The four Aces were fished out of the water in a short amount of time, and Blaze inwardly thanked the man that decided to give Moebius crafts paper thin armor: it made them float.
Assuming, of course, that the engine blocks were still attached to the main body.
Which was important for Ribbon especially, as his craft's cockpit entrance had jammed and refused to budge, causing a few several harrowing moments as water flowed in while the Archangel hangar crew cut a new entrance on the top of the craft.
But, at the end of the day, they were safe back in the Archangel.
…
"Total damage…nearly half of our guns are dead, and we lost two engines. The ship's almost lost all of its ability to glide, and we're on the ocean. Wonderful." Murrue sighed. "On the other hand, we're alive and kicking, so that's good. Where are we, exactly?"
"We're…on the Pacific Ocean, near the coast of Africa." Sai said, looking at a radar display. He then glanced out the window, and saw the shoreline, a fair distance away. "It's really good that we avoided landing in Africa."
"We were heading for Alaska, right? How'd we end up so far away?" Natarle wondered.
"The computer wasn't correctly calculated." The helmsman, Arnold Neuman, said. "Whoever made it failed geography."
Natarle rubbed her temples. "Of all the things that could've screwed us over it had to be a computer issue. Just our luck…Captain, what should we do next?"
Murdoch was called to the bridge earlier as he knew the ship's physical condition the best, and he responded in Murrue's place.
"The ship's not in good shape." Mu rolled his eyes. Murdoch shot him a dirty look. "Most of the aft lift engines are damaged from the re-entry heat. We won't be able to keep the ship stable if we fly and we can't fly if we want to keep the ship stable."
He scratched his head. "The two engines we lost means if we sail we're going to take a lot of water and sink as soon as something scratches us, and the guns we lost means if we sail we're going to get scratched by ZAFT, take a lot of water and then sink."
"What about the Razgriz?" Natarle asked. Murdoch's reply was a blank look.
"They just got fished out of the ocean after crashing into it from orbit, what do you think?"
…
The Razgriz, incidentally, were placed in the medical bay because it's not very often someone decides to make an atmospheric re-entry with a dead ZAFT cruiser as a heat shield.
…
"So what are our options?" Murrue asked.
"Honestly?" Murdoch replied. Murrue nods. "We need to fish for supplies; at the very least enough to get all of our lifters working."
"Where are we going to get those out here? Africa is ZAFT territory, after all." Natarle said.
"There's always the black market." Mu said with a shrug.
Natarle scowled at him.
"For the time being, Murdoch, do whatever you can to get the ship floating." Murdoch salutes and leaves the bridge.
…
[In orbit]
…
"I can't believe those guys." Athrun breathed after seeing a replay of the ZAFT cruiser falling into the atmosphere. "Did they make it?"
"God I hope not." Dearka replied. "The sooner those guys die the better."
"Well, we're just going to have to make sure." Rau Le Cruset said, walking into the lounge and returning the salutes of the two boys.
"Sir?"
"Dearka, you will accompany Yzak and continue the pursuit of the legged ship." Cruset ordered. "We need to make sure that that ship dies before it can get back into friendly lines."
Dearka frowned; continuing to fight against those pilots wasn't what he wanted, but maybe they would be easier in the sky. "Yes sir."
"And me, sir…?" Athrun ventured.
"We've received some…interesting, reports of unusual activity in the Heliopolis remains; we're being tasked to go check it out."
"Unusual? Isn't it just more of the Junkers?" Dearka muttered.
Cruset smiled. "Apparently we might have missed a few things."
…
[Back on land, a week later]
…
Miriallia was on night duty, paying the sparsest of attention to the communications display in front of her, feeling herself drifting off to sleep because it's dark and it's quiet.
She heard a knock on the wall, and jumped slightly to look and see…Tolle.
"Miri, are you still mad?" He asked sheepishly.
No response.
"Yep, still mad. I'm, uh…really sorry I didn't say anything, but…"
Miriallia sighed. "I know. We all want to protect Kira." She pointed a finger at him with the hand that her chin was resting on. "But the next time you deploy you let me know first, got it?"
Tolle nodded furiously.
The communications panel suddenly beeped, and Miriallia read the message to herself.
"What's going on?" Tolle asked, coming up to read the message.
"Beats me." Miriallia leaned back. "I don't know what this message means, but I don't think it's anything important; it doesn't follow any encryption rules the EFA uses, anyways."
"Huh, weird."
…
[Next day]
…
"Murdoch, how're we looking?"
"We're about as close to finishing as we were yesterday." Murdoch sighed. "We just don't have the parts to do the repairs; we can cannibalize some of our units to do it, but I don't think that's a smart idea."
Murrue sighed. "Yeah. Damn."
Miriallia then caught her attention. "Ma'am, earlier I received an odd message, but it didn't seem to make any sense, so…"
Murrue nodded. "Show me."
Murrue read the message, and didn't understand what it meant. "Wow, what?"
Miriallia couldn't help but slightly giggle. "I didn't quite understand it either, but I think it's a communication from someone."
"Ma'am." Murrue heard Blaze's voice at the entrance to the bridge. She stood up to see him saluting.
She salutes back. "Good to see that you're alright, Blaze."
Blaze grinned. "Takes more than a re-entry to kill me, captain; what's up?"
"We got a message from someone that doesn't make any sort of sense." Miriallia replied casually.
"Oh really?" Blaze scanned it.
Then he did a double take.
And then he read it again a third time, just to make sure it was right.
"What's…uh, what's this about?" Miriallia was a little scared of Blaze's sudden change in demeanor.
"I'm not quite sure either." Blaze said in his best fake nonchalant voice. "But it looks really familiar."
I'll say. Murrue thought, not tricked for a moment. "You're not as good of an actor as Cipher, Blaze; what's this message about?"
"I really don't know." Blaze raised his hands. "But I have some guesses; speaking of which, Cipher!"
"You called?" Cipher leaned stopped short of passing by the bridge.
"How did you know he was there?" Neuman wondered.
"What do you think about this?" Blaze said, gesturing the communication panel. Cipher leaned over and read it quickly.
"Someone want a piece of us?" Cipher said lightly. "How'd they know about us?"
"Think it's someone we know?" Blaze ignored Murrue's raised eyebrow entirely.
"More like it's someone that knows about us."
"What's going on?!" Murrue demanded.
"No clue." The two Aces said in unison. "But you might get another message later." Cipher added.
…
…
…
Sure enough, a few hours later they received an incoming call…from an encrypted EFA line that no one should have access to.
"Hey, guys." The voice said. It was quite friendly and fairly young.
"Who is this?" Murrue asked, as politely as she could.
"That isn't important right now." The voice said. "I saw you guys come crashing through the sky, figured you could use a little help."
"That's…quite admirable of you." Natarle's caution was palpable.
The person on the line picked it up as well. "Well, we're no friends of ZAFT, and I don't think ZAFT would willingly let one of their ships descend while on fire."
Murrue raised an eyebrow.
"In any case." The voice sounds apologetic. "We know some people who could help you with supplies that you need and a dry dock for repairs, and if you're willing to help us out with someone then we would be happy to help you back. Deal?"
Murrue sighed. "Help you how?"
Natarle was about to point out that it broke regulations for the army to broker deals with a third party, before seeing Murrue's frown and conceding, silently, that they were in no position to be picky.
"Well, we could use some more manpower. A certain tiger of the desert has been giving us trouble."
"And how do we know that this tiger won't come and hit us?" Natarle asked, before noting that Blaze had entered the bridge at some point during the conversation.
"If we raise a big enough stink, he'll be too busy to divert his forces. Africa's not exactly the most peaceful of places, y'know." ZAFT had been in control of Africa for only a few short months, and pacification processes weren't going well. Compounding the fact was that ZAFT had given Africa fairly low priority, and most of the forces that could deploy were being fielded elsewhere.
Murrue looked behind her when she heard Blaze clear his throat and give a thumbs up.
"Very well. We agree to assist." Murrue said after a brief moment.
"Great! Oh, by the way. The enemy has some way skilled pilots, so you should send only your best people." The line went dead.
Natarle narrowed her eyes. "I don't like this, Captain. They could be trying to divert our firepower, especially with a line like that."
Murrue nodded. "Yeah. So who should we send?"
"Razgriz will go; The Strike should be used to defend the ship if the stolen G-units show up." Blaze said.
"Are you sure about that?" Natarle wondered, a little snidely.
"Yeah. We can handle it." Blaze shrugged. "We're all itching to fly in a sky again, y'know?" He grinned.
…
…
…
Ribbon climbed into the cockpit of the F-7D-C Spearhead (As Murdoch called it, the "Super" Spearhead), positively giddy at the prospect of flying in the sky again.
"How do you like your craft, Ribbon?" Murdoch asked with a wide grin.
Ribbon sat back and soaked up the feeling of being in his metallic sky-blue painted aircraft, with its tail adorned with the insignia of a plane soaring through a Mobius strip. "Like I'm finally back home." He said with a satisfied smile.
"You're not home yet, Ribbon." Blaze laughed, climbing into his craft, featuring a yellow and black line running across the fuselage of the plane, and the insignia of a hunting dog. "We still got a few minutes before we cross the door."
Cipher was all grins, any pains from his injuries forgotten. His plane's wingtips were painted black, with the insignia of the hound biting its chain on the tail.
Talisman's insignia was the emblem of a bird on an otherwise unpainted craft. "It's about time. Hope we didn't forget how to fly in the sky."
The F-7D-C Spearhead had retooled engines given the maximum amount of care and attention to make sure that said engines won't burn out (again) during combat. The wings were given structural pylons for more missiles, as enemies in the sky tend to be far less capable of suddenly turning around and shooting down said missile.
Blaze wasn't quite sure how much better a plane with a week's worth of upgrading would be, but he certainly wasn't about to disparage Murdoch's hard work.
"Razgriz, deploy in five minutes." Miriallia informed them.
…
One by one, the four Spearheads climbed into the sky.
Miriallia then heard a simultaneous sigh of comfort from all four pilots.
"It's good to be back." Ribbon said.
…
Miriallia felt slightly creeped out.
…
"Come to think of it. How's the kid doing?" Blaze suddenly asked, remembering that he didn't see Kira at all for the past two days.
"Kira? He's…sulking, I suppose. He blames himself for almost killing us." Talisman replied.
"Seriously?"
"That's what Sai's saying; Kira's spent all of his time in the simulator, as far as I know." Talisman shrugged.
"Miri." Blaze said to the radio.
"Hey." Miriallia said, a little annoyed; only Tolle had the privilege for that particular nickname.
"Fix the kid for us before we come back, alright?"
"Wh-he's not a toy!" Miriallia was now a lot annoyed.
…
…
Kira had compiled data from the asteroid belt, the descent battle, and then had cranked all of the settings on the trial units to maximum. And then he hacked the simulation to give said trial units the highest possible specs that he could without breaking the simulator.
That was two days ago.
Apart from stopping for a few hours to eat and sleep he hasn't left the simulation room at all.
…
[A few hours later]
…
Blaze heard a voice over the radio. "EFA fighters, we've been expecting you. Please land as soon as you are able."
Mobius one blinked, before opening a line. "Neil? Is that you?"
The other line sat silent for a little while. "This is SkyEye, Mobius One, do you copy?"
Mobius one smiled despite himself. "Mobius One, acknowledge. Good to hear your voice, sir."
"You two know each other?" Blaze asked.
"SkyEye was my AWACS operator back there." Mobius One replied; all of them understood "back there" to be "Strangereal."
"Ah." Blaze said. "Wardog one to SkyEye, it's an honor to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine. I haven't seen you since Operation Katina, Mobius one; how've you been?"
Ribbon raised an eyebrow. "Operation Katina?"
Cipher interjected here. "Galm one to SkyEye. There's some temporal issues with us aces; we'll fill you in once we're on the ground."
…
A blonde haired girl looked at the man manning the radio, then back to the dark-skinned man standing next to her. The two of them shrugged simultaneously.
…
…
"I see, so we're from different spots on the timelines…" Neil muttered. "But all the same, it's nice to see you again, Mobius one."
SkyEye had retired after Operation Katina and had not seen Mobius One again for three years.
"Same here; I miss having my AWACS, y'know?" Ribbon laughed.
"I think we all miss having an AWACS, Ribbon." Talisman grinned.
Neil then turned and offered his hand to Cipher. "It's an honor to meet the famed Demon Lord of the Round Table; you were an inspiration to a lot of our ISAF pilots."
Cipher shook the offered hand. "Ha! I'm more famous than I know."
"Guess you don't know about us, huh?" Blaze accused with a smile.
"I'm afraid I do not, but I have my guesses." Neil admitted. Had his untimely transportation to the current timeline been a month late he would've seen the opening of hostilities between Osea and Yuktobania.
"Ah well, that's good enough; so what's the current situation?"
Everyone became serious, as it was business time.
…
"The rebellion in Africa has been going on for some time now, and hostilities between them and ZAFT are at an all-time high. However, the rebel forces lack the military capabilities to strike at the ZAFT flagship directly." An operator said. Mobius One could've sworn that it was the same man who briefed him on his missions back in Strangereal.
Blaze raised an eyebrow. "Wow, dreaming a little big there, aren't they?"
Neil shrugged.
The operator continued after a moment. "The ZAFT forces are projecting their influence with the help of this land ship, operational name 'Lesseps'." A picture of a large yellow behemoth of a ship appeared on the screen. "As long as this ship is active, ZAFT is able to move unimpeded through the desert and deploy their forces at will."
"More importantly, that's the flagship of the tiger of the desert." A girl's voice said behind them. The operator bowed and stepped away from the screen.
"Ok, so explain to us why crippling one ship will miraculously force ZAFT to lose control over this place." Cipher said with doubt in his voice.
The girl shot him a dirty look. "ZAFT is choking the float of supplies in this region, and all to maintain that giant ship of theirs; we kill it, and the local people will get rise up to support us."
Cipher refrained from rolling his eyes with some difficulty. "Whatever you say, darlin'."
The girl bristled. "In any case." She said through clenched teeth. "We need your help against that ship."
Talisman looked around on the base. "Um, what other assets do you have?" His eyes roamed over the jeeps parked underneath canopies and bazookas propped against crates.
"What you see is what we have. Hence, we need your help; we have ammunition for your Spearheads, but we don't have the fighters to fly them." The dark-skinned man behind her said before the girl could respond. "We also have the engineers to provide maintenance should you need it."
"Which we probably will." Blaze sighed. "We've already agreed to this, but man, you guys don't have any idea what you're up against, do you?"
The girl practically shouting at him in response. "The people are suffering! Why should we sit on our asses and wait for things to get better when we can do it ourselves?!"
"Don't confuse courage with stubbornness, brat." Cipher growled. He noted that the dark-skinned man shifted a little aggressively. "You'll just die a quick death if you do."
"Stop calling me girl or brat, I have a name, dammit!"
"Which you've never told us." Ribbon pointed out.
The girl seemed to be taken aback, which was not the response any of the aces had expected.
"Cagalli." The girl finally said after a moment.
Cipher felt his brain spin and then click into place. "So what's the princess of Orb doing in Africa?"
The dark-skinned man barely stopped himself from pointing a pistol at Cipher's forehead.
"What makes you think I'm someone like that?" Cagalli responded, much too slowly and shakily to be believable.
"Cagalli isn't exactly a common name in these parts." Cipher said. "Well, why you're here is none of my business."
Any further discussion was interrupted by a young man running up to the makeshift table.
"ZAFT BaCues coming in!"
…
…
The Aces of Strangereal took to the skies fast, thanks to the Spearhead's VTOL capabilities.
"What are BaCues?" Talisman asked.
"ZAFT's ground dominance units; they look like dogs and are pretty damned fast, supposedly." Cipher replied.
"How did you know about her?" Ribbon asked, referring to Cagalli.
"She's pretty infamous in Orb for being flighty, and being flighty as a princess plasters your face all over the news." Cagalli Yula Athha, the daughter of Orb's current head of government, Uzumi Nara Athha, had gone missing and nearly caused a national panic before Uzumi stepped in with an official story. Naturally, while she was considered missing the orb news sources posted every last picture (some real, some fake) they could get of the sixteen year old girl and Cipher, ever the attentive news watcher, managed to catch some wind of it.
"Chat later, targets now." Ribbon reminded them; the BaCues were kicking up a trail of dust that could be seen by the naked eye.
"Damn, they got this close before the lookouts saw them?" Blaze shook his head. "Razgriz, check in."
"Two." "Three." "Four."
"We're going to do a visual sweep first and identify the targets. Don't get careless out there."
"Roger that."
…
"Captain, I see some aircraft coming from the rebel base." A BaCue pilot said.
"I see them; have the mercenaries get in the air, too."
"Roger."
…
"What do you see, Blaze?" Talisman asked, flying over the BaCues as the guns on the dog-like mobile armor swiveled to track him in the air.
"Two BaCues, three support vehicles." Blaze said, seeing two BaCues and three jeeps.
"Alright, we doing this?" Cipher said, stopping in mid-air with the VTOL engines.
"Yeah; Razgriz, cleared to engage."
…
The ZAFT jeep drivers were too busy swiveling every which way to try and aim at the four Spearheads zipping overhead to realize that one of them had suddenly stopped and pointed its nose towards them.
…
"Jeeps are dead." Talisman said, seeing three flames from the dust.
…
"Captain! Our support units are…"
"Damn it, fire, fire!"
…
Ribbon saw the streaks from the BaCue guns, and banked to evade them.
A part of him felt joy at being able to do something so simple again.
…
"Damn, we're not hitting them?! What's with these damned pilots?!"
…
"Oy, you guys, quit screwing around!" The aces heard Cagalli over the radio.
All of them had gotten so caught up in enjoying the free flight (despite being shot that) that they had momentarily forgotten that they were in a battle.
In response, Cipher dove down sharply, levelling out and stopping right above a BaCue. Then he dropped a bomb while putting power into his VTOL engines. Said BaCue pilot felt a shudder before the unit collapsed onto the ground, the guns on its back a smoking wreck.
…
"Captain!"
…
"Where are you looking?" Mobius One muttered, watching the remaining alive BaCue stop moving to turn around and physically look at the downed unit.
Said BaCue turned to look at the Spearhead diving at it far too late and received a hail of bullets for its troubles.
"Razgriz three, direct hit on enemy cockpit. He's probably not getting up any time soon." From what Mobius One could deduce from desert combat vehicles in the desert need to be fairly robust to withstand the harsh conditions, and as such he didn't delude himself into thinking that the BaCue's pilots were dead.
…
Said ZAFT pilot was in fact alive, but had lost all of his main cameras. He debated fighting for a bit longer before a gruff voice came over the radio.
"Hey you! Get yourself back to base, now."
"R-right." The young man said, and punched a button on his control panel.
The BaCue suddenly sprang to live, swiveled around, and bolted off at top speed.
All BaCues were equipped with an auto-recovery function that drove the suit to a pre-determined point (in this case the Lesseps) in the case that they get lost in the desert.
…
"Huh, that guy ran away fast." Mobius One said while pulling back into the air.
"Probably some safety protocol." Cipher mused.
"Wouldn't surprise me; ZAFT cares a lot more about its pilots than the EFA." Blaze muttered. "Razgriz, picture clear, return to base."
The four crafts turned around and headed back to the rebel base.
…
Blaze's cockpit suddenly blared a missile alarm. Wasting no time, he broke off from his flight path, scanned his radar, and pulled up sharply, using the VTOL engines to quickly change his direction.
The missile exploded well before it hit him.
"What the hell…where did that come from?" Talisman demanded.
All four aces had jinked when they saw Blaze suddenly deviate from the flight path.
"Looks like more ZAFT boys are showing up. Razgriz, turn to engage." Blaze said, before getting an odd feeling in his stomach. Trusting his instincts, he inverted and dove suddenly.
A fighter streaked by, bullets from its nose raking where he was only seconds ago.
"Whoa, whoa, you're joking!" Cipher said, after he had gotten a good look at the enemy fighters.
"Looks like there're more of us than just us." Blaze said, opening up a general communications link.
"This is Wardog one of the Sand Island Defense Force hailing the X-02 Wyverns in current airspace. Please respond."
…
The pilot of one of the Wyverns, a fighter from Strangereal, grinned after a moment.
…
The two ZAFT fighters flew side by side, displaying the insignias on their tail to the four aces of strangereal as the two groups flew by each other.
"Hey Kid. Fancy meeting you here!" A man with a gruff voice said happily.
One of the fighters, sporting an insignia of a heart being cut in a jagged pattern, broke off and flew next to the Spearhead with the hunting dog.
Blaze was too shocked to verbalize his thoughts.
"Surprised? Me too. I hear you've a helluva squad captain now, kid." The man continued, his fighter inverting on top of Blaze's aircraft, so that their canopies faced each other. "Yeah, you're looking real good. So how about a little tussle, for old time's sake?"
Blaze blinked. This was no time to be sentimental; old relations, especially in times of war, meant nothing while they're in the air. "Yes, sir; Razgriz, stay out of this." And yet...
"What…" Talisman was about to interject.
"Like I said, sit back and watch!" Blaze said, breaking out into a huge grin as he and the Terminator flew apart to face each other in the blue sky. Blaze took a deep breath.
"Wardog one, engaging!"
The two fighters sped towards each other.
The other pilot smiled, though it was covered by his mask.
"Heartbreak one, engaging!"
…
Meanwhile, the other Wvyern and Mobius One were flying side by side.
"I didn't think there would be other Strangereal pilots around." The pilot of the Wyvern said. "To whom do I owe the pleasure of flying against?"
Mobius One looked at the Wvyern: it's folding winglets were painted bright yellow, and the tail of the craft had a thirteen emblazoned upon it. "ISAF 118th Squadron, Call sign: Mobius One." Apparently this guy hasn't fought me yet.
"Erusean air force, 156th wing. Call sign: Yellow thirteen. Pleasure to meet you, Mobius One." The Wyvern banked lazily in the sky. "Now then, shall we get this dance started?"
…
"What's going on?" Talisman watched the two pairs of fighters weave through the sky.
"They're, what do you call it, 'fighting'?" Cipher said with a smirk: neither of the two pairs seemed very willing to use any ammo, preferring to just fly around each other.
"Fighting." Talisman shook his head.
"In any event, we're on call if anything happens." Cipher's Spearhead circled around the perimeter at a leisurely pace.
…
…
Eventually, the Wyverns ran out of gas and had to retreat, prompting the Spearheads to do the same.
"Did you enjoy your dance?" Talisman asked lightly.
"Like dancing with an angel." Blaze said with a light laugh.
"It is a little worrying though." Mobius One said.
"Yeah? Those were people you knew, right?" Cipher asked.
"Yeah."
"So there are others out here besides us; not that surprising if you stop to think about it." Cipher reasoned, stopping over the designated landing site with his VTOL engines.
"Razgriz squadron, SkyEye here, report your situation." Blaze heard over the radio.
"Razgriz One to SkyEye, we engaged two BaCues and some support vehicles. The enemy didn't do a lot of shooting, so they may have been a recon force." Blaze said.
"SkyEye, copy. Good work. Razgriz squadron, you're cleared to land, don't kick up too much dust now."
…
Blaze clambered out of the cockpit to the scene of a few of the rebel men talking with the tall, dark man that guarded Cagalli.
"Probably talking about if they should move the base." Cipher said, upon seeing the same picture. "They really should. If that tiger's as good as his reputation then we need to move."
…
That tiger, Andrew Waltfield, was in the radar room of the Lesseps, watching his men crunch numbers based on the recon data that the lone surviving scout BaCue brought back.
"What did you think of the enemy pilots?" Andrew asked the mercenary pilots after watching the map display narrow down on possible locations.
"They're good." Captain Bartlett said with a laugh. "If there's a fight it's going to be one hell of a show."
Andrew smiled. "It sounds like you're not taking them seriously."
Bartlett chuckled. "Except one of them, they're all still wet behind the ears." He pushed the image of insignia of Galm from his mind. "Once the battle starts we can keep them busy, no problem."
"If only high command gave us DINNs for you two to fly." Andrew sighed. "Talent like yours shouldn't be wasted. Radar! How goes the targeting?"
The map had narrowed down the possible rebel base location to a thin ring with the Lesseps at its center like a giant wheel.
"We have some possible locations based on the rebel's past behavior." The radar operator said.
The targeting map circled certain areas on the map.
"Y'know, you could've just let us fly over there to scout." Bartlett said matter-of-factly.
"I could have, but it wouldn't be polite to the rebels." Andrew said with a smirk. "Gunners, fire on the spot that's least likely to contain the rebel base."
…
The Aces of Strangereal felt a soft tug in the stomachs, before hearing what sounded like an explosion far in the distance.
"I guess that's the Lesseps." Blaze muttered.
Cagalli waved it off. "They do this every time. Ignore them."
…
"Alright, that should do it." Andrew stretched, before pouring himself some coffee. "All pilots get some sleep; we'll begin the real operation at 0200 hours."
…
[Night: 1:45 AM, 0145]
…
Blaze woke up to a sharp tug in his stomach, like the rest of the Aces.
Almost by instinct, he headed towards his Spearhead cockpit, like the rest of the Aces.
"Looks like you got the memo, too." Blaze heard Cipher say.
"Yeah." He replied. "Something big is going to happen."
The rebels had, after deliberation, decided to move the base tomorrow.
That is, a few hours from right now.
…
Suddenly, Blaze felt the urge to take off into the air. Trusting in his instincts, he brought full power to the VTOL engines and lifted a meter off the ground.
He then heard a massive explosion that sounded very, very close to them.
Confusion reigned in the base as the Razgriz took off into the night sky.
…
"No hit, say again, no hit; sorry captain, we missed." An operator on the Lesseps said.
Andrew shrugged. "No problem. Readjust and continue firing."
"Four heat signatures detected from probable rebel base; calibrating new firing solution based on their data."
…
"Blaze, we got company." Cipher said while staring at his infrared display. "It's those two from yesterday."
"Roger that. All aircraft, you are cleared to engage." Blaze said, receiving three affirmatives in reply.
"I don't like flying at night." Talisman muttered.
"Makes all of us." Mobius One sighed.
…
An X-02 Wyvern roared into the battlefield and dropped two bombs into the base air space.
…
Blaze involuntarily squinted as the night sky was illuminated by a massive explosion.
"Shit, they got FAEBs!" Mobius one snarled, accelerating at full power to catch the Wyvern that zoomed away from the explosions of the Fuel Air Explosive Bombs.
A second later, a shrill sound filled the air as the base exploded once more.
…
"Second strike, effective; they're probably not getting up from that." The Lesseps operator said with some satisfaction.
Waltfield nodded. "Mop up."
…
"Whoa, whoa. When did they get so close?!" Talisman jinked sharply to dodge a sudden barrage of fire from several clusters of heat sources from the ground. "They got SAMs, watch your back."
Mobius One, meanwhile, had caught up with the Wvyern after its bombing run and was busy chasing it down with spurts of Vulcan fire.
"Blaze, what should we do?"
Blaze looked around for a moment. "Two, with me, we're hitting the ground. Four, you're supporting three. Keep an eye out for the other fighter."
"Copy."
…
Mobius One and the Bombing Wyvern flew and matched each other move for move…which was not a comforting thought, as said Wyvern flew over the rebel base and would ceaselessly strafe it with machine gun fire at every available opportunity despite the Spearhead hounding on its tail.
"Mobius One, I'm here for support." Talisman said, flying to the two heat blips zipping across the sky.
"Don't need it; hit the damned ground targets." Mobius One said tersely.
…
"Shit, I wish we packed bombs." Cipher said, pouring Vulcan fire onto a heat cluster, and then banking and accelerating away as soon as he heard his threat alarm go off.
"Yeah." Blaze broke off from a strafing run on a BaCue to avoid a half dozen Surface to Air Missiles flying at him. He momentarily considered using the air-to-air missiles on ground targets, but then remembered that this was not Strangereal, and his Spearhead was not packed with the all-purpose seeker missiles that were ubiquitous back in his home.
As Blaze dodged yet another wave of SAMs he felt a sudden urge to jink hard in the opposite direction. So he did.
He then felt a shudder and saw streams of bullets fly past his canopy.
Blaze pulled up hard with the VTOL engines, cutting his speed sharply.
The Wyvern behind him zipped below him and then pulled up high into the sky.
"One, you alright?" Cipher asked, looking at a wisp of smoke from Blaze's craft.
"I took a few hits, but I'm still good." Blaze said, sparing a glance to his display. "Three, heads up; second Wyvern moving in on your position."
"Mobius One, copy."
…
"The enemy pilots are good; we've lost two of our light squads already." The operator on the Lesseps said.
Andrew scowled. "Have them take cover under the BaCues; how long until they reach the rebel base?"
"Two minutes, sir."
He nods. "Fire third round, flares. Upon detonation, all units will advance at top speed to the base."
"Roger."
…
Mobius One heard his warning alarm go off, and jinked to avoid the missile that he knew was behind him.
The momentary opening allowed the Wyvern he was chasing to break off and dive for the base once more.
Mobius One gritted his teeth and dove as well, spinning to avoid the bullets that he imagined would be coming.
"What's with this guy. His senses are exceptional…" Yellow 13 breathed, chasing after the now diving Mobius One.
"Don't worry about it, two; bombs away." Heartbreak One said, dropping his last two bombs while pulling up sharply.
Mobius One flinched when the bombs went off and pulled up hard, feeling his heart skip a beat when the absurdly large dust cloud filled his vision.
He then heard the ping of bullets impacting themselves on his fuselage, before jinking despite the dust cloud into the night sky.
…
The battlefield suddenly became bright as four flares exploded in mid-air.
"What the hell…" Talisman breathed, looking down on the ground and seeing the veritable swarm of vehicles racing toward the rebel base.
"Shit. Looks like he got us." Cipher muttered, strafing the ZAFT forces now that he could see where they were. "Blaze, we should get out of here."
Blaze looked at the ground, at the units swarming into the Rebel base. "Razgriz, we're pulling out."
"What?! We can't just-" Mobius One started to say, ignoring the missile alarms in his cockpit.
"We don't have the equipment, three. All Razgriz aircraft, disengage and return to the Archangel at top speed."
Blaze then heard the threat alarm go off, and felt the hair on his neck stand up. He then saw the Wyverns suddenly dive for the deck. "Shit. Razgriz, dive! Dive!"
The six aircraft flew low as a series of explosions filled the airspace.
…
"Stonehenge rounds, detonation confirmed. Effectiveness unknown."
Andrew sipped on his coffee. "Pretty useful thing that mercenary gave us, total denial of air superiority. Continue firing, cover our ground forces."
…
"Stonehenge?!" Mobius One breathed, before needing to focus on the two Wyverns turning to engage him despite the low flight ceiling.
"Dammit. We're getting Mobius One and then getting the hell out of here. Razgriz, on me!" Blaze roared.
Talisman rolled to avoid some sporadic SAM fire from the ground. "There's no way he came up with this plan on a whim." He muttered to himself, with his microphone on.
"What could've possibly given you that idea?" Cipher said with no small amount of sarcasm as he accelerated with full afterburners towards the dogfight in front of him.
Mobius One, upon hearing his threat alarm, banked and turned as hard as he could, cutting his engines in the process.
The Terminator behind him raced up to meet him with its machine gun firing at full pace.
Mobius One toggled his VTOL engines and spun in midair.
Yellow 13 raced past the spinning Spearhead and heard bullets impact his fuselage.
Mobius One reoriented himself with some difficulty, his g-force sensors practically screaming at his idiotic maneuver.
"Wow, that guy's nuts." Captain Bartlett said, before heading around in a wide circle, with the intent to continue the fight. "Two, you alright there?"
"Heartbreak two, I'm ok." Yellow 13 said, watching the readout on his craft barely change. "Rejoining formation."
…
"Razgriz three, say your status."
Mobius One sighed as he flew away from the rebel base. "I took a few hits, but I'm ok. Damn." He resisted the urge to punch something.
"Yeah."
The four aircraft flew low away from the now captured rebel base, before clearing the combat area and the repeated bombardment from the Lesseps, then climbing, and finally zooming off at top speed.
…
"This is Heartbreak one to the Tiger Den; enemy fighters are gone, you can stop shooting now." Andrew heard over the radio.
"Tiger Den, got it." The operator sighed. "Sir, those pilots are really something; hard to believe they're Naturals."
"Who are you talking about? Ours or theirs?" Andrew asked, stretching.
"Both."
…
…
Kuzzey, taking the night shift as the communications officer so Miriallia can sleep, felt himself roused by an incoming call alert.
"This is Razgriz one to Archangel. Archangel, do you copy?"
"Uh, this is the Archangel. Blaze, you're back really soon." Kuzzey replied.
"Yeah. We screwed it up big time. Do we have clearance to land?"
Messed it up? How? Kuzzey couldn't help but wonder. "Uh, yeah. I think. Hanger one is clear."
"Roger that; Razgriz three, you're first."
…
Murdoch woke up to find four Spearheads that weren't supposed to be back for at least a week.
"What gives?" He asked one of the technicians examining Mobius One's aircraft.
"I heard they failed the mission." The technician replied, shaking his head. "The Desert Tiger's as good as his rep."
Murdoch sighed. "Oh well. Just more work for us."
…
"We've just received word from the rebels." Murrue said, after Blaze had given her an emergency briefing. "The cell that you were attached to was summarily rounded up and arrested."
Blaze sighed. "My apologies, we weren't able to do anything for them."
Murrue frowned. "You did what you could. The other rebels are willing to lend us all the support they can muster in exchange for our continued support; it seems like that cell was the largest and most well organized."
Blaze thought back to the level of organization exhibited in the base, and couldn't help but feel mild despair for their future endeavors.
"Regardless, the Archangel's going to dry dock soon. Razgriz is off duty until further notice."
Blaze saluted and left the bridge.
"Can't we just leave the rebels to the ZAFT, captain?" Natarle asked.
"If we can get the ZAFT off our backs any other way, we could." Murrue replied. "But as things are, if we let ZAFT do what they want, we will be pursued and then sunk."
Natarle grumbled something under her breath. "For their first performance in the sky, the Razgriz didn't seem to do that well."
Mu knocked on the wall to announce his arrival. "A surprise night attack with a low flight ceiling; I'm amazed any of them came out of it alive." He said.
…
"Kira!" Kira Yamato heard someone call him through his exhaustion.
Turning off the simulator, he stumbled out of the cockpit of the Strike.
"Jesus, kid; when's the last time you slept?!" Blaze demanded, looking at the disheveled boy.
"A while ago." Kira mumbled.
Blaze sighed. "You're hereby banned from the Strike until you've gotten proper rest."
Kira looked at him.
Blaze stared back. "Training is good, but a pilot that can't perform at his best is just asking to be shot."
Kira nodded, still tired, and trudged off to sleep.
"Damn." Blaze watched Kira leave.
"What's up?" Cipher asked.
The four aces were helping with the maintenance and customization of their crafts.
"The kid's not listening to anyone." Blaze sighed. "He's going to burn himself out at this rate."
"If only he had a girlfriend." Cipher said lightly.
…
Meanwhile, Kira had trudged to his room and crashed into his bed.
His eyes were a solid shade of purple, and his head was amazingly clear.
It took him a while to fall to sleep despite his weariness.
…
"How're you holding up, Flay?" Sai asked her.
Flay was brushing up her hair. "I wish daddy could contact the Federation soldiers from here." She pouted.
"Flay…" Sai started.
Flay pointed her brush at him. "I'm not stupid." The brush went back to her hair. "Earth is jammed really badly right now and there are no satellites, so it can't be helped, but…" She sighs. "I just want to be out of here. We're civilians, Sai. Kira, too." She adds after Sai opened his mouth.
"Besides." Flay puts down her brush, and glances at the door to her room to ensure that it was closed. "My dad thinks there's more to this war than just two sides hating each other."
…
While all that conversing was going on, the Archangel was being towed by an unmarked and suspiciously powerful tugboat along the coast of eastern Africa.
Soon enough, the Archangel was towed into a dry dock by the end of the day.
…
Murrue let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.
"It's a good thing we weren't sighted." Natarle sighed. "Should we go, captain?"
"Yeah; let's greet our benefactors."
…
Murrue, now off the ship, saluted the man that met her next to the ship.
"Thank you for your assistance; we were really in a bind." Murrue said.
The man spoke with an accent she wasn't familiar with. "It's not a problem; it's not every day we get to work on such a beautiful ship."
Murrue smiles. "She's in your capable hands, then."
The man proudly thumps himself on the chest. "Not to worry. We are Gründer, we can make anything!"
.
.
.
{ === + === }
Ultimately, I was looking for a crossover on a scale larger than just "oh four guys are now here.".
Let's see how it works out.
Amendment:
It's been pointed out that they would be in the Indian Ocean, not the Pacific. This is what I get for not using an actual map; thank you for pointing that out~
There could be two (in-story) justifications for this:
1. India doesn't exist anymore (and the guys in the EFA doesn't want an ocean named after a country? I dunno. Racism makes people do weird things)
2. Sai just read whatever the computer display said.
Take your pick. :3