Pound it until that shield gone and the dome is rubble."

Logically Kial thought that the next move would be to swing around the dome away from its defenders and hit ground near the dome's edge and hopefully damage some power conduits that are keeping the shield up. However than the enemy ground forces would regroup and for all he knew there were more stashed on the other side just in case his squadron did perform that exact maneuver. And subconsciously his pride as an Imperial pilot couldn't turn down this clear invitation to battle, and he couldn't conceive of losing to ground-pounders.

As two of the bombers and one of his fighters exploded in fiery masses of burnt fuel and munitions, he should have stopped and conceived that thought of defeat, because those ground-pounders were good. Though the Fighters had broken off from the frontal charge so that they could get into a more advantageous firing position while avoiding running into a wall of enemy attacks, the high mobility of the enemy units made them tough foes, much tougher than an attack from Imperial walkers.

That was apparent as one of the crested machines jumped into the air with a rocket propelled leap, the muzzle of its weapon flashing. Kial's early warning system didn't even have time to sound as his starfighter rocked violently as solid rounds struck the underside armor with immense force. His ship was thrown off course, alarms blaring as he fought to control his Fighter. Whatever hit him didn't fully penetrate, but his readouts were telling him that there was considerable internal damage. Power couplings had been knocked out of alignment; several small cracks in the hull had caused damage to the circuitry and shorted several minor systems. So busy was he that he failed to notice the brief green flash of light before his ship exploded.

At the fringe of the Imperial formation, aboard the Carrack-class cruiser Slasher, Captain Fuugee was trying to make sense of the situation.

"What in the name of the Empire is that!" He shouted to his sensor officer after watching his ship's initial volley of turbolasers and ion bolts get stopped short by an energy barrier. "Those ships aren't supposed to have shields. So how can such a little ship be capable of making such a powerful shield?"

"I don't know sir," responded a nervous ensign. In the Empire, it was never a good thing to be asked a question by a superior and answer with an 'I don't know.' "I'm trying to get a lock on the energy signature to figure out what type of shield that is, but all of the ship's sensors are being disrupted. Anything beyond several dozen meters is reading as sketchy and incoherent, and we aren't reading anything beyond two kilometers. Our targeting computers can't get a stable firing solution on the enemy."

"Then aim manually!" snapped the captain.

"Sir," called the communications officer, "we've lost contact with the flagship CIC."

"Was the Venomous Fang destroyed or is it jamming!"

"It's broad spectrum jamming, sir. I'm boosting power to the signal and am running through a frequency modulation program. But so far I can only get in contact with ships and starfighters in extremely close range, and that connection is shaky at best. It's like whatever is jamming us is actually destroying the radio waves."

That was a possibility that made the captain and just about every other person on the bridge grimace. There was a set of protocols in place for just such events. Protocols that said if standard communications could not be restored they were to establish a communications relay network, via any means possible. However this was an inefficient system where on average at least forty percent of all messages were lost and TIE pilots were often left out of the loop unless some of them could be serviced as message carriers.

"Incoming missiles!" shouted the sensors officer as his equipment finally detected several incoming missiles, barely visible through the forward viewport in the vastness of space.

Six missiles slammed against the bow shields, the light coalescing as the shield absorbed and distributed the energy. The force of the explosions, when compared to most missile ordnance the Imperials were used to, was small. According to a holographic readout of the ship, the bow shields had barely lost ten percent and could be quickly recovered. If they had the time to recharge that is.

"Enemy fighters," called the same sensor officer as three machines flew into view, machines that were likely the source of the missiles. Their aerodynamic design and wings gave the incoming fighters the distinct appearance of practical aircraft. And that was strange given everything else the natives were flying.

The three fighters swooped into an attack run on the Carrack's bow, green darts of energy firing into the shields, chipping it down like turbolaser blasts.

The Slasher's forward guns rotated and opened fired upon the incoming machines, though such attacks are rarely effective against nimble fighters. The situation became worse when the machines shifted and transformed into winged, man-like machines and their agility increased greatly.

Soon the three machines were right next to the hull of the ship, just outside the weakened shield. As one, the three enemy fighters pulled out a new weapon that ignited into large pink blades of energy.

The captain of the Slasher had served in the Clone Wars and the moment he saw those weapons only two thoughts went through his head. The first was a simple exclamation of fear as old memories surfaced from the one time he had seen a Jedi fight on the ground. 'Lightsabers!' The second thought was more morbid as he recalled a conversation he once had with fellow fleet officers back in the old days, a conversation that focused on speculating on whether or not a lightsaber could be used effectively against a shielded ship.

He was about find out the answer as one of the pink sabers smashed in the bow shield in front of the forward viewport. The viewport's photoreceptive properties kicked in and darkened as intense light appeared as a reaction between shield and saber. "Are the shields holding!"

"No, sir! It's eating through the shields! They'll be down in…" the ensign reporting the shield's strength took only a quick glance at his monitor before practically leaping out of his seat and running for the bridge entrance, which was enough warning for the rest of the crew to run. But it was too late as the shield failed and the saber punched through, gouging clear through the bridge, vaporizing and roasting anything within.

The other two Murasames delivered similar cuts to the engines and the belly of the ship. The explosion of the engines violently rocked the ship as atmosphere rapidly escaped through the belly slash. Mission completed, the Murasames flew away to find a new target, leaving the crew of the sinking ship to fend for themselves.

Fortunately for those who survived, the Carrack-class has outstanding safety features.

Athrun Zala was getting a little annoyed with the TIE Fighters that the Empire used. Why? Because the darned things were so freaking fast. Making it difficult for the Infinite Justice to get close enough to use its beam blades, and close range combat was where his Gundam excelled. At first it was easy, with the N-Jammers active the starfighters' pilots had to fight at ranges he was used to, meaning that he could easily get at them as they used their preferred tactics of either charging in suicidal from the front, or getting on his tail to shoot him in the back. Both tactics were easily countered thanks to his suit's mobility and beam shields. The problem was after he had taken down a couple of TIE's like that; someone had wised up and ordered the others to stay away from 'the bright red machine.'

Now they were playing a game of tag where the TIEs would charge him in groups and then run when they got within fifty meters, forcing Athrun to hunt them down with his beam cannons. This new tactic, a combination of hit and run and massed attack, was finally scoring the Empire some kills, but at a rate where they lost two or three units for every mobile suit they took down. By all means the Justice was above average to the any mass-produced mobile suit in terms of long-range offense and speed, but it's annoying to any pilot when they can't draw out the full potential of their machine.

That's why Athrun left the TIE hunting to a group of GOUFs and Murasames and went after a target that couldn't run from him. Like Kira, he turned his attention to one of the Imperial Star Destroyers.

Instead of committing a full frontal charge with guns blazing, Athrun swung around behind the massive ship, shooting down any TIEs that tried to get in his way. When he was free from the pests Athrun flew up behind the twin globes of the primary shield generator and pulled out his two beam sabers, using both to tear down the shields and slash through the globes at the same time.

With the shields gone, the missile bombardment the nearest Earth ships had been peppering the Star Destroyer with were finally taking effect, albeit slowly considering the size of the target. So Athrun gave them a hand by detaching the Fatum-01 subflight lifter, its beam blades activated, and remote sending it through the 'neck' of the command tower. As it came out the other side and back to Athrun miniature explosions could be seen from the damage of critical power systems. Soon lights throughout the entire command tower shut off, indicating loss of power. The glow of the engines died and the turbolasers that remained firing became erratic after the loss of the primary computer core that supplied and coordinated sensor data.

The head of the beast was dead and soon the thrashings of its body would end.

On another part of the battlefield, a squadron a TIE's flew head to head against a group of three Euclids, the larger mobile armors using their positron deflectors to protect themselves from the smaller, faster starfighter's laser bolts.

In the cockpit of the lead TIE fighter, the squadron commander grinned viscously as he spotted the lack of mobility for the enemy machines. He ordered his men to pass the targets and turn around to hit them from the rear.

In a span of seconds, the lead TIE passed over the lead Euclid, and was destroyed in a flash of green light from a Windam hiding behind the mobile armor, as did the three closest trailing TIEs. The remaining Fighters in the squadron had time to pull back but the trap was sprung as the six Aile equipped Windams appeared from their hiding places behind the Eulicds, firing into the enemy's broken formation.

Of all of the Imperial ships, it was the smallest, the Lancer-class frigate that was proving to be the most dangerous to the Earth mobile suits. The Lancer-class frigate was a ship designed purely for combating starfighters, meaning it was best suited for dealing with small, fast, and maneuverable targets. And while it lacked the shields, armor, and turbolasers for capital ship combat, its array of twenty quad-laser cannons and powerful engines made it a rancor to the smaller vessels.

This was why after several frustrating attempts by mobile suits to get close, resulting in several deaths, an Izumo-class battleship was approaching the Lancer. The course of the two ships had them on head to head course, and would pass each other in one minute, giving both ships an ideal vantage to launch a broadside into the other. And that was the last thing the Lancer's captain wanted having lost his ship's escort of six TIE Bombers.

Without those Bombers to protect the Lancer from enemy capital ships, the captain did not want to get his ship into a slugging match with a larger vessel. Quickly he ordered the helmsman to make a hard turn to starboard so that they could give the enemy a single broadside on the enemy's bow to slow them down while the Lancer retreated into a more heavily defended part of the Imperial formation.

That decision, while conventionally sound for the Imperial Navy, was a mistake. The Izumo-class had little weapons to offer for a broadside, the designers choosing to make the primary weapons forward facing to allow maximum firepower while offering the smallest possible target profile. Thus once the Lancer had its starboard side facing the Izumo, the Earth vessel fired its positron cannons, first one than the second instead of the usual tandem.

The positron energy of the first shot struck the electron based barrier of the Lancer's shields, the two opposing particles completely neutralizing each other and leaving the Lancer momentarily unprotected as the second shot completely bisected the ship.

With that threat gone, the Izumo retreated to the safety of the nearest Drake's positron deflector.

(Scene written by Tellemicus Sundance)

With a feral roar, Shinn spun his Gundam around, beam rifle blazing as he targeted five of the flimsy mobile armors, the five eyeball-shaped armors exploded in quick succession. Punching the throttle, he threw himself into a fast lunge towards another seven-man V-shape formation. The Destiny's Wings of Light shining beautifully and leaving a confusing trail of afterimages behind him. He almost smirked as some of the so-called 'TIE fighters' pilots began to panic and break away from his attacking form.

But not all of them did. Three of them continued on towards him, their beam cannons unleashing a wall of beam energy that would've been almost hazardous for most common mobile suits. Raising the Destiny's energy shield, he caught the energy that he was unable to dodge.

"You'll have to do much better than that!" he growled towards the eyeball pilots as he continued to rapidly close the distance between them.

Realizing what his intentions were, the three starfighters quickly separated and scattered. Spinning the Destiny around quite easily with the AMBAC, Shinn once again targeted and fired, destroying all three within an instant.

"This is almost too easy," he muttered to himself. "Compared to mobile suits, they may be faster but that's it." Despite himself, Shinn couldn't help but wish he was facing an opponent in a Gundam-like machine. At least then he might have had a challenge!

A target lock! Using the AMBAC, Shinn spun the Destiny around as he raised his beam shield again. A pair of large green beams slammed into the energy shield with all the power and finesse of a freight train, not penetrating but most certainly sending the Gundam flying backwards a short distance.

"What the?" he cried out as he quickly reoriented his Gundam and faced the bastard who dared attack him. It was one of those monstrously large triangular warships, a Star Destroyer of the Imperial-class.

"So, you wanna fight me, huh?" he asked as he turned the Destiny to fully face the Star Destroyer. Grabbing the Arondight as he opened the Destiny's wings, he flared the engines and rocketed forward at speeds that were almost as fast as most of the galaxy's modern starfighters. "You're going down!"

It was then that he did something most people onboard the Imperial warship would've never thought possible. He easily dodged the incoming turbolaser fire and landed upon the very tip of the ship's bow hull, thrusting his beam sword down, penetrating the shield after a moment of resistance, and stabbing deeply into the thick armor as though it wasn't even there. With another roar, he blasted the engines again, causing him to drag the Arondight, tearing through the armor like tissues. He flew through a zigzagging pattern across the hull, shredding the warship.

After performing this for several seconds, he yanked the sword free and made a mad dash towards the nearest turbolaser turret that was trying to aim for him, Palma Fiocina glowing ominously. He slammed the Destiny's palm into and partially through the turret before pulling back and allowing the cannon to explode spectacularly.

Holstering the large beam sword, he sent the Destiny rocketing up towards the bridge. Evading the pitiful defensive fire with ease, he pulled his heavy cannon out and fired once he was level with the command tower. However, like he suspected based on the previous reports, the beam dissipated against an unseen barrier before it even came close to the structures. For just a split second, Shinn could only stare at the sight of the bridge personnel before him, not a single one of them wore a spacesuit. Did they actually have the arrogance to assume that their advanced technology would never fail them or were they just stupid to enter battle like that?

Shrugging off further questions of the level of intelligence that the rest of the galaxy possessed, Shinn switched weapons back to the beam sword. Dancing to the side to again evade the turbolasers, he flew off into an arc around the command tower, heading towards the shield generators. Flaring his Wings of Light again, he shot forward and delivered one slash to both gigantic spheres, causing each to explode violently in his passage.

Switching back to the beam cannon, he returned to his earlier position in front of the bridge and fired again. This time the high-energy weapon tore through the tower, punching a hole straight through to the back of the massive battleship's command tower. As he was pulling back to find a new target, Shinn didn't notice that his final shot at the Star Destroyer caused a chain reaction that sent the entire vessel ablaze.

In the Impulse, Lunamaria led a force of six ZAKUs equipped with various Wizard packs and four GOUFs toward two ships, a Strike and Dreadnought-class cruiser respectively, that were sticking close to each other for defense.

Mentally, Lunamaria congratulated herself for taking a refresher course in battle tactics and command. She quickly recognized that the designs of the Imperial ships were well suited for unleashing megawatts of energy on their foes; it was a familiar design issue that led to two problems that had plagued old wooden sailing ships. First whenever they were in a position to bring the majority of their guns to bear on a target they presented the largest profile for the enemy to fire on. The second problem was that if a smaller faster target, like their mobile suits, got in between two bigger ships that were alongside each other, like the two Imperial ships were now, than the big ships were restricted from firing all of their guns for fear of hitting their ally.

Now as long as she and the GOUFs' pilots could keep the TIEs busy, the ZAKUs would be completely free to demolish the capital ships.

The ORB-01 Akatsuki flew through the inferno, its pilot Mu La Flaga, picking off enemy units one by one.

Of all of Earth's mobile suits the Akatsuki and its pilot were one of the deadlier combinations for fighting the small fast starfighters. Early in the battle a group had tried to swarm him, identifying his unique mobile suit as important. Though he dodged as his training induced instincts dictated there were 17 of the Fighters, and some of their lasers hit the Akatsuki, only to reflect off the mobile suit's "Yata-no-Kagami" anti-beam reflective armor. Their weapons were completely useless.

And with Mu's ability to finely control the 7 DRAGOON pods and an uncanny knack to predict where his opponents will be he was a shark among fish.

The captain of one of the Carrack class cruisers was trying to play it smart, maneuvering his vessel so that it could be used for its intended purpose, anti-capital ship combat. Since his turbolasers and ion cannons couldn't get through those shield walls, he simply ordered his helmsman to fly around it. Those ships weren't firing their missile bombardment at his ship so its shields were free to catch attacks as it moved into position.

Once the Carrack was around the barrier, it was met with a surprise before it could open fire.

A surprise in the form of an YMAF-X6BD Zamza-Zah, positron reflectors active, smashing into the side of the Imperials' ship. Throughout the various ship formations, there were surviving prototype mobile armors, backed by Euclids for just such an occasion.

The respective energy barriers clashed against each other, trying to cancel the other out. The discharges of energy caused by the clashing barriers played merry havoc with the sensors of the two machines, but that was just fine for the crew of the Zamza-Zah. As planned, at that moment the crew of the Carrack was shunting power into the area of the shields where the Zamza-Zah remained pushing into the ship, and with its sensors blinded they never saw the GuAIZ R, Dagger L, and Astray mobile suits that had been kept as a reserve defense force approach the ship, flying around to the opposite side of where the Zamza-Zah was.

With its shield energy being diverted to keep the Zamza-Zah off, its remaining sections were weakened. The old model mobile suits took advantage of this weakness and fired their beam rifles, concentrating the beams around the engines and main power generator. Their attack quickly collapsed the shield in that area and soon the engine section was been decimated, looking a lot worse than Swiss cheese.

With the Carrack's power running low, all of its shields dropped, leaving it defenseless as the Zamza-Zah fired two of its Gamzatov multi-phase energy cannons into it, dealing the death blow.

The battle was lost to the Imperials. Their capital ships were wrecked and their starfighter force was essentially annihilated. What remained struggled to put up a fight but it was clearly a futile effort.

It was in this situation when the running lights began blinking rapidly along the edge of the remains of a heavily damaged Imperial Star Destroyer.

By luck Captain Antilles caught sight of this on the holoprojecter. Without wasting a moment he got on the communications system. "Get away from the Star Destroyer! It's self-detonating!"

Star Destroyer Mangle

From the secondary bridge of the disabled Mangle, Tristan Palleon watched the battle. Not through the viewports of course, which the battle was only tiny indistinct flashes of light. He and the rest of the personnel on the bridge were watching through a new long-range camera the ship's engineers had been able to build in their spare time. The camera was projecting a holoimage across the front of the secondary bridge allowing all those within to view the intense battle in somewhat sharper detail and grim clarity.

It was only too clear from the moment the battle started that the inhabitants of this planet were the ones that held the advantage. One by one the Imperials' ships were being destroyed with only a handful of losses for the locals. With a resigned expression, Tristan palmed his comlink. He was transmitting several clicks in a short uncomplicated code, warning his fellow conspirators that things were going downhill and it was best to stand ready.

It might have been different if the Mangle had managed to send a message to whoever was in charge of the small fleet, which was really nothing more than a task force. The battle might have played out a little differently, but Tristan wasn't too sure. Sadly most Imperial officers, especially those with posts closer to the core, relied on the overwhelming power the military had at its disposal to achieve victory. That was the obvious strategy of whoever was in charge. The man clearly thought he could just barge through with little to no intelligence what he was up against.

As the battle progressed in its ever worsening fashion the running lights began blinking in a recognizable pattern. The Lieutenant who was the sole surviving senior officer and thus the man currently in command, sighed heavily. "It seems we have no choice," he said, everything about him suddenly saying that he resigned himself to the inevitable. "The rescue force has been defeated. However their commander has decided that for the good of the Empire it is better to destroy what we can instead of allowing our enemies a chance to capture, repair, and use our own materials against the Empire. Thus our duty is clear."

It did not take a genius to understand where this was leading. Tristan tapped a second code into his comlink.

"We have not the forces to resist should there be an attempt to board the Mangle," continued the Lieutenant. "We have no choice but to follow our superiors' orders. Ensign, begin the self-destruct sequence."

"B-But sir, what about all the people aboard?" The ensign was clearly uncomfortable with the order. By luck this particular individual was in on the mutiny should it happen and subtly the ensign's eyes darted to Tristan and back. It was quick and wasn't seen by anyone except the intended who responded with a small shake of the head.

"Everyone aboard this ship," said the Lieutenant icily, "is a member of the Imperial military. You have all taken an oath of loyalty to the Empire, and are expected to die for it at the orders of your commanders should your death benefit the Empire. As it will here. Now start the sequence or get off my bridge so that I can do it myself!"

Suddenly there was a click. "I'm afraid that choice is no longer up to you." Everyone on the bridge turned to see Junior Lieutenant Tristan Palleon standing a meter behind the commander, his service blaster in hand and pointed at the man.

"Palleon, what is the meaning of this?"

"It's simple, sir, this is a mutiny." As Tristan said those seven words, the bridge doors opened and a dozen storm troopers marched in and arranged themselves accordingly to shoot at any officers not part of the conspiracy. "I'm sorry, sir, but I simply can't condone the meaningless deaths that would result from the decisions you and your officers have chosen to follow. And most of the crew agrees with me. You will be given one chance to change you decision and attempt to make a deal with the people of this system, or I will be forced to remove you from command."

The commander stood straight and tall, and said with authority, "Never!"

"Then I'm afraid you and anyone who follows you will have to be incarcerated in the brig for the time being. Men-"

Before he could give the order the commander's arm snapped, drawing his own blaster. But before it could be brought up halfway the sound of a blaster firing filled the air and a red dart of energy struck his chest. The former Lieutenant face was filled with pained surprise before he fell over, dead.

The storm trooper who fired lowered his rifle and returned to his standby position.

Tristan didn't like that someone had died, he had wanted to do this without bloodshed, but he was prepared and fully expected for there to be resistance. "You know that we are serious," he said to those who remained. "Let's not have any more stupid actions. Sergeant, please escort these men to the brig. And have the body removed and put on ice."

He waited for his orders to be carried out until only he and three others who were fellow conspirators remained. Tristan then called for others to fill in the empty stations before turning to the communications warrant officer. "Warrant officer, please hail our guards. It's time we ensured our survival." Turning back to the holoprojection he saw that of the Imperial taskforce virtually nothing remained. There were probably a number of escape pods floating around, filled with those who chose not to die.

However no matter how many were still alive there was little doubt that well over a hundred thousand individuals lost their lives this day. Sadly Tristan had little time to mourn for his fallen comrades, having to focus on what he had to bargain with.

Author's notes: This was a long time coming. Part of the reason comes from the difficulty I had in writing this battle scene. I had never done anything of this scale so I don't have anything to judge myself by. A large shout out of thanks to Tellemicus Sundance, the man whose opinion I rely on more than any other for this story and who willingly takes time to edit my work before I post it. Without him the quality of this story would be considerably less.

Some people may ask why the Imperials were so easily defeated. Well part of it can be attributed to advantages provided to Earth thanks to their unique technology. Second would be how the number of starfighters to mobile suits was more or less equal, while the ship to ship ratio heavily favored Earth. Finally it is my personal belief that the average Imperial naval officer and TIE pilot are simply "not that good."

Watching the movies and reading through the Extended Universe materials I have come to the belief that at its height the Empire valued soldiers who are obedient over those who are highly intelligent or are creative thinkers. And many of the sources indicate that the Imperials didn't put much value in individual TIE fighters or their pilots (or storm troopers for that matter), considering both to be the most common resource aside from hydrogen.