Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Resolution: PART I

by Deathzealot

NaNoWriMo 2010 Entry. The much awaited sequel to Divergence, that shall explore what happens to our heroes as the war continues to rage on around them. Will they be able to bring the war to a swift Resolution! PART I Complete!

3. Phase Two: The Battle for the Factory

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is related in anyway with the popular Japanese Anime known as Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, including its sequel Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. I only own my own story, the plot of said story, and any characters that I have created. So please no lawyers I have no money to give them.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Resolution

A Mobile Suit Gundam SEED AU Novella

Written and brought to you,

by William R. Woods
aka "Deathzealot"

With input and ideas from SethMKlein

Chapter BGM is Never Say Die by Iron Savior (Damn Power Metal is addicting!)

Phase Two: The Battle for the Factory

The Battle for the Factory was the very first battle of the combined might of the Peacekeeper Faction since they formed. Not to mention it was the first large scale ZAFT space offensive operation since the Battle of Nova little under a year before, the Le Crueset Team attack at Mendel Colony not really included in the scheme of things. It also was a battle of surprises for both sides, with both sides surprised over something. ZAFT the sheer size and power of the combined Peacekeeper Faction, while the Peacekeepers were quite surprise over several things…

Taken from The Battles of the Bloody Valentine War

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Nearspace
The Factory
Deep L4 Zone
July 21, CE71
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While the master alarm siren rang throughout the Factory it became quite a surprise to the gathered crew and pilots of the Peacekeeper Faction, but they did not let it affect them all that much as they rushed to get ready for battle. The various experienced soldiers of the Faction reacting on instinct and with experience to the alert. While the more green new recruits were left confused and scared over the alert, but were soon reassured by their more experienced fellows. Within five minutes of the alarm being raised saw mobile suits streaming out of the Factory's main hanger and into the debris filled space around the large mobile dock that is their home. While the larger warships took more time, but soon were backing out of berths and into the same debris-filled space many with their new paint jobs still wet or in a few cases were left half-finished. Another moment found the mobile suit squadrons shaking up into their individual squadrons or groups, while the ships formed smaller taskforces. The two Sheppard Class Light Cruisers bracketing the larger Eternal the flagship for the entire Faction, the two Archangel Class ships sailing together for the first time, the three former ZAFT vessels forming up together, the two large Orb Izumo Class Battleships flanked either side of the of the two slightly larger Archangel Class ships lending their near-sisters their awesome firepower, and finally the two last ships the modified Washington Class Missile Frigate Gates and the Special Assault Vessel Loki took up the rear. Watching all of this is Orb Union Lieutenant Colonel Brian Carter from the cockpit of his Astray Custom. The young Orb officer turned his attention away from the exiting ships, and back to the Faction's gathered mobile suits which had settled into their squadrons or groups into the proper formation he had ordered. Brian nodded at this pleased that they had followed his tactical plan he ordered them to follow. It was quite a surprise that he been put in overall command of the Peacekeeper Faction's entire mobile suit force, including the Factory's own defensive mobile suits. It had been decided that he had the most experience in mobile suit operations then even most of the former ZAFT pilots in the Faction. Since not only had he single handily built up Orb's Mobile Suit Division but he had been a ZAFT pilot for almost two years before he returned to his homeland. Thanks to this new position he had been promoted by Lady Cagalli herself to Lieutenant Colonel to reflect his new position of Mobile Suit Commander. Soon after being put into command Brian had the entire combined Mobile Suit force go through several training drills and maneuvers both in simulations as well as live-testing. This was to make the pilots from three different factions, technically four with the Factory Defense pilots, work together far better then before. Now all that training was paying off as the various Astrays, GuAIZ Custom, and 105 Daggers of the Peacekeeper Faction moved as one towards the approaching enemy force. With another nod Brian turned his attention to inspect the formation once more and saw that one machine was slightly out of formation and was about to say something when the particular commander of that pilot beat him to it.

"Owens your positioning is off get back into the formation," ordered James Duke the overall commander of the Factory's pilots snapped out. James was the oldest son of Commander Joseph Duke the Factory's former Eurasian XO. While James was young, younger then even Brian, he was shaping up to be a great commander for the green pilots of the Astrays of the Factory Defense Force. Brian nodded pleased the young commander was on top of it, and watched as the particular machine sheepishly made his way back into the proper position. With that problem solved Brian turned his attention back to his own machine's radar as the enemy became ever closer. With a final look at his pilots, Brian flipped on his communication system to speak to the other pilots.

"All Mobile Suits this is Carter, stay sharp and focused looks like we are going to have company any minute," Brian said as the ZAFT ships came in visual range and as it did so the lead ship of the formation made him gasp followed by many throughout the faction.

"Is that…" one Orb pilot started to speak with shock lacing their voice as the surprise rippled throughout the faction.

"That's the…" his fellow former ZAFT pilot started to mention also in shock, but like the Orb pilot the statement was drowned out by other equally shocked exclamations. Brian remained silent as he eyed the approaching ship, knowing that things were about to be very interesting.

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Flag Deck
Peacekeeper Ship Eternal
Factory Nearspace
Deep L4 Zone

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On the flag deck of the Eternal safely entombed in the center of the large ship under not only layers of armor protecting the ship itself, but a second thinner layer around the flag deck it self, Admiral Henry Gloval could only stare in silent awe at the very sophisticated instruments and stations that occupied the flag deck. He had been on the ship before today, but he had never stepped into the flag deck due to it being brought online and updated slightly over the past few days. They were lucky that everything was finished in time for this battle. The aged Admiral stared around at the circular flag deck from his so-called command station looking down at the various stations, and displays that took up the walls of the room. These stations were manned by a collection of technicians from all three of the major factions of the Peacekeeper Faction; it was quite a sight to see the various uniforms. With a shake of his head to get himself back into the mindset the Admiral turned his attention to large center display which showed a large tactical map of the Deep L4 to see that the enemy ships were now getting close enough to detect the thermal patterns. He nodded before turning to look over the two women standing behind him, one wearing the same black one-piece jumpsuit he wore was his longtime aide and confidant Lieutenant Commander Henrietta Thompson whose pregnancy had started to show. While the other young woman was the short-black haired Hilde Schbeiker, a young crew-woman from ZAFT who was being groomed by Henrietta Thompson to replace her as Gloval's main aide after she went on maternity leave. He smiled at this and wondered this young woman would eventually become part of his family as Henrietta had before turning to address mentioned woman standing beside him.

"So Henrietta how is that dog you took in the other day?" he asked with a warm smile to the young mother to be, mentioning the stray dog she took in during a leave time in the Factory's city block. Strangely no-one knew were the young dog came from, and how it got into the Factory Block, but it was now Henrietta's pet. Since Henrietta moved into the city-block due to her going on her maternity leave pretty soon.

"He is doing great sir, he is settling into the house very well," she responded with a smile of her own, making Gloval nodded pleased.

"Have you given it a name yet, and has Mister Weaver found out were it came from yet?" he asked turning to briefly look at the tactical map once more before turning his attention back to his aide.

"Not yet, though it answer it Mutt for a strange reason, but I hope to get him to know a new name pretty soon. As for how he got onto the Factory, Jose is baffled though he does think he somehow got onto one of the Junk Guild supply ships," she answered with a nod of her head. Gloval laughed before turning his attention back to the tactical map as the contacts started firm up as they got into range. His eyes narrowed and turned his full attention back onto the coming battle and away from the small puppy. At the corner of his eye he saw Henrietta doing the same. He suddenly stiffened in shock as the lead ship's thermal pattern came up and identified.

"That's an..." Henrietta said in shock, while Hilde's jaw drop in surprise for the lead ship of the approaching ZAFT forces was a near-copy of their ship. It was an Eternal Class ship!

"Commander Waltfield! Please tell me I am seeing things?" Gloval demanded looking over at the monitor display that showed the bridge of the Eternal and at the center seat itself were Commander Andrew Waltfield sat. The other man looked shock himself, but soon shook it off and looked over at the Admiral.

"Sorry sir, but that is in fact an Eternal Class ships or more precise it looks to be the Legacy. I really can not believe that they managed to get it finished in time, for when we left the PLANTs it was still being built," the Commander answered with a grim frown on scarred face. Admiral Gloval only flinched before nodding, knowing it was most likely as shocking as the Orb Remnant and Clyne Faction ships seeing an Archangel Class ship attacking them at the Battle of Mendel.

"Is there any differences between Eternal and this Legacy? Like does it have METEORs as well and what machines would it carry?" he asked with a grim frown of his own looking at the former ZAFT commander, mentioning the large and powerful sub-flight units attacked the sides of the Eternal. Which at this moment were still being calibrated and being fitted for normally they had not be set to be used by the Freedom and Justice prototypes.

"No when the Legacy was being built it was decided that she would not carry any METEORs, instead she has a pair of turrets replacing them giving her a slightly better firepower then us, but that is all that really different about her Admiral," the Commander reported with a shake of his head to the older man who nodded himself pleased at this for he didn't really want to face off against METEOR equipped mobile suits.

"What about Mobile Suits? What would it be carrying?" Gloval asked eying the contact pip of the Legacy.

"It's complement is three to four similar our own refitted hanger, but it depends on if its carrying either normal mobile suits or G-Weapons. I would think that it would have at least one G-Weapon, which Kira and Athrun can keep busy. The others would be normal mobile suits," the scarred man answered with a relieved smile, one that was copied by the Admiral. However both men were soon distracted as Hilde Schbeiker gasped in surprise and pointed at two more of the thermal contacts on the screen.

"Commander, those two are the Atlantica Class carriers!" she reported and while Admiral Gloval looked confused Commander Waltfield looked shocked before turning his head to look at a similar display on the bridge before looking back at the pickup. He was now shaking his head at something or another.

"Admiral those are indeed Atlantcia Class carriers, this is bad they are ZAFT's version of the Alliance's new Saratoga Class carriers," he reported back to the Admiral who still looked confused but on the report and the comparison to the Saratoga Class carriers he looked shocked once more. The Saratoga Class ships were purebred carriers carrying sixteen mobile suits and if these new carriers were the same that added more mobile suits then from a normal similar sized ZAFT fleet.

"How many machines can they carry?" the Admiral asked with yet another frown hoping that it won't be too bad, but was surprised when he saw the grim look on the other man's face.

"They each carry eighteen machines sir," he reported making the Admiral flinched before he straighten out and took a deep breath. He looked around for a moment before looking over at one of the stations whose operator now looked up at him.

"Mobile Suit Operations let our Mobile Suits know this information. Alright folks let's get to work we have a battle to fight," he ordered with a scowl on his face. The various technicians sitting behind the various stations on the flag deck could only nod in understanding at this order before turning their attention to their duties. Gloval took a deep breath before clasping his hands behind his back and started to snap out orders as the battle officially started.

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Bridge
ZS Legacy
Factory Nearspace
Deep L4 Zone
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On the bridge of the opposing flagship the commander of the ZAFT forces approaching the Factory stood next to the captain's chair of the Eternal Class Legacy, the second ship of the class. While it did indeed look similar to its counterpart now opposing ZAFT, it looked different with a dark-blue paint scheme and the weapons vastly different. With the single barrel beam cannon on the Eternal replaced with a far more powerful double-barrel version, and two smaller single-barrel cannons replacing the mounting points for the METEOR units. As a result it is far better defended then the Eternal and is slightly faster due to several issues. Flanking this ship was ZAFT's first two Altantica Class Carriers, a new ship design built in response to the growing threat of Alliance Mobile Suits as well as carrier refitted Agamemnon Class and purposely built Saratoga Class Mobile Suit Carriers. Able to carry eighteen mobile suits a piece these new ships would be the center of any new ZAFT fleet, especially against the Alliance. However none of this was on the mind of the ZAFT commander as he watched the massive facility and the large force gathered in front of said facility. The red haired man could only frown at this and look over several displays showing various angles of the enemy force, from the other ships of the fleet or recon drones.

"Looks like I was misinformed on the enemy's strength and size. I should have brought more ships if I knew they had this large of a force," the commander remarked with a thoughtful look on his face. He plucked his normal suit's helmet out of zero-gee and eyed the group once more. The Captain sitting the captain's chair looked shocked at his commander before turning to look at the same displays the Commander had looked at.

"Commander Biaggi sir! You are actually going to have us going against this enemy, even though they outnumber," the young captain, one Captain Franco Piett, mentioned in shock looking at the normal suited figure of his commander, one Commander Greg Biaggi still standing besides his chair. The commander was almost a legend in ZAFT, and a very old hand in ZAFT. He was one of the first Commanders to be assigned in ZAFT, and would take part in not only the CE69 Blockade but several minor skirmishes against the Sponsor Nation forces. While he would go on to fight in the early battles of the war, he would be heavily injured during the First Battle of Victoria, and would be reassigned to head ZAFT's new Intelligence Division. Now the legend was ready to once again join the battle against the Earth Alliance.

"Yes Captain Piett we are. You forget we are almost always outnumbered, this would be no difference, but no worries I don't plan trying to win this straight up. Instead I just want to get a feel on the enemy and how good they are. This is of course ZAFT's first engagement with this new enemy, granted the Le Creuset Team did face off with part of it earlier at the Battle of Mendel, but this is the first time we have face the entire group of this new enemy. Anyways the more damage we do to them the better, for they perhaps have a harder time to repair and replace their ships and mobile suits then us. So we are just going to get a get a feel for their abilities before we back off and retreat. We shall come back with a larger force at a later time," he responded with a pat on the younger mans shoulder and a smile. The younger ZAFT officer could only sigh in relief before nodding at his commander.

"So you want me to order the attack then sir?" the Captain asked looking up at the towering figure of the commander who only chuckled before turning away from the captain's chair and started to move towards the lift to get to his own machine.

"Yes captain the order is given, and let's see what this new enemy of ours is capable of should we," he said before the lift doors closed and blocked him off from the bridge. The young Captain continued to stare the doors for a brief moment before nodding and turning to pass his own orders to his crew.

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Nearspace
The Factory
Deep L4 Zone
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With the order given the ZAFT mobile suits started to launch from their ships to face off with their counterparts from the Peacekeeper Faction which had already been launched and were waiting for their ZAFT opponents. With the battle started, the dying began throughout the battle with small explosions marking the presences of dead mobile suits and their pilots. It was a beautiful and calming sight to see as the explosions looked more like those from fireworks then anything else to those who watch the battle from a distance. However at the same time it was quite horrible and shocking due this sight being seen as beautiful. Within moments of the battle beginning it was obvious that the Peacekeeper Faction had the upper hand in the battle due their vastly superior machines and pilots. Since thanks to battles like JOSH-A, Panama, and Victoria not many experienced ZAFT pilots remained in ZAFT for all other more experienced pilots were either dead or injured thanks to these battles. Not to mention many of these pilots still piloted the now outclassed GINNs instead of the newer GuAIZ, the few GuAIZ machines included in the fleet were being kept busy by the superior GuAIZ Customs and Astray Customs of the Peacekeeper Faction. These green pilots were being increasingly outclassed against their more experienced foes and it showed. If they are lucky they would be faced with the merciful White Angel of Orb, Kira Yamato in his powerful Freedom G-Weapon who only disabled their machines, if they were unlucky they would face off against the large amount of aces in the Peacekeeper ranks. Though there were more then a few former ZAFT pilots in the Peacekeepers who were being merciful against their less experienced enemies only disabling their mobile suits or flying away instead of fighting and killing the rookies. However while the Peacekeepers were indeed winning against their outnumbered opponent, they still received casualties as a green and gray painted M1 Astray is destroyed by an enemy GuAIZ. Further on a white and green painted Space Astray explodes as a GINN sliced through its torso with its sword. The battle continued on and the explosions went on looking like fireworks.

However the mobile suit battle was only one small part of the overall battle and the large warships on either side slowly started to get in range and started to duke it out with one another. Like their mobile suits, the ships of the Peacekeeper Faction had the clear upper hand for ZAFT only brought eight Nazca Class ships, and the three remaining ships stood back to let their fellows fight. The two Izumo Class battleships of the Orb Union ruthlessly advanced on a single Nazca Class ship and with the four "Gottfried" beam cannons between them literally tore apart the enemy ship eating through the very thin anti-beam coating on the hull of the ZAFT ship. This ship soon exploded as its reactor is finally hit and detonates destroying the ship, and making a pretty explosion to join the smaller ones from the dead mobile suits. Elsewhere a trio of Nazca Class ships advanced on a single small Washington Class ship that appeared to be all alone. However these ships soon found out their mistake as one exploded as large railgun round from the so-called helpless Washington Class ship speared through front of the ship and detonated its reactor. All from a single shot from the main weapon of the Washington Class ship, that appeared to be helpless against its aggressors. The other two soon joined their sister in death as a ship suddenly appeared right behind them and opened fire on them with two "Gottfried" Cannons and two "Valiant" Linear Cannons. The two ships exploded from the heavy fire from the new ship, and within moments four of the eight Nazca Class ships were destroyed. Another of the Nazca class ship was heavily damaged as it tried to push towards the flagship of the enemy and was faced with heavy fire coming from the two escorting ships. This ship was one of the lucky ones and started to retreat away its enemies letting it for it was out of the fight and no longer a main combatant. Two more Nazca Class ships traded blows with the two large Archangel Class ships and had better success then their sisters, but were soon surprised as the two enemy ships synchronized their main weapons and opened fire. The large beam of anti-matter from the four "Lohengrin" cannons literally engulfed the two enemy ships and simply disappeared as the beam tore them apart leaving not even debris behind. As the two ships tried to turn their attention to the remaining enemy ships, the three main ships of the enemy approached them and started to trade shots with the two Assault Ships. The battle marched on with ZAFT losses mounting as it continued on.

All of this was seen by the ZAFT Commander, Greg Biaggi as he hovered along the edge of the battle in his own machine along with the two other machines of the MS Complement of the Legacy hovering alongside watching as well. The commander could only smile evilly at the carnage in front of him with numerous of his men falling in battle, but soon shook off his darker side and signaled his two wingmen with a simple wave of the mobile suit's hand. It was time to make their overdue appearance in the overall larger battle. It was time for the withdrawal and he was going to make sure it was going to happen.

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ZGMF-X10 Freedom
Nearspace
The Factory
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In the midst of the mobile suit battle the pilot of the ZGMF-X10 Freedom, one Kira Yamato or better known as the White Angel of Orb, paused his battle with a trio of GuAIZ mobile suits and turned his attention as something attracted his attention. He frowned as he searched with not only his eyes, but his other senses that he started to notice he had. With a frown he tried to found out what attracted his attention and was soon answered as a voice blared through the radio.

"This is Skull Lead to all Peacekeeper Units, ZAFT has deployed a new G-Weapon it just tore apart three of the Factory's Astrays and is headed for the Gates. Its fast and it is not alone for Skull Squadron is now facing off with two new GuAIZ variants that appear to be some sort of prototype for ZAFT's new G-Weapons. They are tough…" came James Fockers voice reporting on the new enemy machines, but Kira tuned out the rest as he looked around for the Gates the Peacekeeper Faction's modified Washington Class Frigate and finally spotted the new enemy unit. With narrowed eyes Kira took after the other Gundam and opened fire with both his shoulder and waist weapons cutting off the other machine from continuing its attack on the Gates. The new Gundam turned its attention towards the Freedom and Kira noticed that it is indeed related to the Freedom and Justice as it looked similar to the two. It just did not carry any extra weapons like waist or shoulder weapons; in fact it looked like its only weapons were a waist mounted pair of swords, and a beam rifle. However what truly made it so lethal was that it was fast, as Kira soon found out as it attacked him. It was indeed fast and Kira had trouble keeping up with the enemy machine but he still kept ahead of the enemy attacks granted he could not continue for long. Thankfully he soon received help as a communication window sprang up on his main monitor displaying the face of Commander Andrew Waltfield.

"Yeah Kira! Listen up youngster that is the ZGMF-X08 Liberator you are fighting its strength over the other X Machines is its speed. It is equipped with four newly developed Lightwave Particle Thrusters mounted on its shoulders and backpack. To fight it on equal terms you need to take out at least two of the thrusters, and it would then be easier to fight without part of its speed to relay on," the Commander reported as the monitor suddenly started to display the blueprints of the new machine. Kira frowned and could only nod at the Commander and now kind of mentor. With careful precision he aimed his linear cannons at the shoulders and opened fire catching the shoulder in one shoulder as it tried to dodge both shots but failed. The Liberator then suddenly paused and seemed to bow at the Freedom before raising an arm and launching a flare from its wrist. Seeing the flare the gathered forces of ZAFT soon started to retreat away from the battle leaving their enemy victorious behind them. The gathered Peacekeeper Faction forces let them go and started to recover their damaged mobile suits, as well the disabled Gates.

"We shall meet again Freedom Pilot, and next time you shall not be so lucky," a voice suddenly said over a voice-only connection with the other Gundam which soon joined its fellows and left trailing smoke behind him from the damaged shoulder unit. The two unknown GuAIZ variants soon joined up with the Gundam and left as well. With that the battle was now over, and the Peacekeeper Faction had won its very first battle as a single group. Kira only sighed and turned the Freedom to return to the Factory's main hanger to get some rest for he clearly needed it. However as he did so he continued to watch his aft camera as the retreating ZAFT forces and knew he would face that pilot once more and soon. Even then he would be ready, and he knew how to fight him, but for now he smiled briefly as he heard the cheering over the radio from his fellow pilots. The battle was now over…for now anyways.

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Whew! This chapter is one that kept being put off as events in Real-Life got piled on me, and finally found the time to write it up. I am hopeful that with no work or school on Veterans Day I will have the time to get a few more chapters done. I Hope. Anyways as for this chapter I finally introduced one of the mysterious commanders mentioned in Divergence's After-Phase, and whoever guesses who I based him on gets a cookie. Here is a hint, the name I called him here is one of his aliases in his own series. Also this chapter is a first for my new way of writing major battle-scenes. Basically an overall third-person overview of the battle, something I have seen in other stories and in the anime itself with the wide shots of the battle. Another thing in the story is that we see Brian Carter of Honor of a Knight fame has been promoted to command the Faction's entire mobile suit unit. Figured he would be a good candidate to be the overall mobile suit commander. Here though he is a bit older since he was a ZAFT pilot during the blockade and before. He then helped create Orb's MS Corp and trained them Therefore he would have the most experience of any other pilot in the Faction. A couple of final things introduced is the Atlantica Class Carrier, ZAFT's counter to the Saratoga Class carriers of the Alliance, a new Eternal Class ship that has been slightly modified from the Eternal herself and the ZGMF-X08 Liberator Gundam, which is a fast close-combat machine. Its Lightwave Particle Thrusters are a creation introduced in Dawn, which I have ported over here. Basically they are vastly superior to normal Lightwave Pulse Thrusters like those on the METEOR Units and GINN HM Types. One final thing to mention is that yes the two machines who accompany the Liberator are indeed YFX-600R GuAIZ Experimental Firearms Types, that I will say have been upgraded with Nuclear Reactors and N-Jammer Cancellers to counter their main weakness.

As for the little bit about the dog that was kind of random, well that was a challenge given to me at one of the NaNoWriMo Write-Ins. Basically the challenge was have one of your main characters finds a stray dog (or something similar to a dog) in the next fifteen minutes and in the next paragraph. I did it, with Henrietta having adopted a stray dog that somehow managed to get onto the Factory. I hope it made someone smile and that this answers some questions about it.

Anyways with that out of the way here are the promised specs of the Sheppard Class ships, the new Atlantica Class specs will be added to the next chapter.

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Sheppard Class Light Cruiser

General and Technical Data

Class: Sheppard Class
Ships of the line: Sheppard, Vindicator, Mediator, Keeper, Arbiter
Unit type: Light Cruiser
Classification:CL
Manufacturer: Jose Weaver for the Clyne Faction
Operator(s): Clyne Faction; Peacekeeper Faction; Autonomous Anti-Terrorist Taskforce Mythril; Peacekeeper Alliance
First deployment: July 5, CE71
Dimensions: 215 Meters Long
Wingspan: 62 Meters
Weight: unknown
Propulsion: 6 x Main Propulsion Engines, with three on each pod
Equipment and design features: Sensors, Range Unknown; Quantum Communication Link; Anti-Missile Decoy Launcher; Flare Launcher
Fixed armaments: 2 x 425mm Beam Cannons; 6 x 75mm Heavy Vulcan Cannons; 12 x Pop-Up 45mm CIWS Cannons; 4 x Torpedo Launchers; 10 x Mini-Missile Launchers (can be used to launch counter-missiles or chaff rockets)
Mobile weapons: 6
Launch catapults: 1

Technical and Historical Notes

The Sheppard Class Light Cruisers are ships designed and built for the Moderate PLANT based Clyne Faction. However later in the war the Clyne Faction needing ships and while getting recruits from many different places did not have many ships, but if they wanted to go against both the Alliance and ZAFT they needed ships. Therefore Jose Weaver a noted ship designer and engineer were asked by the Clyne Faction to design and build a ship for them to use. His answer to this request was the Sheppard Class Light Cruiser, an excellent and well-armed ship. While not as heavily armed as something like a Laurasia Class Frigate, what it did have was a very heavy Close-In Weapons System (CIWS) allowing it shoot down enemy missiles or even mobile suits very easily.

Mister Weaver started by deciding to not design the ship from scratch for it would have take to long to do so, instead he used an old Laurasia Class design before the final design was chosen. This thrown-out design was then used as a base for the new ship. He then gave the ship two powerful beam cannons on par with those on a Laurasia Class, but a little lighter given the smaller nature of the new ship. He then gave it six 75mm Heavy Vulcan Cannons, to give it some heavy anti-air firepower, and twelve pop-up CIWS Cannons, which were a new design he had personally designed after hearing about new ships that could hide its main cannons behind bulkheads. Therefore he designed this new CIWS Cannon which hid under various panels along the ships bow. This gave the ship the needed heavy Anti-Air/Anti-Mobile Suit power it needed to be a very suitable escort ship which is what he had planned it to be. He then finished the weapon load-out by adding four torpedo launchers, which no ZAFT ship had instead relying on newer Vertical Missile Launchers and ten mini-missile launchers which was yet another design he created which could fire counter-missiles or chaff rockets to help take on immense waves of enemy launched missiles. The engineer then armored the ship in new Titanium and Ceramic Composite Armor which gave it over 25% increase in armor protected compared to normal titanium armor on other ships. He finished that by coating the armor with a new ablative anti-beam coating that he got from some of his friends in Morgenroete, giving an excellent ability to survive against beam weapons. Not as good as the Archangel's Laminated Armor, but still good enough to give enemy ships fits. He finally finished the design by squeezing a small mobile suit hanger in the main hull that unlike any other ship in ZAFT launched its machines with a similar side-mounted catapult to the Agamemnon Class. This hanger could barely manage to carry six mobile suits, but it could. The new catapult set up allowed Jose to put the hanger in the hull and keep the catapult outside the ship, saving on space.

The first two ships of the class, Sheppard and the Vindicator would be finished by the time the Eternal launched. The two would along with the Nazca Class Destroyer Antonine then join the Flagship when she arrived in L4 and travel with her to the Mendel Colony to meet up with the Orb Remnant hiding out there. The entire group would soon be attacked by the an Alliance Taskforce were the two ships proved themselves extremely well against the enemy ships even scoring a few hits on a pair of Washington Class Frigates. They would also join up with the flagship Eternal and act as her escorts against the enemy ships that tried to take her on. Thanks to the newly developed Quantum Communication Link Technology, which linked a group of two or more ships together in a close-nit group, the group of three could literally throw up a storm of counter-fire even taking out many mobile suits which fell to the awesome amount of fire these three ships could put up using the QCL against them. Later the two new ships would follow the group their birthplace the Mobile Dock Ship Mulciber aka The Factory, where the group hid preparing for the next battle. They would soon be joined by the former Alliance ships, Dominion and Loki which soon joined the group adding the firepower of yet another Archangel Class ship to the group along with a cloak able ship that could sneak on enemy ships. The newly named Peacekeeper Faction would then go on to take part in the brief Battle of The Factory.

Even then the Sheppard Class Cruiser was a ship ahead of its time that while lightly armed compared to other ships of the time, could still pack a mean punch against enemy ships. The class while not as many ships as other classes still showed itself to be a very good design and stayed in survive for many years following the Second War.

Miscellaneous Information

Notable Captains: Captain Alice Weaver (Sheppard), Captain Lisa Hayes (Vindicator), Captain Vince Grant (Keeper) Captain Serena Maxwell (Arbiter)
Notes: Basically the Musai Class from the Gundam: 0080 OVA, the one with the two turrets. Have added some extras, like the needed CIWS Weapons and moved the hanger to the main hull instead of bellow the bridge like other Musai Variants.

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Alright there we go folks, I may have posted these specs somewhere else, but they have changed a bit over the months since Divergence ended. Therefore these are the official specs that I am going to use for this story. With that out of the may time for the Omake!

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Omake #3
I have a WHAT!
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In the large main briefing room of the Factory the various pilots of the Peacekeeper Faction unwound after an intense training session. Their new overall commander Lieutenant Colonel Brian Carter was winding down his debriefing and soon dismissed the pilots.

"Kira! Can you stay behind for a moment please," Colonel Carter called out before one of the last pilots Kira Yamato, the pilot of the powerful Freedom Gundam. The young man simply shrugged at his friends around him before stepping out of the flow of pilots and waited for the rest to leave. After a few more minutes the room was empty but the two of them.

"Yes Colonel Carter. What can I do for you sir?" the Freedom pilot asked with a frown wondering what this was all about. The Orb Pilot only flinched before waving for Kira to take a seat, after the younger man did so Brian sighed and folded his arms over his chest.

"We recently received information from both the Alliance and ZAFT it appears that you have earned yourself quite a reputation on both sides. In fact you are known as the White Angel of Orb due to your merciful nature against your enemies. So you have become like many other pilots who have earned names like this. Commander La Flagga is one, I am another, while Rau Le Crueseut is known as the Crucible, I am only letting you know this so you don't get surprised by it during a battle," the older pilot reported with a frown leaning against the speaking platform. Kira only flinched at this news but sighed knowing it was bound to happen sooner or later.

"I understand Lacus mentioned something like this would happen, but I would prefer that name then something like the Crucible. Is that all sir?" the young Gundam pilot asked looking up at the older man who only shook his head before grabbing a folder from a nearby table and showing Kira the contents.

"Not really. Since you are officially dead, no one really knows who is the White Angel only that they are merciful and one very good pilot. I do believe the Alliance Higher-Ups suspects something but I don't think they are going to tell anybody. Therefore the rest of the Command Council, which I personally agree with, thinks you should keep your identity as the Freedom Pilot under wraps so you can actually live a normal life after the war ends. That is about it," Brian responded handing the folder over which featured the pictures of Kira and the Freedom at Orb that the Dominion brought with them. Kira only nodded relieved at the bit about keeping his piloting the Freedom under wraps.

"Thank you sir, if that is all now I would like to head out for some food," he finally said after a few moments of reflecting. Brian only nodded at the younger pilot before he left out of a side door while Kira started for the main door. After shaking his head one more he left and started to head for the Factory's City Block to get met up with Lacus.

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Well here is the next Omake and once again it expands on a character. This time with Kira and mentioning the background of his nickname mentioned in this chapter. I never understood why Kira never got on, when there is Mu getting one and Amuro with his White Devil name. I wondered why Kira never did and gave him one. Also the Crucible name for Rau something I heard him called somewhere, and put it in here. I have forgotten where I saw it, therefore like to mention I do not own that name.

With all of that out of the way I would like to mention I would love to get some more reviews. I am normally not one to beg for reviews but this is getting ridiculous for two chapters and nine days I only gotten one review, and two Story Alert notifications. Please I would like to get some input on what you the reader think about this story. I need input to make this story better later on, since I am only speed writing and only fixing small mistakes with grammar and spelling but that is it. This is thanks to the NaNoWriMo and therefore I need someone to tell me what is wrong and what is right with this story. Thank you folks and I shall see you all in the next chapter.